The family of Freddie Gray, the 25-year-old black man who suffered a fatal spinal cord injury in police custody — setting off the worst unrest in Baltimore since 1968 — reached a US$6.4 million settlement with the city on Tuesday, just days before a judge is to consider whether to move the trials of six officers facing charges in his death.
The tentative settlement, which must be approved by city leaders, was reached even before the Gray family filed an expected civil suit.
In making the announcement, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said the settlement “should not be interpreted as a judgment on the guilt or innocence of the officers facing trial,” but had been negotiated to avoid “costly and protracted litigation that would only make it more difficult for our city to heal.”
However, Baltimore’s Fraternal Order of Police pounced on the timing.
The union’s president, Lieutenant Gene Ryan, issued a statement saying it was “obscene” to settle with the family before the officers go to trial.
Legal specialists said the US$6.4 million was in line with settlements for recent racially charged police misconduct cases and might herald an era in which juries and city officials were inclined toward bigger payouts, given the national conversation over police treatment of African-Americans.
University of Baltimore president Kurt Schmoke — who was the city’s first elected black mayor — called the proposed settlement a “positive step” and said it could help calm a city that remains on edge.
“It is an admission by the city leaders that there was negligence but that they’re taking steps to heal the wounds that arose out of that negligence,” Schmoke said. “It won’t satisfy everyone, but if the family can convey a message that this is a positive step, then I think it could help defuse some of the anger that’s out there.”
A lawyer for the family, Billy Murphy, declined to comment on Tuesday, but scheduled a news conference for today.
The city Board of Estimates, a five-member panel, including the mayor, that approves purchases and contracts, is to consider the proposal today and is likely to approve it.
The proposed settlement comes as judicial hearings are beginning against the six officers facing criminal charges in the case. Last week, Judge Barry Williams of the Baltimore City Circuit Court ruled that the six would be tried separately; tomorrow, the judge is to consider a request by defense lawyers to move the trials outside Baltimore.
The agreement with the Gray family might help the defense make that case, Cardozo School of Law professor Ekow Yankah said.
“They will argue that the normal jury is going to think that the city’s settlement is in some way an admission of guilt,” he said.
In filing criminal charges against the six officers, Baltimore State Attorney Marilyn Mosby alleged that on April 12 they improperly arrested and shackled Gray, flouting police rules and standards of decency by loading him into a police van without the required safety restraints and ignoring his pleas for help during the ride.
The six face varying charges. Officer Caesar Goodson Jr, the driver of the van, is charged with second-degree depraved-heart murder — in essence, murder with willful disregard for human life. Sergeant Alicia White, Lieutenant Brian Rice and Officer William Porter are charged with manslaughter. Officers Edward Nero and Garrett Miller face lesser charges, including second-degree assault.
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