Last Charges Dropped Against Police Officers In Freddie Gray Case
The last charges against the three policemen involved in the killing of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old Baltimore man who fell into a coma while in a police van and later died, were dropped, state prosecutors said Wednesday. None of the six policemen initially charged in Gray’s death will be sentenced in this high-profile case, which triggered violent riots in Baltimore and became the symbol of alleged police violence against the black community.
“After much thought and prayer it has become clear that without being able to work with an independent investigatory agency from the very start, without having a say in the election of whether cases proceed in front of a judge or jury, without communal oversight of police in this community, without substantive reforms to the current criminal justice system, we could try this case 100 times and cases just like it and we would still end up with the same result,” Mosby said in a statement.
The announcement of the end of the case comes nine days after Circuit Judge Barry G. Williams acquitted Lt. Brian Rice of all charges related to Gray’s arrest and death. Rice, the highest ranking officer in the case, was cleared of involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment, and misconduct. The judge had acquitted two other officers, Edward Nero and Caesar Goodson, in May and June respectively. Charges have now been dropped against Officers Garrett Miller, William Porter, and Sgt. Alicia White.
Gray suffered a severe injury to his spine while he was being held in a police van after his arrest on April 12, 2105, and he died a week later. While it was initially unclear how he sustained his injuries, several eyewitnesses said that the officers involved used unnecessary force against Gray during the arrest, although this was denied by them.
The prosecution team in the case had filed charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter and reckless endangerment against the police involved, but failed to present convincing evidence in any of the cases that came to trial. The prosecution claimed that officers failed in their duty by not putting a seatbelt on Gray, which they claimed was a contributing factor in his injury. Prosecutors said the officers put handcuffs on his wrists and shackles on his legs, preventing him from grabbing anywhere to avoid hitting against the metal walls of the vehicle during the trip.
In addition, the indictment alleged that Gray was subjected to the practice known as a “rough ride,” a form of police brutality in which a handcuffed prisoner is placed without a seatbelt in an erratically driven vehicle. However, the judge ruled that the officers didn’t act in an unreasonable way or were aware of and chose to ignore the substantial risk by placing Gray in a police van without a seatbelt, which is required for reckless endangerment.
“Here, the failure to seat-belt may have been a mistake or it may have been bad judgement,” Williams said, “but without showing more than has been presented to the court concerning the failure to seat-belt and the surrounding circumstances, the state has failed to meet its burden to show that the actions of the defendant rose above mere civil negligence.”
The prosecution’s announcement Wednesday closed the criminal cases against the officers. However, as CNN reports, they still face administrative reviews and possible discipline.
[Photo by Steve Ruark/AP Images]
