Officer Testifies in Freddie Gray Murder Trial

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.

Wearing a gray suit and a navy blue tie, Porter appeared relaxed as he described his upbringing, his previous encounters with Gray and what he did on the day Gray was fatally injured.

“Untrue”, said Porter. He added: “It’s untrue because Freddie Gray wasn’t injured at the fourth stop and the fifth stop and had he’d been injured, I would’ve called for a medic”. Prisoners were never secured with seat belts during field training, and though cadets were instructed to secure prisoners with seat belts, they were not shown how, Porter said. She went on to state that had the driver taken Gray to the hospital after he told Porter he could not breathe, he would have survived. Charges against the other officers range from second-degree murder for Goodson to misconduct. But after a meeting with city officials and community leaders, she says everyone agrees that unrest like that seen in the spring is unacceptable.

The trial comes as police agencies across the nation grapple with how to convince the public that the legal system can provide justice when its own are accused of wrongdoing.

The Charlottesville, Virginia, police chief and a 35-year veteran of law enforcement has testified that Officer William Porter did nearly all he could do on the day Freddie Gray was arrested and injured in Baltimore.

The city has been on edge, waiting to see whether the officers facing charges related to Gray’s death and arrest will be convicted.

When did Gray break neck?

Officer William Porter, 26, who faces manslaughter and other charges in the death of Freddie Gray, also said he had become acquainted with Gray while patrolling his crime-ridden neighborhood. He says it must have occurred after Porter’s last interaction with Gray, at stop five when Gray was still able to speak, and before the prisoner was found unconscious at the last stop. But he also said Gray had a reputation for misleading authorities about injury, and just two weeks before the April 12 encounter, Gray attempted to kick out a window of a police SUV after he was detained. Ammerman said the injury likely occurred between stops five and six. No medic call was made until after the transport van’s sixth and final stop at the Western District police station where Gray was found not breathing.

Prosecutor say Porter is partially responsible for not calling for a medic when Gray indicated he needed aid, and for failing to buckle Gray into a seat belt.

Porter said when he checked on Gray later in the van, he saw no cause for concern. He testified that he has participated in 150 arrests in which detainees were transported in a police van and that not once was a detainee buckled in.

A prosecutor is questioning Officer William Porter about apparent inconsistencies in his statements about the death of Freddie Gray. But Porter explained on December 9 that the investigator was mistaken, and he only heard Gray say that when he was arrested, not when he was in the van.

“Completely impossible”, Schatzow asked.

“Absolutely not”, Porter replied.

“I’m actually offended you’d say something like that”. He was asked by a defense attorney whether there was any more Porter could have done and he said no.

Ammerman testified the injury couldn’t have happened between stops two and four of the van, as the forensic pathologist who conducted the autopsy on Gray’s body previously testified. Gray understood he had a job to do, Porter said, and he understood why Gray did what he did on the streets.

“It was just an accident”, Di Maio testified.

When asked why he didn’t buckle Gray into a seat belt, Porter said the wagon is “pretty tight”. The prosecution rested its case Tuesday. If jurors believe the state medical examiner’s assessment, they might conclude that Porter could have sought help immediately and saved Gray’s life.

According to Porter’s own testimony, Gray, with Porter’s help, got up from the floor of the van-an impossibility had he already been severely injured.

Porter is the first of six officers to go to trial in Gray’s April 12 death in police custody, which set off rioting and protests in Baltimore.

“I guess he could have gotten on the radio and called for a medic”, Longo conceded. They have also said Porter acted the way any reasonable officer would have and suggested that the officer may have thought Gray was faking an injury to avoid going to jail. He said he later told a supervisor the same thing.

At the fourth stop, Porter testified that when Gray asked him for help, he assisted him onto a bench and asked him if he needed a medic. “Knowing him from the neighborhood and calling his name, being on the hospital detail and seeing everything they’d done to him”.