One Baltimore police officer was charged Friday with murder, three with manslaughter and two with assault in the death of Freddie Gray, who a prosecutor said suffered a broken neck last month when he was left shackled at the feet and lying face down in a police van by officers who ignored his pleas as they made their rounds.

The death of Gray, 25, on April 19 of injuries suffered a week earlier touched off peaceful protests that degenerated into a night of rioting, looting and chaos Monday. On Friday, a crowd gathered around State's Attorney for Baltimore Marilyn Mosby cheered as she said the police involved would be brought to justice in the incident. Mosby said the police had no basis for arresting Gray, and described a harrowing ride in a van driven by Police Officer Caesar Goodson, 45, who was charged with the most serious crimes, including second-degree murder.

"No one is above the law," declared Mosby, who said she comes from five generations of law enforcement and has been on the job for four months. Her husband is Baltimore City Councilman Nick Mosby, who has spoken out about the riots and anger in the city's African-American community.

At a late afternoon press conference Friday, a man named Richard who said he was "one of Freddie's two fathers" said the family was "satisfied with today's charges."

He then appealed for peace, saying, "without justice there is no peace but let us have peace in the pursuit of justice."

All six officers were reported in custody by Friday afternoon.

Before the charges were announced, the Baltimore police union president told Mosby in a letter that none of the six officers were responsible for Gray's death.

"Not one of the officers involved in this tragic situation left home in the morning with the anticipation that someone with whom they interacted would not go home that night," the letter states. "As tragic as this situation is, none of the officers involved are responsible for the death of Mr. Gray."

The union requested a special prosecutor in the case, saying Mosby had conflicts of interest including a friendship with the Gray family's lawyer, Billy Murphy, who contributed to her campaign. Murphy was among Mosby's biggest campaign contributors last year, donating the maximum individual amount allowed, $4,000, in June. Murphy also served on Mosby's transition team after the election.

Mosby, meanwhile, swiftly rejected a request for a special independent prosecutor.

Gray suffered a broken neck, apparently while riding in the back of the Baltimore police van. While Mosby said Friday the medical examiner had ruled the death a homicide, police sources have said his injuries may have been caused by his head hitting a bolt inside the vehicle, according to local reports.

The officers and charges in the case include:

- Goodson was charged with second-degree depraved-heart murder, involuntary manslaughter, second-degree negligent assault, as well as other charges including failure to render aid and misconduct in office.

- Police Officer William Porter, 25, was charged with involuntary manslaughter, second-degree assault and misconduct in office.

- Police Lt. Brian Rice, 41, was charged with involuntary manslaughter and second-degree assault.

- Police Officer Alicia White, 30, was charged with involuntary manslaughter, second degree assault and misconduct in office.

- Police officers Edward Nero, 29, and Garrett Miller, 26, were charged with multiple counts of assault, false imprisonment and misconduct in office.

Five of the six officers charged were in custody Friday afternoon, according to Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Ralwings-Blake. The officers facing felony charges have been suspended without pay.

Mosby said her office’s police integrity unit began investigating the case the day after Gray’s arrest and interviewed dozens of witnesses and reviewed video, police statements and medical records as well as canvassed "the community and the family of Mr. Gray."

She said her probe found the police officers, part of a bike patrol led by Rice, made eye contact with Gray, who has a rap sheet that includes several drug arrests. Gray ran from police, prompting the officers to chase after him, Mosby said. Gray surrendered a short time later and was handcuffed with his arms behind his back, she said.

"It was at this time that Mr. Gray indicated that he could not breathe and requested an inhaler, to no avail," said Mosby, who also said the knife Gray was carrying clipped to the inside of his pants was not a switchblade and was not illegal.

Police held Gray on the sidewalk until Goodson arrived driving the van, Mosby said. Goodson, Rice, Nero and Miller loaded him into the van, she said, but did not secure him with a seatbelt, a policy that had been put in place department wide nine days earlier.

Moments later, Rice ordered Goodson to pull over and the officers took Gray back out of the van. The shackled Gray's legs, filled out paperwork and put him back in, placing him on his stomach on the floor of the vehicle, Mosby said. It was after that, she said, that Gray suffered his injuries. Mosby said Gray was injured "as a result of being handcuffed, shackled by his feet and unrestrained inside" the wagon.

