BALTIMORE (AP) — The latest on the trial of a police officer accused in the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who suffered a spinal injury in the back of a transport van (all times local):
12:35 p.m.
A Baltimore jury has heard a videotaped statement of Officer William Porter acknowledging he didn’t use a seat belt for Freddie Gray in a police transport van, and didn’t call an ambulance despite Gray’s pleas for help, listless appearance and lethargic responses.
Gray died from a broken neck a week after he was injured in the van.
The nearly hour-long video shown Friday is central to the state’s manslaughter case against Porter, the first of six officers to face trial.
In the interview, Porter appears forthcoming and cooperative. He says he wasn’t involved with Gray’s arrest but spoke with him during at least two of the five stops the van made afterward.
At the last stop, a police station, Porter says he opened the back door and saw the handcuffed and shackled prisoner unresponsive on the floor of the van.
Porter said he and another officer tried to revive Gray.
When that didn’t work, Porter said, he realized, “Oh, s—, we need to call for a medic.”
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11:15 a.m.
A detective is testifying that an officer charged in the death of Freddie Gray told her the man reported that he couldn’t breathe during a van ride after his arrest.
The testimony is important for prosecutors because Gray’s attorneys said during opening statements that Officer William Porter never heard Gray say he couldn’t breathe.
Detective Syreeta Teel testified Friday that Porter made the statement during a phone call she had with him about the police investigation.
Porter is one of six officers charged in the death of Gray, a 25-year-old black man who died a week after his neck was broken in the back of a police van.
Teel said Porter asked Gray to get up off the van floor and Gray replied that he couldn’t, so Porter lifted the man onto a bench.
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(Photo Source: AP)
