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Danielle Steele Brown will never forget holding her husband in her arms as he lay bleeding to death. That night never had to happen, she said Monday.

The death of music producer Raymond Brown, who was killed after robbers stole his car, hooked it to a tow truck, and shot Brown after he walked up to ask why his car was being towed, could have been prevented if the couple's neighborhood had better security measures — gates Brown himself pushed to get installed a year before his death — and if 911 responders had sent a police officer to the Browns' home rather than dismiss the theft as a repossession.

Claiming her husband was unnecessarily put in harm's way, resulting in his death, Brown's widow filed a $20 million lawsuit Oct. 14, roughly two years to the day after her husband was killed, against Prince George's County and Vernon Herron, director of the county's office of homeland security, and a $5 million lawsuit against the neighborhood's homeowners association.

Around 2:30 a.m. on Oct. 13, 2006, Brown, 36, who lived in the Southlake at Lake Arbor community in Mitchellville, called 911 to report that his car was being stolen. The 911 dispatcher told Brown his car, a Chrysler 300 sedan, was likely being repossessed and to call back in an hour or so, Steele Brown said.

Brown and his wife followed the tow truck in the couple's other car, and when Brown got out of the car to question the tow truck driver, he was shot, bleeding to death in his wife's arms. He was taken to Prince George's Hospital Center in Cheverly and pronounced dead shortly after. Police don't believe Brown was targeted specifically.

"It's just an atrocious situation that never should have happened," said Gregory L. Lattimer, Danielle Steele Brown's attorney. "The man called 911 in the dead of night because he hears a tow truck, and as he and his wife are watching their car being stolen, they're being interrogated if they paid their car payment. It's wrong."

Brown, known as Scotty Beats in the music industry, was a producer and engineer for artists including Lil Jon and Jennifer Lopez.

Steele Brown's suit against the county and Herron states that Herron had direct responsibility for the oversight of the processing of the 911 calls and for dispatching police, sheriff, fire and emergency medical services.

"When you call for emergency assistance, it should be provided — it doesn't matter the nature of the call, the area the call is coming from and the particulars of what's happening at the time," Lattimer said. "Not only did they ignore his call and not send out emergency assistance, they led him to believe that no assistance would be provided until he got additional information, putting him in harm's way. You don't tell a citizen to do something foreseeably dangerous."

If a police officer had been sent to the Browns' home when the call came in, Brown would still be alive, Lattimer said.

"He was put in the position to track down information and his vehicle," he said. "They don't do this to everyone; you do this when you have determined that the folks calling from this particular area [are African-Americans] and if they paid their bills. That's unacceptable."

Following Brown's death, Herron initiated the administrative leave and investigation of the 911 dispatchers, said John Erzen, spokesman for office of the county executive. The investigation found Brown's call wasn't handled properly, he said.

On Nov. 13, 2006, Herron disciplined four call takers from the county's 911 call center. Two callers were suspended for four days without pay, and one received a written reprimand. The fourth call taker was fined $2,500 for a separate incident, according to a November 2006 press release from County Executive Jack B. Johnson's office.

Herron and Stephanie P. Anderson, Esq., the county attorney who was served the lawsuit document, cannot comment on pending litigation, Erzen said.

On Oct. 23, 2007, a little more than a year after Brown's death, legislation was introduced to change tow truck notification policies by former councilmember, now Sen. David Harrington (D-Dist. 47) of Cheverly, Councilman Thomas Dernoga (D-Dist. 1) of Laurel and Councilwoman Marilynn Bland (D-Dist. 9) of Clinton.

The County Council passed a bill in November 2007 amending towing regulations to reduce the time a tow company has to provide notice for a vehicle being towed from private property. Since the bill's passing, the regulations have made it more difficult for Brown's situation to happen again. Forty-eight hours before towing, a notice must be attached to the vehicle informing the owner of the tow, and county police must be informed of the tow date, time and location, vehicle make and model, license plate number and tow reason. Within one hour of the tow, the company must verify the information with police and give the vehicle identification number.

Steele Brown, who moved out of the county after her husband's death, is also suing the Southlake at Lake Arbor Homeowners Association, which had a security committee in place before Brown's death. The committee, with Brown's help, began researching a project in 2005 to install security gates and barriers in the community.

The gates, which would have cost $100,000 to install, were never put up, Steele Brown said.

Judy Branthover, vice president of the HOA's management, Legum and Norman, Inc., said Monday she was unaware of the lawsuit.

Lattimer said the HOA was aware of the residents' risk following carjackings, car thefts and burglaries and was negligent in its duty to protect homeowners by not installing the gates. Robbers had attempted to break into and steal Brown's car from in front of his house twice in the same week in August 2005, 14 months before the theft that led to his death.

"It's not going to stop kids from joyriding, but they do prevent or give pause of thought to those who are looking for a way to commit a crime without being caught," Lattimer said.

"He died where the gate was supposed to be," Steele Brown said. "This thing has turned into a bloodbath; it's just out of control. It's almost like it's not real. It doesn't seem real that it's gotten this far."

Jamaal G. Alexis, 22, of Landover is accused of driving the tow truck and firing at Brown. He was arrested and charged Jan. 29 with Brown's murder. His trial was rescheduled from Monday to March 9 in Upper Marlboro.

Bobby J. Ennels, 22, of Capitol Heights, a suspected accomplice in Brown's death who agreed to testify for leniency, was found shot in a car on a residential street near FedEx Field in Landover on Oct. 7.

Ennels pleaded guilty in September to theft for his role in Brown's death. Authorities say he was a lookout when Brown's vehicle was stolen from his home.

Neiman Marcus Edmonds, 21, another witness in Brown's murder, was charged with murder and other crimes in Brown's death. In an agreement with prosecutors, he pleaded guilty to a theft charge of more than $500 and was expected to testify for the state.

E-mail Liz Skalski at eskalski@gazette.net.