BALTIMORE — He didn’t fire a gun or wield a Taser. He didn’t place anyone in a chokehold or wrestle anyone to the ground. In fact, William Porter barely touched Freddie Gray.
But Porter, the first officer on trial in Gray’s death, is accused of manslaughter for failing to pay enough attention to the 25-year-old black man, who was handcuffed and shackled in the back of a police van and suffered what would be a fatal spinal injury.
In Porter’s case, an officer’s negligence, rather than violent acts or excessive force, is on trial. He is also charged with assault, reckless endangerment and misconduct in office. If convicted, Porter faces up to 25 years in prison.
His crime, according to prosecutors, is failing to immediately call a medic to the scene when Gray indicated he needed medical attention and ignoring a Baltimore Police Department general order requiring officers to buckle prisoners in with seat belts.
Jurors will begin deliberating on Monday. But with no eye witnesses and no unequivocal evidence as to exactly how or when Gray was injured, negligence could be difficult to prove, legal experts say.
“Usually, criminal law has to do with intentionally doing something — stealing, assaulting,” said Baltimore attorney David Irwin, who recently represented an Episcopal Church bishop in Maryland. The bishop pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter and other charges because she left the scene of a crash with a cyclist and failed to call an ambulance.
Porter was present during five of the six stops the police van made during the 45-minute ride between Gilmor Homes, where Gray was arrested when he ran from officers, and the Western District station house, where Gray arrived unresponsive. He died a week later.
Porter, who testified on his own behalf, told jurors that Gray wasn’t visibly hurt and didn’t exhibit any signs of distress when the officer offered him aid. Porter said Gray never once asked for a medic, but simply said “yes” when Porter asked if he’d like to go to the hospital.
Porter said he told van driver Caesar Goodson to take him there, because while he still didn’t believe Gray was really hurt, he knew the jail would reject a prisoner claiming injury.
