BALTIMORE (AP) — A city board Wednesday approved a $6.4 million settlement with the family of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who died a week after he was critically injured while in police custody.
The settlement, announced Tuesday, could play a role in whether a judge decides to move the trials for the six officers charged in Gray’s death out of the city.
Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and other members of the Board of Estimates voted unanimously to approve the settlement Wednesday morning, just a day before Judge Barry Williams will hear arguments on whether the trials should be moved to a different jurisdiction. Defense attorneys have asked for a change of venue, citing pre-trial publicity and concern that the officers will not receive fair trials if they are tried in Baltimore.
The settlement appears to be among the largest such payments in police death cases in recent years. It was reached before Gray’s parents and his estate filed a lawsuit, although they had filed claims with the city and its police department.
The settlement is meant to bring closure and avoid years of protracted litigation, Rawlings-Blake said at a news conference. She acknowledged that a settlement before criminal proceedings is unusual but said it’s in the best interest of protecting taxpayers. She said negotiations lasted for months.
“I again want to extend my most sincere condolences to the family of Mr. Freddie Gray,” Rawlings-Blake said. “… I hope that this settlement will bring some measure of closure to his family and to his friends.”
Although the city said in a statement that the settlement does not resolve any factual disputes, and expressly does not constitute an admission of liability on the part of the city, its police department or any of the officers, experts say the city’s willingness to pre-empt a lawsuit could have an effect on the officers’ ability to receive an impartial trial in Baltimore — an issue Williams will likely decide Thursday.
“Damages would have been paid if the city went to trial and they’re willing to settle it. But they tell us it’s by no way an admission of fault by the police officers,” said David Harris, a law professor at the University of Pittsburgh. “There’s no doubt that this will figure in to the hearing for change of venue. If I was an attorney for a defendant I’d be revising my motion right now to say the settlement was made to persuade the jury pool that the officers did something wrong.”
Douglas Colbert, a professor at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey Law School, said the settlement is a step in restoring the public’s faith in local government and mending the relationship between the citizens of Baltimore and elected officials.
“It’s a big step toward a different type of policing,” Colbert said, “and a relationship with the community that deters misconduct.”
An agenda for the board Wednesday described the city’s goal in settling the claim.
“The purpose of the civil settlement is to bring an important measure of closure to the family, the community and the city and to avoid years of protracted civil litigation and potential harm to the community and divisiveness with may likely result.”
In July, New York City settled for $5.9 million with the family of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man who died after being put in a white police officer’s chokehold. The city of Chicago settled in 2001 a wrongful death lawsuit by the family of LaTanya Haggerty, a black woman who was shot to death by a police officer who thought her cellphone was a weapon, for $18 million.
But Eugene O’Donnell, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said such settlements are damaging for communities and self-serving for governments. By paying off family members, O’Donnell said, cities can prevent real scrutiny of political and social ills that allowed misconduct to occur.
“It’s all too easy to take public money and hand it over to people and say, ‘Well, this is a big aberrational mistake and we’re going to make it good,’ and it generally absolves the policymakers and the people in power of responsibility, when in fact the mistakes are systemic and reflective of a lack of leadership,” he said.
The head of Baltimore’s police union condemned the agreement.
“To suggest that there is any reason to settle prior to the adjudication of the pending criminal cases is obscene and without regard to the fiduciary responsibility owed to the taxpaying citizens of the city,” Lt. Gene Ryan said in a statement.
All six officers, including Edward Nero and Garrett Miller, are charged with second-degree assault, misconduct in office and reckless endangerment. Lt. Brian Rice, Sgt. Alicia White and Officer William Porter also face a manslaughter charge, while Officer Caesar Goodson faces the most serious charge of all: second-degree “depraved-heart” murder.
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Baltimore Announces $6.4 Million Settlement in the Death of Freddie Gray
Sadly, Freddie Gray was born and raised in a anti-social Baltimore Street Culture that deprived him of experiencing and enjoying a safe, fairly happy American kid childhood.
Like many childhood victims of our expanding National Epidemic of Child Abuse & Neglect, I have no doubt that Mr. Gray suffered from depression caused by a immature caregiver who failed to properly raise and nurture a young developing Mr. Gray.
Mr. Gray’s mom introduced him to a life of hardship and struggle, and now she is cashing in on her inability to protect her child from growing up depressed and filled with hopelessness.
I’d like to see the good people of Baltimore compensated for all the money they spent prosecuting and housing a depressed, criminally-minded Freddie Gray.
If his mom, Gloria Darden, required social services to raise and nurture her developing son I’d like to see that money returned to the People of Baltimore because it is evident Freddie’s mom did a monumentally poor job of raising and nurturing her depressed, angry, frustrated son.
We need to re-examine our child welfare and protections laws, protecting young developing citizens like Freddie Gray from being emotionally scarred for life by immature teen girls and women who irresponsibly begin building families before acquiring practical skills, PATIENCE and the means to raise and nurture fairly happy American kids who enjoy SAFE STREETS to play in.
Quoting from TheRoot, /articles/news/2015/04/who_was_freddie_gray_a_closer_look_at_the_young_brother_behind_the_movement
“Gray was exposed to the perils of substance abuse and disability at an early age. His mother, Gloria Darden, was addicted to heroin when Gray was a child. Darden is also reportedly disabled, although it is unclear what kind of disability she has endured. Darden revealed in a court deposition that she also could not read.”
Rest in Peace, Mr. Freddie Gray, one of countless victims of early childhood abuse and neglect.
#ProtectKidsFromIrresponsibleCaregivers