Baltimore prosecutors to charge police over Freddie Gray's death

Prosecutors in Baltimore will file murder and manslaughter charges against police over the death of Freddie Gray, a young black man whose death in police custody sparked the worse riots in the city since the assassination of Martin Luther King in 1968.

Marilyn Mosby, the top prosecutor in Baltimore, announced the charges on Friday morning. She said Gray, 25, had died from injuries that he suffered as the police drove him around the city unrestrained in a van, a breach of policy, and that on several occasions officers had refused pleas from Gray for medical help.

African Americans in Baltimore have been protesting for two weeks over the death, which they said was another example of police brutality in the heavily black city. Following Gray's funeral on Monday, teenagers clashed with police, throwing rocks and bottles, torching cars and buildings and looting inner-city neighbourhoods.

The riot sparked a crisis in the city, as the government called in national guard troops for the first time since 1968, amid concerns about an escalation of violence. The city had remained fairly calm since Tuesday, but many residents warned that a failure to indict any police officers over the death would result in mass violence protests.

The case is the latest example of police mistreatment of African Americans, a situation that President Barack Obama this week described as a "slow-rolling crisis" in America. Ferguson, Missouri, last year saw months of protests over the death of an unarmed black man at the hands of a white police officer who was not charged over the incident.

On Friday, Ms Mosby said her office would file charges against all six officers involved in the death of Gray. She said the knife that Gray was carrying at the time of his arrest was not a switchblade - as had been alleged - but a legal knife that was not probable cause for an arrest.

The charges include second-degree murder for the police officer who drove the police van and is accused of forcing Gray to lay face down in the vehicle. Several residents in Baltimore this week said that police often use what are described as "rough rides" to scare or intimidate African Americans that they pick up off the streets.

A second officer was charged with involuntary manslaughter, while other offences for the six officers included misconduct. An arrest warrant has been issued for all the officers, who are expected to be arraigned later Friday.

While the outcome was welcomed by the African American community in the city, the Baltimore Fraternal Order of Police requested that Ms Mosby appoint a special independent prosecutor, saying it has deep concerns about the "many conflicts of interest" including the fact that her husband was a city councilman.

Ms Mosby dismissed concerns about any conflict of interest, saying, "I uphold the law. He makes the law. I will prosecute any case in my jurisdiction".

In an effort to reduce friction with the police, she said that many of her own relatives were police officers, and that her move was "not an indictment of the entire force".

@DimiSevastopulo

[email protected]?

© The Financial Times Limited 2015. All rights reserved.
FT and Financial Times are trademarks of the Financial Times Ltd.
Not to be redistributed, copied or modified in any way.
Euro2day.gr is solely responsible for providing this translation and the Financial Times Limited does not accept any liability for the accuracy or quality of the translation