6 Baltimore Officers Indicted over Black Teen Death

Local Editor

A grand jury indicted six Baltimore police officers Thursday over the death of African-American Freddie Gray in their custody last month, a state attorney said.

The six officers were previously charged and are now indicted in connection with the arrest and death of 25-year-old Gray, who succumbed to a serious spinal injury suffered while in the back of a police van in April. One officer is indicted for second-degree murder.

State Attorney Marilyn Mosby said the grand jury found probable cause to formally indict the officers, adding they were expected to appear in court in July.

"Now that the grand jury has also found probable cause to charge the aforementioned officers based upon the evidence, these officers, who are presumed innocent until proven guilty, are now scheduled to be arraigned on July 2nd," Mosby told reporters.

Furthermore, Mosby announced criminal charges against the officers this month, and there were a few changes on the indictment sheet.

All six officers now face reckless endangerment indictments, while three charges of false imprisonment were dropped. Moreover, four of the officers were indicted for manslaughter, which also appeared in the original charges.

Other indictments against some of the officers include vehicular manslaughter, misconduct in office and assault.

Accordingly, protesters torched buildings and police cars and looted stores, prompting Baltimore officials to enforce a city-wide curfew. The violence left dozens of officers injured and led to hundreds of arrests.

The US Department of Justice had launched a federal civil rights investigation into whether police in Baltimore had systematically discriminated against residents.

In a related notion, Olympia mayor called for calm Thursday after police shot and injured two African American men allegedly being chased for shoplifting.

The two suspects allegedly assaulted employees at a Safeway supermarket in the early hours in Olympia, the capital of northwestern Washington State.

However, they were unarmed but one used a skateboard to attack an officer, who then opened fire, said a spokesman. One of the suspects was in a critical condition in hospital and the other stable, according to media reports.

Stephen Buxbaum, mayor of Olympia, said authorities were reaching out to the local community after the overnight shootings.

"Let's not be reactive. Let's take the path of consciously addressing our questions of what happened as best we can, seek justice and healing," Buxbaum stated at a news conference.

Consequently, the killing of black men by white police officers has become a major issue in the United States since the August 9 death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri ignited sometimes violent protests nationwide.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team