BALTIMORE — Seven months after Baltimore erupted in riots over the death of Freddie Gray, the first of six police officers charged in the case went on trial Wednesday, with a prosecutor saying the patrolman could have saved Gray’s life simply by pushing a button on his uniform to call for a medic.
Attorneys for Officer William Porter disputed that claim and others made by prosecutors, including exactly when Gray was critically injured in the back of a police van and whether the young black man told Porter he couldn’t breathe.
Porter wasn’t involved in Gray’s initial arrest in April, but he was present at five of six stops that a police transport van made during a 45-minute ride after Gray was taken into custody. Porter, who is black, faces charges of involuntary manslaughter, second-degree assault, misconduct in office and reckless endangerment.
