Freddie Gray Case: Alicia White, Last Police Officer Charged With Manslaughter, Acquitted

Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis on Wednesday dropped all administrative charges against the last officer, Sgt. Alicia White, who was accused in the arrest and death of Freddie Gray on April 12, 2015. With this verdict, it now means all the six accused officers are now free and can keep their jobs.

Police spokesman T.J. Smith said Davis “feels proceeding with this administrative hearing would not be in good faith, and has dismissed the charges,” in a report by the Baltimore Sun. He added White faced charges, which could have resulted in the termination of the position from Baltimore Police Force.

White’s attorney, Tony Garcia, in the report said White was “grateful” for the decision.

“She [White] has always mentioned her innocence from the very beginning. I think that whenever someone dies, they wish they could do the whole thing over so it didn’t happen. But she doesn’t feel she did something wrong,” Garcia said.

However, William H. Murphy Jr., who was Gray’s family attorney, declined to comment on the verdict.

The president of NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Sherrilyn Ifill, said, “This final decision places Baltimore at a moral crossroads. … A young man entered the custody of police and within an hour his spine was broken, his voice box crushed. Our city has been defined by this. Now Baltimore must decide how to go forward. Baltimore must commit itself to whatever changes to policing, to internal police discipline, to our legal system are needed to ensure that this cannot happen with impunity ever again.”

White’s trial was scheduled to start Dec. 5, where she was facing 25 charges which included manslaughter charges, the Baltimore Sun reported.

White told the investigating officers she was in West Baltimore when Gray being arrested by the others. She added that once she got to know people were complaining about Gray’s arrest, she went to check on the situation.

Meanwhile, surveillance cameras showed she was behind the police arrest van, where she asked Gray if he had any problem.

With regards to the above incident, White told the investigators in her first interrogation, “I'm like 'Hey, what's going on?' Like, 'What happened?' And he [Gray] wasn't saying anything. He was just kind of like not responding.”

She then added, “So I just figured at that point, he was like — just didn't want to cooperate."

White also stated she didn’t need to call for medical assistance at that moment as she didn’t see any reason to do so. She did call for the medic when Gray was not breathing.

The report stated the prosecution started talking to White after getting some information from Officer William Porter — another police officer who was accused in the case — on April 17. Porter reportedly claimed when he asked Gray if he needed medical assistance, Gray answered in the affirmative. According to Porter, he shared this information with White.

However, when White was asked about this encounter, she said she had no recollection of the same.

Attorney Garcia said White’s actions of calling the medic when Gray needed it displayed her concern towards the whole incident.

White after getting charged criminally was suspended without any pay. She also did administrative duties when the internal charges against her were still active but now can resume her active duties.

Gray was arrested April 12, 2015. A mobile phone video showed two men wearing “Baltimore Police” uniforms pinning Gray down, a BBC May 2016 report stated. The report also stated Gray was screaming when a police van arrived to take him away. According to the report, Gray suffered a medical emergency, while in the van, after which he was transported to Shock Trauma via a medic.

Due to heavy injuries like broken vertebrae and an injured voice box, Gray died April 19, seven days after his arrest. This resulted in massive riots around the city of Baltimore where many protested against police brutality with banners that read: “Black Lives Matter.”