More Witnesses Scheduled To Testify As Porter’s Defense Presents His Case

In a case that revolves around what Porter did or did not do during a few key encounters with Gray, Porter addressed those questions directly in his testimony.

He is the first of the six officers to be tried. Gray broke his neck while in custody and later died. Prosecutors say Gray was injured by the van’s fourth stop, when Porter lifted Gray from the wagon floor to the bench, but didn’t call a medic even though Gray indicated he needed aid.

Porter said Gray was unresponsive “with mucus around his nose and mouth”. “Sorry to see that, any loss of life”. “In order to call for an ambo I need age, sex, location and complaint of injury. He talked about the fourth stop of the police van carrying Gray.

Prominent Baltimore defense attorney Warren A. Brown, also attending Wednesday’s trial, said he believes that prosecutors have focused too much on whether Porter should’ve have called for potentially life-saving medical assistance earlier. They allege that after seeing Gray was not buckled in a seat belt, Porter did not get him into a seat belt as stated in department policy. Chief Deputy State’s Attorney Michael Schatzow said at one point. His death was followed by widespread protests against police brutality, especially in predominantly African-American communities, and his funeral was followed by rioting.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake joined Police Commissioner Kevin Davis at a news conference Wednesday to ask the public to respect the judicial process.

When the prosecution reminded Porter that he initially said he heard yelling, Porter said forcefully: “You can yell “I can’t breathe”.

Porter testified that it was customarily understood that a prisoner was under the control of the van driver and that he figured it would be quicker to let Goodson take Gray to the hospital than calling a medic.

Prosecutors say Porter was obligated to do both per department guidelines. Porter also told investigators that medics “don’t want to take prisoners if we already have transport” and that police could take a detainee to the hospital themselves. He did not see Gray again until the final stop. He said he’s been a part of about 200 arrests involving wagon transport and no prisoners were belted in.

“Throughout all my training, I seat-belted people inside my personal vehicle but never the wagon”. Gray understood he had a job to do, Porter said, and he understood why Gray did what he did on the streets. “I can’t tell Officer Goodson what to do”. A detective who testified otherwise “got it wrong”.

“It was very traumatic for me also, seeing him in the neighborhood every day, calling his name and not getting a response”, Porter said.

Also importantly, Porter seemed to cast another officer charged in the case – Caesar Goodson – as bearing more responsibility for handling Gray. “I’m actually offended you’d say something like that”. “He wouldn’t give me a complaint of injury”.

He rejected a prosecution claim, based on a police investigator’s interview of Porter, that he had said that Gray had told him that he couldn’t breathe at the fourth stop of the van.

As for putting Gray in a seat belt, Porter suggested that it would have been risky.

Porter, 26, is charged with manslaughter, second-degree assault, misconduct in office and reckless endangerment in connection with Gray’s death in April.

Gray, 25, sustained a severe spinal cord injury in the back of the van following his arrest on April 12, and died a week later.

The first of six officers on trial in the death of Freddie Gray explained his role Wednesday in the tumultuous events that set the city aflame.

LUDDEN: Well, first of all, he says that Gray never said he couldn’t breathe there. The expert today said he thinks Gray was injured just before he was found unconscious in the van and that he would have called it an accident, not a homicide.

Dr. Matthew Ammerman said Gray suffered an injury in the back of a police transport van that would have “immediately rendered him paralyzed, stopped him from breathing, and unfortunately ended his life”.

The trial will resume with more defense witnesses Thursday. When he gave his initial statement, he said, he thought he was just a witness – not a suspect.