baltimore Jury sees cop’s video statement in Gray case

Associated Press

BALTIMORE

William Porter told investigators that as soon as Freddie Gray indicated he wanted to go to the hospital, the officer intended to take him there, even though he wasn’t convinced Gray truly was injured but instead exhausted from kicking in the back of the transport van and feigning distress to avoid jail.

On Friday, jurors for the first time heard from Porter in his own words about what happened April 12, when Gray was arrested, handcuffed and placed head-first into the van, where he suffered the spinal cord injury that killed him.

Porter faces charges of manslaughter, assault, misconduct in office and reckless endangerment. Prosecutors say Porter ignored his training and department policies requiring officers to call a medic for prisoners who request one, and was criminally negligent for failing to buckle Gray into a seat belt. But Porter’s story, told in statements to police investigators, paints a different picture of the officer’s actions and intentions: instead of an ambivalent officer who disregarded a prisoner’s cries, Porter says he planned to take Gray to the hospital but, because he didn’t see any signs of injury, didn’t think it was an emergency.

Porter told investigators that when he opened the van’s doors to check on Gray during the fourth stop on a nearly 45-minute ride from where Gray was arrested to the Western District station house, where he was found unresponsive, Gray was listless and lethargic, but didn’t exhibit outward signs of injury.