Baltimore's top prosecutor announced criminal charges Friday against all six officers suspended after a man suffered a fatal spinal injury in police custody, saying "no one is above the law."
"Mr. Gray's death was a homicide," State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby declared. His arrest was illegal and his treatment in custody amounted to murder and manslaughter, she said.
The announcement came after nearly two weeks of growing anger over Freddie Gray's death, and only hours after State's Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby received the results of a police investigation.
Mosby announced the stiffest charge -- second-degree "depraved heart" murder -- against the driver of the police van. Other officers face charges of involuntary manslaughter, assault and illegal arrest.
Mosby said she comes from five generations of police officers, and that the charges against these six officers should in no way damage the relationship between police and prosecutors in Baltimore.
Her announcement came as the city braced for two move waves of protests Friday and Saturday focused on the case.
Warrants have been issued for the arrest of the officers charged in the case, she said. In addition to murder and manslaughter, charges include assault, misconduct and false imprisonment.
Read Latest Breaking News from Newsmax.com http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/freddie-gray-homicide-prosecutor/2015/05/01/id/642014/#ixzz3Yu5g5Y5Q
Let's see how this plays out. I haven't read the charges, but news reports say Mr Gray died from an injury consistent with striking a bolt in the van, which may have been a result of the driver stomping on the brakes thereby slamming an unsecured Mr Gray into the wall of the van. Apparently this brake-stomping behavior is not unknown in Baltimore.
Posted by: Swami Bhut Jolokia | 01 May 2015 at 01:09 PM
I just heard that Mosby's campaign was based on the charge that the former State's Attorney was too cozy with the police. She vowed to hold the police accountable. I find it interesting that she did not think a grand jury was needed in this case.
Posted by: The Twisted Genius | 01 May 2015 at 01:15 PM
SBJ: It's good to wait to see how it plays out because, frankly, speculation is the order of the day. However, I am curious about the mechanism of injury. Not sure how you snap your spine and crush your larynx from inadvertently hitting a bolt.
We'll see.
Posted by: Matthew | 01 May 2015 at 01:38 PM
Mosby is friends with Freddy Gray's family's attorney (served on her transition team and donated to her campaign). Her husband is Councilman Mosby, who has been on tv making sympathetic statements about the rioters. No mention that Gray was a fleeing felon engaged in a suspected drug transaction with a blade on him.
When the officers are found not guilty I hope you're ready for more diversity, Maryland.
Posted by: Tyler | 01 May 2015 at 02:11 PM
TTG,
From what I have read, grand juries in Baltimore tend to be suspicious of the police. Conventional wisdom was that a grand jury indictment would have been a foregone conclusion. Mosby still had to persuade a judge to get the warrants. Perhaps the evidence in the Baltimore police's own investigation was pretty damning. Time will tell.
If the grand jury process was skipped for the sake of expediency, I wonder if it was intended to calm any more potential rioting tonight/this weekend. Perhaps it will have the opposite effect?
Posted by: nick b | 01 May 2015 at 02:44 PM
off topic
@Pat
Thought you would be interested in this:
Christian McBurney: Spies in Revolutionary Rhode Island
Naval War College
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YYCSdbHNCg
Posted by: b | 01 May 2015 at 02:48 PM
bolt, schmolt, the initial arrest was reportedly illegal, whatever the mechanism, that's the initial but-for ofg causation
Posted by: Charles I | 01 May 2015 at 02:49 PM
@Tyler:
No mention that Gray was a fleeing felon engaged in a suspected drug transaction with a blade on him."
It's always the same isn't it? The victim is a "felon" engaged in a "suspected something". Furthermore "fleeing" is obviously a capital crime in America because, by definition, if the person is running away they must be guilty of something, right?.
It may surprise you Tyler that in our country (Australia) and in New Zealand and (I think in Britain and the Continent) we do not call police "Sir" nor do we expect to get arrested, let alone handcuffed, for misdemeanours that regularly seem to result in serious injury or death for American "Suspects".
To put that another way Tyler, even "suspects" and "felons" have rights. Furthermore the neurolinguistics explanation for Black people running from Police is that they know they have zero chance of Not being arrested and mistreated, no hope of a fair trial and will be subject to a disproportionately long prison sentence served under vicious sub human conditions followed by lifelong stigma.
To put that yet another way: unwarranted police violence against a handcuffed person is just plain cowardly and indicative of a low IQ.
Posted by: walrus | 01 May 2015 at 06:22 PM
To all,
The stupidest thing I've read or seen on this:
http://www.rawstory.com/2015/05/larry-wilmore-baltimore-gang-members-sound-like-noam-chomsky-compared-to-the-cops/
There's an old & true rap lyric that goes:
"Rapper that are serpents...