Mosby said the police stopped at least one more time to observe Gray, but did not immediately request medical assistance for him despite his pleas. She said Goodson drove the vehicle to pick up another arrested suspect blocks away, rather than taking Gray immediately for medical help.

White, who had been sent to investigate citizens' complaints about Gray's initial arrest, looked in on him as he lay face down in the back of the van, Mosby said, but did nothing to help him.

"She made no effort to look or assess or determine his condition," Mosby charged.

By the time the van arrived at the police station, according to Mosby, Gray was not breathing and had gone into cardiac arrest. He was then rushed to a trauma center run by the University of Maryland where he underwent surgery and later died, she said.

Gray died a week later, on April 19. Until Friday's news conference few details about the investigation had been publicly released and most of what was known came from local reports citing unnamed sources. An explosive report Wednesday night in the Washington Post cited a fellow passenger's account in a police affidavit that said Gray was thrashing around in an effort to injure himself, although that witness went on the city's CBS affiliate to say his words were taken out of context and that he now fears for his life after his statement was used to bolster the police version of events.

"When I was in the back of that van it did not stop or nothing," Danta Allen, who had been arrested for allegedly stealing a cigarette, told WJZ. "All it did was go straight to the station, but I heard a little banging, like he was banging his head," Allen said. "I didn’t even know he was in the van until we got to the station."

Gray's lawyer has said his spine was nearly severed, but results of an autopsy, like the police report, remained under wraps. That has fueled frustration and suspicion in the community, where peaceful protests devolved into rioting and looting, culminating in a night of chaos on Monday.

The Gray family's lawyers said they want the process to play out, and urged calm.

"This family wants justice, and they want justice that comes at the right time and not too soon," attorney Hassan Murphy said Wednesday.

Meanwhile, protesters over Gray’s death continue to spread across the nation. Aside from gatherings in Baltimore, demonstrations spread to Philadelphia and New York Thursday.

Philly.com reports Philadelphia police made three or four arrests after hundreds of protesters marched through the city to show support for Gray.

More demonstrations are planned through the weekend.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/05/01/many-questions-still-remain-in-death-freddie-gray/

We have only heard one side of the story to this, I am curious to see the other side. I do think based on what's being reported if true, they should be charged.

This prosecutor was really out of line on parts of her speech inflammatory and has to much of a personal interest in this case. Also murder 2 is a little much.

I don't like how the prosecutor left out that he was observed making a drug transaction, his toxicology reports came back with multiple drugs in his system including Heroin and Marijuana and how her husband is a city councilman and one of her biggest donors was a close family friend of the Grey family and is their attorney and how her chief prosecutor on this case just happens to be in a relationship with the reporter who broke the story of the subject in the back of the police van who changed his story magically after he gave an original statement. Oh and that Mr. Grey was well known to law enforcement in the area.

There are many conflicts here and for a fair trial to happen this State's Attorney and her staff need to step aside and a change of venue needs to happen for a fair trial.

ahahaha what does drugs in his system have to do with this? ok so because he had drugs in his system, that caused him to sever his own spine? that is the most ridiculous thing i ever heard. just more of the police trying to smeer his character and take the spotlight off them. i dont care what drugs you have in your system, your not going to puprosely sever your own spine, that is just ridiculous.

I agree with the drugs don't matter but I have seen plenty of videos of people on pcp that do all kinds of crazy **** including slicing themselves open..

i hear ya, that being said we both know that PCP is a whole different ballgame than weed or heroin hahah. ive never had pcp before and wouldnt want to but when your on PCP your literally out of your mind! ive seen videos of people on PCP and they are f'ing crazy. but i dont care how much heroin or weed you have in your system, your not going to sever your own spine. even the guy in the van with him said the cops twisted his words to try to save their own @$$. some people lack common sense, i see your NOT one of those people.

People do crazy things.... even to themselves...... no drugs needed

It's a mad, mad, mad, mad world out there and nothing much surprises me anymore that people do to themselves or others

Prescription drugs have side effects worse than most street drugs initial or subsequent long term effects, and he had recently had surgery.

We can assume all day long and never learn or know the facts, only opinionate the outcome

Perhaps his "death by cop" plans failed. Will we ever really know?

