Baltimore Reaches $8M Settlement To Wounded Police Trainee Raymond Gray
BALTIMORE (AP/WJZ) — The Baltimore City Board of Estimates approved an $8 million settlement Wednesday to a police trainee who was shot during a training accident in Maryland.
Raymond Gray was training to become a University of Maryland police officer in 2013 when an instructor mistakenly used a live weapon to demonstrate the danger of standing in a line of fire.
The instructor, William Scott Kern, mistook his service weapon for a simulation gun and struck Gray through a window. Kern was convicted of reckless endangerment and served 60 days in jail. He was also fired from the police department.
Gray lost an eye and has a bullet lodged in his brain. His attorney, A. Dwight Pettit, says Gray will need 24/7 care for the rest of his life.
"This is one of yours," Gray's attorney Dwight Pettit said. "I mean, he wasn't a Baltimore City Police Cadet, but he was attempting to be a police officer."
Gray's legal team said he has a tremendous cognitive deficit and is partially paralyzed.
"There's still a bullet fragment in his brain that can never be removed," Gray's attorney Allan Rabineau said. "All I can say is, basically, he needs 24/7 care."
In a press conference Wednesday, city officials said it was a case that needed to be resolved and that through no fault of his own, Gray was seriously injured.
The city had originally offered Gray $200,000 in 2016, an amount at which city officials had argued settlements should be capped.
"We had a duty to do right by this public servant," a city attorney said.
Mayor Jack Young directed the city to come to a settlement with Gray and make sure it was enough money to cover his medical expenses.
Gray currently receives care at a facility in Silver Spring. He comes home sometimes on weekends to spend time with his family.
