With charges dropped, Freddie Gray case turns into a blame game

Prosecutors have dropped the charges against the remaining officers in the death of Freddie Gray, but Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby says the police are the ones who dropped the ball. This morning, Mosby fervently blamed police for failing to buckle a handcuffed Gray, 25, in the back seat of a police van or phone a medic at his request after he was injured. Gray died of his injuries in April 2015.

Of the six officers involved in the case—three white and three African-American— a judge acquitted three before the prosecutor’s decision, announced today. Prosecutors dropped the charges against Officer Garrett Miller and Sgt. Alicia White during what was to be Miller’s pretrial hearing this morning and agreed not to bring Officer William Porter back into court after a mistrial.

During a press conference this morning, Mosby reiterated that the medical examiner’s report claimed Gray’s death was a homicide.

“We could try this case a hundred times and cases just like it, and we would still end up with the same results,” Mosby said. “As a mother, the decision not to proceed on the remaining trials is agonizing.”

She said “police investigating police” in the case became problematic, with investigators—including some witnesses to the Gray incident— showing reluctance and bias. The Baltimore Police Department renounced Mosby’s accusations, while community protestors criticized Mosby for abandoning the charges.

At the conference, Gray’s father, Richard Shipley, said his family respected Mosby’s efforts to represent them. Gray’s mother, Gloria Darden, accused police of killing her son and lying during the investigation.

Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis supported Mosby’s decision to drop the charges, but also challenged her accusations of a biased investigation. Davis acclaimed the work of 30 experienced detectives as ethical and thorough—especially in investigating another ongoing case where they charged a Baltimore officer with attempted murder.

Critics have often pinioned Mosby for her own bias in the case. Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake expressed surprise at Mosby’s fiery accusations, while Donald Trump said Mosby “should prosecute herself” at a press conference Wednesday afternoon.

In May, Officers White and Porter accused Mosby of defamation and invasion of privacy, while Lt. Brian Rice, Officer Edward Nero, and Miller filed lawsuits against Mosby and Baltimore Sheriff’s Maj. Samuel Cogen for faulty charges in the Gray case.

Activists with the Black Lives Matter movement claimed Mosby did not do enough to seek justice for Gray.

“There was this one opportunity for us to receive police accountability, and we were deprived of that,” local activist the Rev. Cortly “CD” Witherspoon, told The Baltimore Sun.

Many Baltimore political leaders said prosecutors made the right decision and they are interested in following Mosby’s call for greater police accountability and exposing “systematic issues.” Rawlings-Blake confirmed plans to continue police reform Wednesday afternoon.

Already, the case prompted the Baltimore Police Department to crack down on policing methods relying on physical coercion. Officers will soon be monitored with body cameras, too.