So despite the 'allusion' that the police department personal was attempting to put out there with:
a) supporting written statements from the officers in the transport van
b) the other passenger that they had paper work on for transport and his original statement that he later recanted because he was under pressure to 'LIE' for the police department
c) that the victim was belted into those safety harness/seat belts as he should have been despite pleading for aid and 3-4 stops to check on his welfare!

By the time that the van arrived at the station he was in cardiac arrest and in the process of dying!

Fox news {as usual} throws everything feasible out there as a 'smoke screen' to Segway from the cause and effect of the main reason for the prosecutor to speak about the coroners report!

Report findings stated homicide = murder charges to proceed against those officers in charge of the victim!
What the victim did in his life prior to his death has little meaning to the way his life was cut short; the bicycle police noticed him and made eye contact and everything else will come out in the trial --- then we'll hear and see how much TRUTH follows what they wrote up in their statements!

Right now...there's quite a bit of supposition for how much 'TRUTH' the police department can maintain when they lied about the number of stops and that was caught by a random camera! Looks bad - really bad for those 2 in the van!

The short version is:

Are the police involved responsible for his death? YES!

He was handcuffed and shackled, placed in the back of a metal container without being seat-belted in. If you have ever tried to keep from sliding on a smooth surface (some carny rides for example) it is impossible. With your hands and feet bond.... you see the results.

They are guilty! YES! Intentional? That the courts will have to decide, but they are liable and responsible.

He may have been trying to kick the door open and fell. Most likely he was unable to protect or defend himself from the effects of the ride. Perhaps both, but had he been seat-belted in the whole thing could have been prevented

The fact that he was falsely detained in the first place is not going to help their case

exctly great point soul, but you will have people who will just bring up his criminal history or his toxicology report and think that it somehow makes what these cops did okay.

But to Loot,tear up,and burn down your OWN Neighborhood about it,is slightly ludicrous!

probably government agents were sent in to do that. its been done before. make otherwise peaceful protesters look like a violent mob.

Yes, indeed; this is just one of many such examples where the police department/local law enforcement have been BUSTED doing just that!



SHOCKING - yet, they've been doing it and they were taught those very techniques by the FBI and J.Edgar Hoover! Worked well for him when he wanted to keep tabs on people that he wanted to 'FRAME'; who better to learn from?

yupp people nowadays are too naive and willing to believe anything just because its on the news. main stream news has been proven to be liars time and time again, and yet people still believe this crap. same thing when people were protesting the bank bailouts, government agents were sent in to start trouble to make otherwise peaceful people look like a mob of criminals. once you are aware of how the government operates, its sooooo easy to see through their deception, its almost comical. unfortunately we still have hard headed people today that think government is your friend because they give you welfare, government itself is directly reponsible for more deaths in the past 500 years than anything else. i still watch main stream news from time to time just for the laughs, it really is funny to see how dumb they think the american public is, sadly alot of the american public is dumb enough to believe this crap.

oh, I dont think government needs to send anyone in to do stupid things, I believe people just get fed up enough to lose their minds,, when injustice seems to continue happening

heck,, college kids have rioted over sporting events and pumpkin celebrations,,,lol

its not a mentality that is rare or secluded to any particular group or cause

no, do some research they've done it before. not saying they definitely did this time, but they have before.

Depends on the drugs. I have taken on people on Meth and PCP who have taken 3-4 people to put them down. Also drugs can cause a psychotic break and someone in one of those feel no pain either so it could mean a lot if he was trying to hurt himself.

Actually, the guys changed his story because he lives in the community that was rioting and feared his own safety, he would have been a dead man had he told the truth.

I agree there was some serious negligence here and people should be charged and held accountable, but murder, no. Manslaughter probably. This prosecutor and her people need to step away from this case immediately and a special prosecutor should be appointed, she is WAY to close to this and has to much of a personal interest in it.

yea i agree, but he wasnt on meth or PCP, he was on marijuana and heroin, i doubt he would have severed his own spine. witnesses said they had him bent up like a pretzel after they tazed him. then put him in the van with no seatbelt. im assuming the inside of the wagon is all smooth metal, so if your already hurt and not strapped in you will be flying all over the place in there.

I never said what they did was ok. They should be held accountable but for the right charges.

are you referring to the guy in the van with freddie? he said the police twisted his words and that he never said freddie was trying to hurt himself. thats coming from his own mouth... im assuming what you said about him changing his story came from who? the main stream media?