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After a nearly two-and-a-half-year investigation, The Baltimore Sun reports the officers involved in the 2015 death of Freddie Gray will not face charges.
To be entirely clear: not a single one of them will be held criminally responsible.
The decision comes after several Baltimore police officers involved in Gray’s arrest were charged with violation of department rules in May. Officer Caesar Goodson (who was the driver of the van in which Gray suffered fatal injuries), Lt. Brian Rice, and Sgt. Rice reportedly faced termination at the time, while officers Edward Nero and Garrett Miller, who first arrested Gray, were suspended for five days without pay.
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“This case has always been about providing justice for an innocent 25-year-old man who was unreasonably taken into police custody, severely injured while in police custody, and died due to a lack of care,” Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby said at the time. “If today’s news is accurate, I am relieved to know that a majority of those involved will be held administratively accountable for their actions.”
Officer William Porter, who was criminally charged with manslaughter, did not face internal discipline, however.
So far, the Department of Justice has yet to make a public comment regarding whether it will bring charges, though as New York Daily News notes, “it has in previous controversial police-involvd deaths that did not lead to charges, such as the shooting of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge.”
Gray died in April 2015 at the age of 25 from a severe spinal injury after being arrested, handcuffed and shackled in the back of a police transport vehicle for alleged possession of a switchblade.
