On April 12, 2015, Freddie Carlos Gray Jr., a 25-year-old African-American man, was arrested by Baltimore Police in the Gilmor Homes housing project for possession of a knife. According to charging documents, officers on bicycle patrol made eye contact with Gray, who fled, and after a brief chase he was apprehended. Bystander video showed Gray screaming as he was dragged to a police transport van. While being transported, Gray was not secured with a seatbelt, contrary to a department policy that had gone into effect six days earlier. The van made several stops, including one where Gray was removed and placed in leg irons. He was later found unresponsive and taken to the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, where he died on April 19, 2015, of injuries to his cervical spinal cord.
The Baltimore Police Department suspended six officers with pay pending investigation: Lieutenant Brian Rice, Sergeant Alicia White, and Officers William Porter, Garrett Miller, Edward Nero, and Caesar Goodson. The medical examiner's office ruled Gray's death a homicide, finding officers had failed to follow safety procedures. Baltimore City State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby announced charges against all six officers, ranging from false imprisonment and second-degree assault to manslaughter and, for van driver Officer Goodson, second-degree depraved-heart murder. A grand jury later indicted the officers on most of the original charges, dropping false imprisonment counts but adding reckless endangerment.
Gray's death and hospitalization sparked a series of protests in Baltimore. A protest on April 25, 2015, turned violent, resulting in 34 arrests and injuries to 15 officers. Following Gray's funeral on April 27, unrest intensified with looting and the burning of businesses, including a CVS pharmacy. Governor Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency and deployed the Maryland National Guard; a citywide curfew was imposed and later lifted on May 3, 2015, as the Guard withdrew.
The six officers were tried separately beginning in late 2015. Officer Porter's trial ended in a mistrial in December 2015 after a hung jury; charges against him were later dropped. Officers Nero, Goodson, and Rice were acquitted at bench trials in 2016. Charges against the two remaining officers, Miller and White, were dropped in July 2016. Internal disciplinary proceedings followed: Nero and Miller pleaded guilty to departmental violations, while Rice and Goodson were cleared, and Porter and White faced no further administrative action.
On September 8, 2015, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake announced a $6.4 million civil settlement with Gray's family, stated to be independent of any judgment on the officers' guilt or innocence. On September 12, 2017, following a two-year investigation, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it would not bring federal charges against the six officers, concluding the evidence was insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that they had willfully violated Gray's civil rights.
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