Final Arguments Made In Baltimore Officer's Hearing
BALTIMORE (WJZ/AP) — A police disciplinary board has heard closing arguments in a probe of the highest ranking Baltimore officer involved in the 2015 arrest of a 25-year-old black man who died from injuries he sustained in a police van.
Attorneys gave their closing arguments Thursday. It wasn't immediately clear when the three-member panel will issue a ruling.
Lt. Brian Rice was shift commander during the April 2015 arrest and van transport of Freddie Gray. Rice was acquitted in a criminal trial last year but still faced 10 charges before a police board.
Lt. Rice is one of three officers to face firing, and the second to go to administrative trial.
The panel found Officer Caesar Goodson not guilty of 21 charges last week. Goodson was the van driver.
Attorneys for the department argued that Lt. Rice violated police policies by failing to keep Gray safe.
Lt. Rice's defense says Gray's death was an accident and Rice couldn't have predicted or prevented.
Gray died a week after he suffered a spinal cord injury in the van, setting off Baltimore's worst riots in decades.
The panel say they need time to review the evidence and deliberate.
The third and final officer to face firing is scheduled for administrative trial next month.
Follow @CBSBaltimore on Twitter and like WJZ-TV | CBS Baltimore on Facebook
(© Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
