BALTIMORE – Baltimore’s chief prosecutor charged six police officers Friday with crimes, including murder and manslaughter, in the arrest and fatal injury of Freddie Gray, a striking and surprisingly swift turn in a case that has drawn national attention to police conduct.
The state’s attorney for Baltimore, Marilyn J. Mosby, filed the charges almost as soon as she received a medical examiner’s report that ruled Gray’s death a homicide and a day after the police concluded their initial investigation and handed over their findings. Officials had cautioned that it could take considerable time for her office to complete its own investigation and decide whether to prosecute.
Five of the six officers are in custody, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said later.
In a city rocked by unrest this week and now under curfew and patrolled by National Guard troops, Mosby’s announcement on the steps of the War Memorial downtown drew cheers from the assembled crowd, while officers in riot gear looked on. As word spread, people in parts of the city took to the streets in celebration.
Gray’s death brought to a boil long-simmering tensions between the police and poor neighborhoods in this majority-black city, culminating in rioting Monday, with more peaceful demonstrations continuing through the week.
President Barack Obama declined to comment on the charges directly but said what matters is for the justice system to work properly.
“What I think the people of Baltimore want more than anything else is the truth,” he said. “That’s what people around the country expect.”
Mosby said Gray suffered a fatal spinal injury April 12 while being transported in a police van, and she pointed to the failure of the police to put a seat belt on him as a crucial factor.
“Mr. Gray suffered a critical neck injury as a result of being handcuffed, shackled by his feet and unrestrained inside the BPD wagon,” she said, referring to the police van.
Mosby faulted the officers’ conduct almost from the minute the police first came into contact with Gray. The officers who arrested him had no probable cause to do so, she said, describing the arrest as illegal.
Officers charged him with possession of a switchblade, but Mosby said, “The knife was not a switchblade and is lawful under Maryland law.”
