We review reports on Maryland medical examiner David Fowler. We show the racist roots behind the concept of “excited delirium” he used to cover up police involved deaths, and show the role race plays in commentary downplaying findings of his wrongdoing. We also use an analysis of the legislative work on police accountability to demand the left go beyond calls to punishment of individual "bad cops" and depictions of Black suffering to garner sympathy toward building community control of public safety and legislative reforms like making police disciplinary records public.