After officer’s acquittal, residents negotiate hope for change in city

Associated Press

BALTIMORE

It was supposed to be an open-and-shut case: The 25-year-old black man was healthy before his arrest and arrived at the nearby station dying from a broken neck.

But a judge ruled Thursday that prosecutors failed to prove any crime was committed by Officer Caesar Goodson, who drove the van where Freddie Gray suffered his fatal injury during a six-stop, 45-minute odyssey after he tried to outrun a police patrol.

After three trials and no convictions, it’s increasingly clear that the evidence against six Baltimore police officers in charged in Gray’s death is too weak to sustain the hopes of citizens desperate for reform.

Police union president Gene Ryan called on State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby on Thursday to reconsider her “malicious prosecution,” since he’s certain the remaining officers also will be acquitted.

Gray’s death became a rallying cry for the Black Lives Matter movement, fueling outrage nationwide over the treatment of black people by the criminal justice system. But it hasn’t fit quite so neatly into the narrative of white authorities imposing unfair justice on minorities.

In this case, not only the victim but the defendant, judge, top prosecutor and mayor are African-American. At the time of Gray’s death, so was the police chief.

Many activists focused their criticism on the system as a whole.

“Today is a reminder that there is a set of laws, policies and police union contracts across the country that will protect any form of police behavior,” Black Lives Matter activist DeRay Mckesson said.

Gray’s death was a career-ender for Baltimore’s police chief, and the new commissioner, Kevin Davis, has been vocal about imposing changes. All patrol officers will soon wear body cameras, and software will ensure no policeman can say he hasn’t read and understood department rules.

Police vans will be outfitted with cameras to record prisoners being transported.

Maryland lawmakers also amended the Law Enforcement Officers Bill Of Rights for the first time in decades; among other things, they reduced from 10 to 5 days the period when officers charged with a crime can refuse to participate in an investigation.

Billy Murphy, the Gray family attorney, had a news conference to address the ruling Thursday evening.

He said putting cameras in courtrooms to make trials like this one more transparent should be “at the top of the list” of criminal justice reforms, so the public can make up its own mind about the merits and weaknesses of the case.