Counterfeit criminal, fakin' jacks
Luxury in his raps ain't facts
It's a camouflage...
Large n****s keep it on the low black
No raps or Kodak's, just stacking cheese & freezers packed"
The simple translation is that real criminals, especially "gang leaders", maintain their positions & wealth by not broadcasting themselves in the public & outlandish manner that rappers do.
I grew up among these people & lived in "towers" during my entire school years. They are not simply normal kids, engaged in commerce. They are groomed, from the start, to lose any sense of morality or human compassion. They sexually harass & assault any vulnerable girl they set their sights on. They rob any weakling who crosses their path. And there is no sense of loyalty to innocents who live in their own territory. These innocents, their girls, and property...will be the first targets in the "careers" of these "lost children of babylon".
I'm so sick of Hollywood & shows like "The Wire" massaging the reality of this cancer. Why do they do this? How quickly it dropped out of the news that the Bloods & Interscope records collaborated in cocaine distribution.
SMH,
Paul Escobar
Posted by: Paul Escobar | 01 May 2015 at 06:33 PM
Tyler
Freddy Grey was chased for running in a known drug infested area, otherwise there was no reason to suspect he was involved in a drug deal. The knife he was carrying was not an illegal switchblade but a spring assisted knife that has to be partially opened before the spring can be engaged. I can buy one at REI.
http://www.rei.com/product/801879/benchmade-585-mini-barrage-knife
These cops are predators that saw a weaker animal running and followed their feral instincts to take it down.
Posted by: optimax | 01 May 2015 at 07:29 PM
Walrus,
Oh come the f*ck off of it. I saw in London what your brand of "law enforcement" ends in, to say nothing of the disparity between how Rotherham was treated vs. Police kicking down the doors of people posting mean things on twitter.
Gray was a recidivist felon with MULTIPLE convictions for drug and assault offenses. He wasn't an angel like you seem to think. There's a reason why 'known felon' is a Graham factor in Use of Force case law. What's your experience in law enforcement that allows you to ride in on a moral high horse and discuss what is cowardly and what is not?
Posted by: Tyler | 01 May 2015 at 07:33 PM
Paul,
Liberals still engaged in intellectual masturbation of blacks. Third verse same as the first.
Posted by: Tyler | 01 May 2015 at 07:40 PM
Listening to it again, she sounds like every other black pol: yelling, pitching her voice when she is coming to a point, relying exclusively on rhetoric, and using unnecessarily big words for what appears to be no other reason than to sound "smart".
Posted by: Tyler | 01 May 2015 at 07:48 PM
Walrus,
Seriously, get your lens on American policing from somewhere else. I've been called "motherf*cker" more than Ive everbeen called sir.
Posted by: Tyler | 01 May 2015 at 07:50 PM
optimax,
Yeah, except he was a known drug dealer with a rap sheet as long as my arm.
You and walrus sound like the same breed of liberal who just KNEW that the US was committing all sorts of war crimes in VN. Spare me the ridiculous, over the top rhetoric about "prey and predator". Gray would have gutted you in a minute for your wallet and slept like a baby.
Posted by: Tyler | 01 May 2015 at 08:21 PM
I get my police experience in weekly doses from my Son who also has to put up with the same crap American police do. However in the case of Gray, Two wrongs don't make a right. The excuse that Gray was a known felon or engaged in crime does not allow excessive force. To put that another way, if the Police involved have a stack of injuries to show then the outcome may be justifiable.
I know you have to put up with dealing with human trash, so does my son. However doesn't the fact that the U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the world and that Blacks are twice as likely to be jailed tell you something?
Posted by: walrus | 01 May 2015 at 08:26 PM
Since the usual Fellow Travelers seem unable or unwilling to use Google before pontificating on the plight of future astronaut/ambassador, Frederick Gray, I took the time to go and find his rap sheet.
