It’s been a busy 72 hours since Friday morning. Here are the highlights:
On Friday morning, Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby announced criminal charges against all 6 officers involved in Freddie Gray’s fatal arrest. Among others, the charges include a second degree depraved-heart murder charge for the van driver, Caesar Goodson, Jr., and false imprisonment for the 2 arresting officers (as Mosby found that Gray committed no crime and there was no probable cause for arrest). All six officers were out on bail by Friday night. All 6 officers had lower bail than Allen Bullock, the 18-year-old who turned himself in last week after smashing police car windows on Saturday, April 25th. Bullock’s bail was set at $500,000, Goodson’s was $350,000.
Peaceful protests carried on through the weekend. The announcement of charges lifted the mood, but not the curfew. On Friday and Saturday night, protesters defied the curfew, with wildly different outcomes. At City Hall and Penn/North, police in full riot gear wasted little time in arresting protesters, about 50 each night. This included the point-blank pepper-spraying and dragging away of one protester (VIDEO), and the arrest of some legal observers and street medics. Meanwhile, in Hampden, a group of around 50 white protesters received a series of ‘5 minute warnings’ before dispersing without arrest. Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake ended the curfew yesterday.
Beyond the week’s unrest and protests, the city is seeing a streak of violent crime. Since Tuesday, 8 have died in shootings across the city.