Freddie Gray

Case background and investigation

Freddie Carlos Gray Jr. was a 25-year-old Black man who died on April 19, 2015, in Baltimore, Maryland, a week after he was taken into Baltimore Police Department (BPD) custody. On the morning of April 12, 2015, officers pursued and arrested Gray in the Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood after he made eye contact and ran; police said he was found with a knife. Bystander video showed him being dragged to a police transport van, apparently unable to use his legs. He was placed in the van in handcuffs and later leg shackles but, according to BPD, was not secured with a seat belt, contrary to a department policy issued days earlier. During the roughly 45-minute ride, which included several stops, Gray sustained a critical spinal cord injury. He fell into a coma and died at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center.

On May 1, 2015, the Maryland medical examiner ruled Gray's death a homicide, concluding it resulted from the officers' failure to follow safety procedures during transport. That same day, Baltimore City State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby announced criminal charges against six officers involved in the arrest and transport: Caesar Goodson Jr., William Porter, Brian Rice, Edward Nero, Garrett Miller, and Alicia White. Charges ranged from second-degree assault and misconduct to, in Goodson's case, second-degree depraved-heart murder.

Gray's death triggered sustained protests and, following his April 27, 2015 funeral, civil unrest that included rioting, looting, and arson, with a CVS pharmacy set ablaze. Maryland's governor declared a state of emergency, activated the National Guard, and a citywide curfew was imposed. The events drew national attention to policing and race in Baltimore.

No officer was convicted. Officer William Porter's trial ended in a mistrial on December 16, 2015, when the jury deadlocked. In subsequent bench trials before Judge Barry Williams, Officer Edward Nero was acquitted on May 23, 2016, Officer Caesar Goodson Jr. (who faced the most serious charges) was acquitted on June 23, 2016, and Lieutenant Brian Rice was acquitted on July 18, 2016. On July 27, 2016, prosecutors dropped the remaining charges against Porter, Miller, and White, concluding the case with zero convictions. In September 2017, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it would not bring federal civil rights charges, citing insufficient evidence to prove a violation beyond a reasonable doubt.

Separately, the DOJ opened a civil pattern-or-practice investigation of the BPD in the wake of Gray's death. Its August 2016 report found that the department engaged in unconstitutional practices, including unlawful stops, searches, and arrests, excessive force, and racial discrimination against Black residents. This led to a federal consent decree, approved by U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar in April 2017, mandating wide-ranging reforms under court and independent-monitor oversight. The City of Baltimore separately reached a $6.4 million civil settlement with Gray's family in September 2015. As of 2025, the BPD remained under portions of the consent decree, though a judge granted partial termination of some sections after finding sustained compliance.