At a news conference, Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 3 President Gene Ryan called for the remaining cases to be dismissed, calling it “malicious prosecution against the remaining three officers”.
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Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby vowed to bring justice to an aggrieved citizenry when she announced the charges a year ago.
Lieutenant Brian Rice, the highest ranked Baltimore police officer charged in connection with the 2015 death of Freddie Gray, has been acquitted. Prosecutors say he suffered severe spinal injuries while being transported in the van to the police station. The first trial, of Officer William Porter, ended in a hung jury and mistrial in December.
Gray was arrested after he ran from police officers in a high-crime area of the city.
Tawanda Jones, West’s sister, stood by West’s mother, Diane Butler, and other family members.
The officer’s attorney said police could use discretion, if they believe their safety is at risk.
On July 18, 2013, West was pulled over by police, who searched his trunk and ultimately tackled him as he resisted arrest.
An internal affairs investigation stopped short of blaming the officers, but laid out a laundry list of tactical mistakes they made.
Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake asked the community to continue to respect the judicial process during “a very hard time for our city”. Gray died a week after his arrest. “This has been a very hard time for our city, and I thank the community for their patience during this time and ask their continued respect for the judicial process as we move forward”.
“Now that a verdict has been delivered, the city must continue to exercise patience and respect for the judicial process”, Pugh said in a statement to the media. His death sparked weeks of peaceful protests, riots and looting in Baltimore, and ignited the Black Lives Matter movement nationwide. A defense attorney countered that given that Gray was combative and attracting a crowd, Rice did what any officer would have done in deciding to not secure Gray with a seat belt but to instead place him face down, shackled and handcuffed, on the floor of the van. Officers Garrett Miller and Alicia White are awaiting trial.
Bledsoe told the judge that Rice didn’t not make decisions based on danger, but because he had the power “to punish and humiliate Freddie Gray”.
Williams is the same judge who acquitted officers Edward Nero and Caesar Goodson.
Three earlier trials resulted in two acquittals and a mistrial.
Dr. Matthew Ammerman, a neurosurgeon, concluded that Gray’s neck injury occurred immediately before the van’s final stop.
A judge in Baltimore is scheduled to issue his ruling in the case of a police officer charged in the death of a black man injured in a police transport van. Circuit Judge Barry Williams dropped a second-degree assault charge midway through the trial, and prosecutors dropped a second misconduct charge at the trial’s start.
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Rice was the fourth of the six officers charged to go on trial in the Freddie Gray case. Prosecutors also dropped a second misconduct charge.
