BALTIMORE (AP) — The Latest on a hearing for the driver of a Baltimore police van in the Freddie Gray case (all times local): 5:35 p.m. Attorneys in a police disciplinary hearing for a Baltimore police van driver spent much
BALTIMORE (AP) — The Latest on a hearing for the driver of a Baltimore police van in the Freddie Gray case (all times local):
5:35 p.m.
Attorneys in a police disciplinary hearing for a Baltimore police van driver spent much of the first day listening to a February interrogation of Officer Caesar Goodson by internal police investigators.
An attorney for the Baltimore Police Department focused on questions Goodson was asked by investigators about why he didn’t take Freddie Gray to a hospital after Gray asked for medical attention soon after he was arrested in 2015.
Attorney Neil Duke also focused on how Goodson did not try to communicate with Gray during the van ride to a police station. He says Goodson should be fired.
Goodson said during the February interrogation that: “I didn’t see anything that would concern me.”
Gray was critically injured during the van ride and died about a week later. Testimony in the first day of the disciplinary hearing has ended for the day.
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1:15 p.m.
Attorneys have given opening arguments in a police disciplinary hearing that began Monday for Officer Caesar Goodson.
An attorney for the Baltimore Police Department says Goodson should be fired for failing to follow procedures while driving a van that was transporting a man who ended up dying in custody.
Neil Duke says Goodson failed to do his duty to fasten Freddie Gray into a seatbelt after Gray’s arrest in 2015.
But Goodson’s attorney says the officer didn’t receive proper direction from the department on recent policy changes regarding seatbelt use.
Goodson was acquitted of murder and other charges last year.
Gray was critically injured during the van ride and died about a week later. His death sparked riots in Baltimore.
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A Baltimore policeman going before a disciplinary board was once described by prosecutors as the officer most responsible for the death in custody of Freddie Gray, a black man whose spinal cord was severed inside a police van.
Caesar Goodson was the driver of the police van in which Gray was critically injured in April 2015, touching off protests and rioting. Goodson was acquitted of murder and other charges last year. He is scheduled to face an administrative trial board Monday.
Two members of the Baltimore Police Department and one outside chair will consider whether Goodson violated department policies and procedures. