Baltimore Officer Acquitted In Freddie Gray Death
BALTIMORE (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A judge has acquitted a Baltimore police officer on all charges in the death of Freddie Gray, a black man who died after he was injured in a police transport van.
Lt. Brian Rice was acquitted Monday after a bench trial by Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Barry Williams. Rice is the fourth of the six officers charged to go on trial in the 2015 death, CBS2's Craig Boswell reported.
Williams acquitted Officer Edward Nero and Officer Caesar Goodson after bench trials last month. The first of the six officers to go to trial, William Porter, faced a jury and ended with a mistrial. He'll be retried in September.
Rice faced charges of involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment and misconduct in office. Rice is white and the highest-ranking of the officers.
Gray, who was 25 years old, died a week after suffering a spinal injury in the police van last year, touching off protests and rioting.
Riots in Baltimore prompted the governor of Maryland to declare a state of emergency and activate the National Guard in Baltimore. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie also deployed 150 state troopers to help Baltimore restore peace and order.
A New York City demonstration held in solidarity with the Baltimore protests resulted in 143 arrests last April after protesters spilled into traffic and shut down the outbound Holland Tunnel, the West Side Highway and several other city streets.
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