WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) by Fanny ANDRE
US prosecutors on Wednesday dropped all charges against police in the death of Freddie Gray, an African American whose fatal injury in custody provoked riots in Baltimore, despite insisting he had been killed.
The lead prosecutor defended efforts to convict six officers on charges ranging from second degree murder to reckless endangerment, but criticized “reluctance and obvious bias” from individual police officers who worked to undermine the case and said it was probable that remaining trials would end in acquittal.
The decision from Baltimore’s state prosecutor now makes it unlikely that anyone will be punished for what was one of the most inflammatory deaths of unarmed black men in police custody, fueling a nationwide protest movement.
“We do not believe that Freddie Gray killed himself,” said state prosecutor Marilyn Mosby. “We stand by the medical examiners’ determination that Freddie Gray’s death was a homicide.”
The 25-year-old suffered a severed spine while being transported in the back of a police van, unsecured and with his hands and feet bound, after being arrested on April 12, 2015 while fleeing police.
He died a week later. Police said his death was an accident.
Despite murder, assault, manslaughter and endangerment charges, three officers were acquitted by a judge. A fourth case ended in a hung jury and further scheduled trials will now not happen.
Police investigating police was problematic and while the Baltimore police chief had been “extremely accommodating,” Mosby said individual detectives had been “uncooperative” and sought to disprove the state’s case.
While Mosby said prosecutors had presented “a great deal of evidence” and expressed disappointment with the verdicts, she said police reforms would safeguard against anyone else coming else to the same fate.
“In spite of the fact that the verdicts didn’t go in our favor, there have been many gains throughout this journey to ensure that what happened to Freddie Gray never happens to another person,” she added.
Need for reform
Reforms require Baltimore officers to wear body cameras, buckle detainees into seatbelts, install cameras in police wagons and make it mandatory for officers to call a medic when requested, she said.
“Every battle, every hurdle, every obstacle that we’ve overcome since the pursuit of these cases has brought us one step closer to equality,” she said.
“This system is in need of reform,” she said. “We will fight for a fair and equitable justice system for all so that whatever happened to Freddie Gray never happens to another person in this community again.”
Officer Garrett Miller had been the next to face trial for assault, misconduct and endangerment when the charges were dropped in a hearing on Wednesday.
The move comes with the United States roiling over more deaths of black men at the hands of police, as well as reprisal killings of police.
Five officers were shot dead in Dallas on July 7 and three others were killed in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on July 17.
The Louisiana shooting, by a black Iraq veteran, took place in a city scarred by racial tensions and protests after the July 5 death of Alton Sterling, a black man shot at point-blank range by two white Baton Rouge police officers.
London-based Amnesty International called on Baltimore police to exercise restraint during protests, which erupted after Gray’s death last year.
“In too many cases, state laws governing the use of lethal force are overly broad and unclear,” the rights organization said at the time.
“There must be a statewide review of police policies to ensure that cases like Freddie Gray’s will not be repeated.”