Freddie Gray ‘would usually act out . . . and feign an injury,’ officer testifies
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Version 0 of 1. BALTIMORE — The first of six officers on trial in the death of Freddie Gray explained his role Wednesday in the tumultuous events that set the city aflame. It was a moment the riot-scarred city had waited for. William G. Porter told a jury that he was sorry for Gray’s death but that he had acted as any reasonable officer would and could not foresee the events that would lead to Gray’s catastrophic injury in the back of a police van. “It was a very traumatic thing for me,” Porter said of Gray’s death. “Any loss of life, I’m sorry to see that.” In more than four hours on the witness stand, Porter calmly described himself as a “fair” officer who had regular encounters with Gray, a man he said feigned injury to avoid arrest. In tense exchanges, prosecutors tried to pick apart his account, saying he had no regard for Gray’s life that April morning. Porter’s testimony could shape whether jurors believe that he ignored Gray’s pleas for help or was a well-meaning officer simply caught up in a tragic accident. In a case that revolves around what Porter did or did not do during a few key encounters with Gray, Porter addressed those questions directly in his testimony. Why didn’t he immediately call a medic for Gray? “He was unable to give me any reason for why he needed one.” Why didn’t he put Gray in a seat belt? “Throughout all my training, I seat-belted people inside my personal vehicle but never the wagon.” And why didn’t he tell the van’s driver, Officer Caesar R. Goodson Jr., to take Gray to the hospital? “There’s a hierarchy. I can’t tell Goodson what to do.” Porter also denied that Gray told him, “I can’t breathe.” A detective who testified otherwise “got it wrong.” The trial comes as police agencies across the nation grapple with how to convince the public that the legal system can provide justice when their own are accused of wrongdoing. After Gray’s death, protests and riots erupted in Baltimore. The city has been on edge, waiting to see whether the officers facing charges related to Gray’s death and arrest will be convicted. Prosecutors have argued that Porter, 26, should be held responsible in the April 12 incident because he failed to properly buckle Gray into a police van and failed to get him immediate medical attention when asked. Prosecutors say Gray, unable to brace himself because his hands and legs were shackled, fell when the van made a sudden movement and broke his neck. Porter has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter, second-degree assault, reckless endangerment and misconduct in office. Porter testified that as a police officer he “saw Gray on a daily routine” and that the two had a “mutual respect for each other.” But he said Gray had a reputation for misleading authorities about injury and that just two weeks before the April 12 encounter, Gray tried to kick out a window of a police SUV after he was detained. “He would usually act out and yell and feign an injury,” Porter said. He testified that on the day of Gray’s arrest, when he checked on him in the van, he saw no cause for concern. Porter seemed to cast another officer charged in the case — Goodson — as bearing more responsibility for handling Gray. Goodson faces a charge of second-degree depraved-heart murder, the most serious filed in the case. Porter testified that it was customarily understood that a prisoner was under the control of the van driver and that he figured it would be quicker to let Goodson take Gray to the hospital than calling a medic. As for putting Gray in a seat belt, Porter suggested that it would have been dangerous. “That wagon is pretty tight,” he said, noting that the gun on his right hip would have been very close to Gray. He testified that he has participated in 150 arrests in which detainees were transported in a police van and that not once was a detainee buckled in. The testimony goes to the heart of the prosecution’s case, which is that Porter neglected department regulations by failing to strap Gray in the police van. “Even the most docile detainee presents a risk,” Porter said. Wearing a gray suit and a navy blue tie, Porter appeared exasperated at times but did not seem to get angry during his cross-examination by Baltimore Chief Deputy State’s Attorney Michael Schatzow. The prosecutor tried to put Porter on the defensive by raising inconsistencies between the interview he gave to investigators and Wednesday’s testimony. At one point, Schatzow asked him whether a culture of “no snitching” exists among police officers. “Is that culture in the Baltimore Police Department?” Schatzow asked. “Absolutely not,” Porter replied. “I’m offended you would even say something like that.” Wednesday marked the defense attorneys’ first day of presenting their case to the jurors, and Porter’s testimony followed that of a retired medical examiner. Vincent Di Maio, a forensic pathologist from Texas, disputed virtually every significant finding by the state medical examiner in the case — including her classification of the death as a homicide. He also took issue with the conclusion that Gray was injured before Porter asked whether he needed a medic. “It was just an accident,” Di Maio testified, “and accidents happen.” But Di Maio acknowledged that if Gray “was being restrained by a seat belt,” he would not have been injured. When Gray’s injury occurred is key to the prosecutors’ case. If jurors believe the state medical examiner’s assessment, they might conclude that Porter could have sought help immediately and saved Gray’s life. If they believe Di Maio, they might infer that Porter could not have intervened in any meaningful way. Porter also testified on that point, saying that at the van’s fourth of six stops, Gray appeared tired but not seriously injured. Porter testified that Gray was making eye contact and talking in a normal voice, and that there was no way Gray was partially paralyzed when the officer helped the 25-year-old to the bench of the police van. Three times during his testimony, Porter got out of the witness box to demonstrate on his attorney the various positions that he found Gray during the wagon stops. “Had he been injured, I would have called for a medic,” Porter said. But Porter did say that he offered a medic to Gray and that Gray told him he needed one. Porter said he suggested to Goodson that Gray be taken to the hospital. He said he later told a supervisor the same thing. Porter testified that he found Gray unresponsive only after the van arrived at the Western District station. He said he opened the back and called Gray’s name. He got no response, so he climbed in. Schatzow finished his cross-examination by asking Porter about the duty of a police officer. “What is ingrained in you as an officer is to protect life,” Porter replied. “But at stops four and five on April 12, 2015, you did not protect Freddie Gray’s life?” Porter quickly replied: “Untrue.” Matt Zapotosky contributed to this report. 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