http://heavy.com/news/2015/04/freddie-gray-arrest-record-criminal-history-rap-sheet-why-was-freddie-gray-arrested/
March 20, 2015: Possession of a Controlled Dangerous Substance
March 13, 2015: Malicious destruction of property, second-degree assault
January 20, 2015: Fourth-degree burglary, trespassing
January 14, 2015: Possession of a controlled dangerous substance, possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute
December 31, 2014: Possession of narcotics with intent to distribute
December 14, 2014: Possession of a controlled dangerous substance
August 31, 2014: Illegal gambling, trespassing
January 25, 2014: Possession of marijuana
September 28, 2013: Distribution of narcotics, unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous substance, second-degree assault, second-degree escape
April 13, 2012: Possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute, unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous substance, violation of probation
July 16, 2008: Possession of a controlled dangerous substance, possession with intent to distribute
March 28, 2008: Unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous substance
March 14, 2008: Possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to manufacture and distribute
February 11, 2008: Unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous substance, possession of a controlled dangerous substance
August 29, 2007: Possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute, violation of probation
August 28, 2007: Possession of marijuana
August 23, 2007: False statement to a peace officer, unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous substance
July 16, 2007: Possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute, unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous substance (2 counts)
Some highlights there. Holy crap I still can't believe you wrote "predator and prey" with a straight face, optimax. I hope this is some sort of attempt to get me wound up and not something you actually believe.
Posted by: Tyler | 01 May 2015 at 08:29 PM
walrus
"... doesn't the fact that the U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the world and that Blacks are twice as likely to be jailed tell you something?" Perhaps Australia lacks our demographic opportunities. pl
Posted by: turcopolier | 01 May 2015 at 08:37 PM
Walrus,
Cry me a river while you explain to me the strange osmosis by which your son's experience in the Commonwealth translates to you understanding how American policing works. The fact you think the police need a stack of injuries to justify force shows how little you know, and how unsuitable you are to comment on this issue.
Yeah, it tells me that America has a violent subculture that is unwilling to assimilate into what its expected. Walrus, you live on a ranch in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE surrounded by acreage miles away from the nearest black. You have no idea what the thug culture in America is like and how blacks have more opportunities than any other black on the face of the planet, yet the super majority willfully ignore it. It just ain't "lack of education" because EVERY SINGLE black ruled country is either a wreck or goes to a wreck. Ask a Rhodesian or Afrikaans how they feel about seeing their countries wrecked by do gooders like you.
Funny anecdote about blacks overseas and blacks here. For a while I was romantically involved with an Oxford educated black girl from the UK who worked for Mini Cooper in PR. Very classy, elegant woman who hailed from Nigeria (Yoruban descent, if my memory is correct). She stayed with me for months before she had to go back to work, and by the time she left she absolutely loathed black Americans and thug culture. She had likely heard the same stories you had of how put upon blacks were in American, how racist the police were, on and on. However, when she saw for her own eyes how they chose to live, it depressed her immensely because she had been told the lies her whole life and how "African Americans" were the standard for blacks across the world, yet the reality was so much cheap gilt.
So I guess its not funny as much as you probably shouldn't believe everything the telly tells you.
Posted by: Tyler | 01 May 2015 at 08:46 PM
Walrus,
"Highest incarceration rate of blacks"
Maybe because blacks are disproportionately committing the amount of crimes? Or is that racist bad think?
Posted by: Tyler | 01 May 2015 at 08:47 PM
Twisted--A prosecutor calls for a grand jury when they want cover. I think this prosecutor figured it our for herself and filed charges. In other words, she did her job. Now it is up the the rest of the justice system to decide if she was right.
Posted by: Laura Wilson | 01 May 2015 at 08:48 PM
Amen, Walrus.
Posted by: Laura Wilson | 01 May 2015 at 08:49 PM
Charles,
There's nothing illegal about arresting a known felon who has a deadly weapon on him. Mosby has no clue what she's talking about, which is worrying in a DA.
Posted by: Tyler | 01 May 2015 at 09:13 PM
Tyler
In this instance Freddy Gray did nothing wrong but I guess you think because he had a rap sheet he deserved to have his neck fractured. Why not put scarlet A's on unwed mothers or shoot fleeing suspects in the back over a traffic stop.
I had more friends who went to VN than you'll ever know. The ones that came back were severely disillusioned with our country. I don't blame our soldiers for trying to survive a war. I blame our politicians for unnecessary wars, except Sen. Wayne Morse and the other congressman that voted against the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. And we are still getting into these wars because the system doesn't work for the average person. Not when the Supreme Court picks our president. I don't believe we have a representative democracy anymore.
Get off that libtard shit, Tyler. You wouldn't know a real conservative if you saw one because there are so few left. You have ever heard of a progressive Republican? You ought to read the La Follette Platform of 1924 and see what your generation missed. You always have Teddy Boy Cruz.
Posted by: optimax | 01 May 2015 at 09:17 PM
Tyler,
Shhh. Don't ask where "mom of the year" was in 2007, 2008, 2012.... Nor ask what kind of moral values all those college graduate educators in the public school system were reinforcing.
Posted by: Fred | 01 May 2015 at 09:46 PM