Six Baltimore Police Officers Charged in Freddie Gray ‘Homicide’
BALTIMORE, MD.,- May 1 (UPI) — Six Baltimore police officers are facing charges that include manslaughter and assault after the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray was ruled a homicide, Baltimore State Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby said Friday.
The officers – Lt. Brian Rice, Sgt. Alicia White, Officer William Porter, Officer Garrett Miller, Officer Edward Nero and Officer Caesar Goodson – will each also be charged with misconduct and false imprisonment. Goodson, who drove the police van where Gray ultimately stopped breathing, will also be charged with second-degree murder, Mosby said. She said warrants have been issued for the arrests.
Mosby said Friday her office’s investigation,, along with a medical examiner’s conclusion that Gray’s death was a homicide, led her to determine there is probable cause to file criminal charges. She said he suffered critical neck injuries as a result of being handcuffed but not seat belted in the van.
She said Gray was arrested April 12 without cause, adding a knife found in his pocket was not illegal.
“The knife was not a switch-bladed and it is lawful.” She added the officers “failed to establish probable cause for an arrest.”
“I heard your call for ‘no justice, no peace,’ ” she said. “Your peace is sincerely needed as I work to deliver justice on behalf of this young man.”
Mosby said an investigation found officers bound Gray’s ankles and wrists and left him stomach-down on the floor of the police van. She said the van’s driver, Goodson, acted in a “grossly negligent manner” by continuing to drive around West Baltimore and make several stops, despite Gray’s repeated requests for medical attention.
By the time he was taken out of the van, Mosby said, Gray was “no longer breathing at all.”
As Mosby read the findings from her investigation, cheers could be heard from the crowd in Baltimore. Police in riot gear stood nearby.
The following is a summary of the charges:
— Officer Caesar R. Goodson Jr.: Second-degree depraved heart murder, involuntary manslaughter, second-degree assault, manslaughter by vehicle, misconduct.
— Officer William G. Porter: Involuntary manslaughter, second-degree assault, misconduct.
— Lt. Brian W. Rice: Involuntary manslaughter, second-degree assault, misconduct, false imprisonment.
— Officer Edward M. Nero: Second-degree assault, misconduct, false imprisonment.
— Officer Garrett Miller: Second-degree assault, misconduct, false imprisonment.
— Sgt. Alicia D. White: Manslaughter, second-degree assault, misconduct.
