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Freddie Gray Trials Resume With Prosecution of 2nd Baltimore Officer Freddie Gray Trials Resume With Prosecution of 2nd Baltimore Officer
(about 7 hours later)
BALTIMORE — Following months of delays, the prosecution of the Baltimore police officers charged over their encounter with Freddie Gray, the 25-year-old black man who suffered a fatal spinal injury while in police custody, resumed on Thursday, with prosecutors alleging that crimes against Mr. Gray began well before he was injured. BALTIMORE — The second trial of a police officer charged in connection with the death of Freddie Gray began on Thursday and quickly pivoted to a basic question about police conduct: When does a lawful stop by a police officer turn into an unlawful arrest?
“He needlessly risked Mr. Gray’s life,” said Michael Schatzow, the chief deputy state’s attorney for Baltimore, laying out the state’s opening argument against Officer Edward M. Nero, one of three officers present when Mr. Gray was first arrested on a sunny April morning last year. As the case against Officer Edward M. Nero opened in a windowless courtroom here, it focused not on the death of Mr. Gray, the 25-year-old black man who suffered a fatal spinal injury in police custody last year, but on his arrest with prosecutors contending that his rights were violated by police officers even before he was injured.
“He deprived Mr. Gray of his liberty,” and of Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure, Mr. Schatzow added. “The defendant’s conduct was not that of a reasonable police officer,” said a prosecutor, Michael Schatzow, who accused Officer Nero of failing to follow procedures designed to ensure Fourth Amendment protections against unlawful search and seizure.
The death of Mr. Gray, about a week later, set off violent protests in Baltimore and catapulted this city’s long-simmering tensions between the police and its residents to the forefront of a national debate over how officers use force against minorities. “He deprived Mr. Gray of his liberty,” Mr. Schatzow added.
The indictments against six police officers in connection with the events surrounding Mr. Gray’s death were welcomed by demonstrators demanding police accountability. But so far, legal arguments against the officers have been deeply complex, and the first trial, of Officer William G. Porter, ended with a mistrial in December. The death of Mr. Gray touched off this city’s worst riots since the death of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and prompted the governor to call in the National Guard to patrol the streets, and it became an indelible part of the nation’s wrenching discussion over how police use force against minorities.
Now the man behind the defense table is Officer Nero, 30, who is charged with second-degree assault, reckless endangerment and two counts of misconduct, all of which are misdemeanors. He is not charged with Mr. Gray’s death, or even with directly injuring Mr. Gray. Instead, prosecutors are seeking to prove that the police exceeded the scope of what they were allowed to do when they detained Mr. Gray, and so any physical contact they made while searching and holding him amounted to assault. Six police officers were charged with the arrest and death of Mr. Gray, and the proceedings against them resumed Thursday following a mistrial last year in the trial of Officer William G. Porter and months of delays.
But Marc Zayon, a defense lawyer for Officer Nero, said the officers had reasonable suspicion to pursue and apprehend Mr. Gray after he fled from officers for no apparent reason in West Baltimore’s downtrodden Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood. Officer Nero, 30, who sat upright in court for much of Thursday’s proceedings, clad in a three-piece suit, is not charged directly with the death of Mr. Gray and was not present for the van ride in which prosecutors and defense lawyers have said Mr. Gray was injured. Instead, he faces charges of second-degree assault, misconduct while in office and reckless endangerment for his alleged role in Mr. Gray’s initial arrest.
He was described by his defense lawyer, Marc Zayon, as a dedicated public servant who loved to be on bike patrol, as he was during the morning of Mr. Gray’s arrest. “He liked being outside, he liked the exercise, he liked interacting with people,” Mr. Zayon said.
For the assault charge, prosecutors are deploying an unusual legal theory: That the officers who arrested Mr. Gray exceeded the scope of their authority during their encounter with him, and that, as a result, the physical contact they made with him amounted to assault.
Marc Zayon, a lawyer for Officer Nero, said the officers had reasonable suspicion to pursue and apprehend Mr. Gray after he fled from officers for no apparent reason in West Baltimore’s downtrodden Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood. Officers had been instructed to heavily patrol. ,
“There’s no question that this is a high-crime area,” Mr. Zayon said. “There is no question that this is unprovoked flight.”“There’s no question that this is a high-crime area,” Mr. Zayon said. “There is no question that this is unprovoked flight.”
And Mr. Zayon denied that his client made physical contact with Mr. Gray during the first moments of his arrest, which Mr. Zayon said was primarily carried out by another police officer, Garrett E. Miller. But prosecutors said that although the officers were justified in stopping Mr. Gray and patting him down, in what is known as a “Terry stop,” they went well beyond that. Mr. Gray, they said, was handcuffed, placed on the ground and search, but never frisked first to establish probable cause.
“The only time he touches Freddie Gray is when he asks for his inhaler, and Officer Nero helps him” Mr. Zayon said, adding that throughout the encounter with Mr. Gray, Officer Nero acted “as any other officer similarly situated would have done.” “The evidence will show, your honor, that this was an arrest, not a Terry stop,” Mr. Schatzow said. “It’s not allowed what the officers did.”
Officer Nero faces a count of reckless endangerment for not fastening Mr. Gray’s seatbelt when he placed him inside a police wagon that had arrived to transport him to a nearby police station. Mr. Zayon said Mr. Gray was “actively and passively” resisting arrest, and it would have been too dangerous to do so. Mr. Zayon, the defense lawyer, denied that his client made physical contact with Mr. Gray during the first moments of his arrest, which Mr. Zayon said was primarily carried out by another police officer, Garrett E. Miller.
“The only time he touches Freddie Gray is when he asks for his inhaler, and Officer Nero helps him,” Mr. Zayon said, adding that throughout the encounter with Mr. Gray, Officer Nero acted “as any other officer similarly situated would have done.”
David Jaros, a law professor at the University of Baltimore, said the distinction between a lawful detention and an unlawful arrest can be a deeply murky one that might not be easily resolved in a courtroom.
“When we look at what is necessary to prove someone engaged in criminal activity, this is a particularly difficult case to make,” Mr. Jaros sad. “However, I think it’s important to recognize that there is a problem with policing in poor communities, and individuals being detained and arrested without probable cause in ways that violate their constitutional rights.”
Officer Nero faces a count of reckless endangerment for not fastening Mr. Gray’s seatbelt when he placed him in a police wagon that had arrived to take him to a nearby police station. Mr. Zayon said that Mr. Gray was “actively and passively” resisting arrest, and that it would have been too dangerous to do so.
Mr. Schatzow, the prosecutor, said Officer Nero ignored department procedure requiring seatbelt use and created a grave risk to Mr. Gray’s safety.Mr. Schatzow, the prosecutor, said Officer Nero ignored department procedure requiring seatbelt use and created a grave risk to Mr. Gray’s safety.
“He leaves him facedown on that filthy floor with Mr. Gray’s hands behind his back and his legs shackled,” Mr. Schatzow said.“He leaves him facedown on that filthy floor with Mr. Gray’s hands behind his back and his legs shackled,” Mr. Schatzow said.
The issue, Mr. Schatzow added, was “not one of danger.”The issue, Mr. Schatzow added, was “not one of danger.”
“This issue is of not caring.”“This issue is of not caring.”