All six officers have been charged. Now it goes to Grand Jury. As I read over the charges those are some pretty high charges for someone to be charged with and with that comes proof some pretty high proof they are warranted.
•Officer Caeser B. Goodson, Jr. was charged with second-degree depraved heart murder, involuntary manslaughter, second-degree assault, two counts of manslaughter by vehicle and misconduct in office.
•Officer William G. Porter was charged with involuntary manslaughter, second-degree assault and misconduct in office.
•Lt. Brian W. Rice was charged with involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree assault, two counts of misconduct in office and false imprisonment.
•Officer Edward M. Nero charged with two counts of second-degree assault, two counts of misconduct in office and false imprisonment.
•Officer Garret Miller charged with two counts of second-degree assault, two counts of misconduct in office and false imprisonment.
•Sgt. Alicia White involuntary manslaughter, second-degree assault and misconduct in office.
Warrants have been issued for the arrest of the officers.
But what if they can't prove the level of the charges against these officers? What if the Grand Jury can't justify such charges and throws the case out for some or all? What is that going to do for those who have already made up their mind the officers are guilty of the crimes they have been charged with? Will that cause an uproar of burn the bitch down again?
As a person who is critical of police and their tactics, I have to say I agree. I just had this exact conversation with my brother. This is how I would see it play out.
The first line of responsibility is that of the driver. it seems he was primarily responsible and regardless of how his prisoner was loaded it's his responsibility to ensure his safety and he should take the brunt of the blame for what happened.
The officers that loaded him into the van failed to secure Mr. Fray and are certainly in breech of department policy. Assuming that's all they did, involuntary manslaughter seems pretty steep to me. I'm not certain where the assault charge comes from, but if it's as a result of injuries sustained after the van leaves, then I'm not on board with that either.
As for the Sargent and Lt., they are superiors and if they knew Mr. Gray was not properly loaded per department policy then they should be severely reprimanded, but again, I'm just not sure that inv. manslaughter is appropriate here.
Now, if anyone has seen a charging document for a man who commits a robbery, it's not unusual to see a laundry list of charges, most of which disappear and, given the evidence, the worst 2-3 (that can be demonstrated via evidence) stick. So I have little doubt that much of what we're seeing today is tossed out before this is over. I hope there isn't anyone that hopes that they will be charged with all this stuff, because as a critic of police tactics I doubt that's what going to happen, nor do I think, at this time given what I know, that it's right.
I wouldn't be surprised if the severity of the charges and the liberal manner in which they were doled out had something to do with appeasing the natives, but as I said, I don't think it's all that unusual to "throw the book" at an alleged criminal and see "what sticks".
I should add that failure to render/ request assistance is something that some or all of the officers could be charged with, but I have no idea specific scenarios for each.