Baltimore cops charged
Freddie Gray’s death is ruled a homicide
Officers involved in Freddie Gray arrest face criminal charges.
BALTIMORE — In a remarkably swift response to community demands for action, Baltimore’s prosecutor announced criminal charges Friday against six Baltimore police officers who arrested and transported Freddie Gray, a 25year-old black man who died after being severely injured in police custody.
Declaring Gray’s death a homicide, Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby told a crowd of cheering demonstrators that arrest warrants had been issued for five male officers and one female officer.
The charges came a day after Mosby received a police investigative report and hours after a medical examiner classified Gray’s April 19 death as a homicide.
“I heard your call for ‘no justice, no peace,’ ” Mosby, on the job nearly four months, told protesters on the steps of the city’s War Memorial building.
Charges ranged from “depraved heart” murder — equivalent to second-degree murder — to involuntary manslaughter, assault and misconduct in office.
All six officers, who had been suspended with pay, surrendered later Friday and have posted bond.
“Your peace is sincerely needed as I work to bring justice for Freddie Gray,” said Mosby, 35, a former assistant state’s attorney and the daughter and granddaughter of police officers. “To those that are angry or hurt or have their own experience of injustice, I urge you to channel your energy peacefully.”
As demonstrators cheered, Mosby told them, “No one is above the law.” But she also reassured police officers that the charges “are not an indictment of the entire force.”
The charges capped a volatile 19-day stretch of violence and recriminations that focused attention on long-standing allegations of police brutality against blacks in Baltimore, but also in other cities after the deaths of several unarmed black men at the hands of white police officers. Three of the officers charged in Baltimore are black and three are white.
Mosby said Gray’s arrest was illegal because the knife he carried was a legal pocketknife — and not an illegal switchblade, as police claimed in reports on the April 12 arrest.
Police said Gray was arrested after he made eye contact with an officer and then fled.
Gray died of a fatal spinal injury after he was placed into a police van without a seat belt, in violation of police policy, Mosby said.
“Mr. Gray suffered a critical neck injury as a result of being handcuffed, shackled by his feet and unrestrained inside of the BPD (police) wagon,” the prosecutor said.
One officer checked on Gray at one point and found him unresponsive, but did not call for medical help, Mosby said.
After Gray had been driven several blocks, the van stopped and an officer opened the rear door. Gray was lying, unbelted, on the floor of the wagon.
“Mr. Gray at that time said he needed help and indicated that he could not breathe,’’ Mosby said. He twice asked for a medic but no help was summoned.
Gray’s death pitted Baltimore’s African-American majority against its blackled Police Department. Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, whose family has long been active in the African-American community and electoral politics, was criticized by both protesters and police.
The Baltimore Fraternal Order of Police said the union will stand by the officers.
“Our organization has supported these officers and will continue to do so,” Lt. Kenneth Butler said.
Michael Davey, a police union lawyer, called the charges a rush to judgment.
“I can tell you they are not happy,” Davey said of rank-and-file officers. “This decision ... is going to make our job harder.”
Just before Mosby announced the criminal charges, the union defended the officers involved.
“Not one of the officers involved in this tragic situation left home in the morning with the anticipation that someone with whom they interacted would not go home that night,” Gene Ryan, president of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 3, wrote in a letter to Mosby. “As tragic as this situation is, none of the officers involved are responsible for the death of Mr. Gray.”
The most serious charge was second-degree “depraved heart’’ murder, lodged against the driver of the wagon, Officer Caesar Goodson.
Sometimes called “depraved indifference,” the charge is less serious than a first-degree intentional killing, but does involve a special degree of reckless indifference.
It has a penalty of 30 years in prison.
Lt. Brian Rice was charged with manslaughter, assault, misconduct and false imprisonment. Officer William Porter and Sgt. Alicia White were charged with manslaughter, assault and misconduct. Officer Edward Nero and Officer Garrett Miller were charged with assault, misconduct and false imprisonment.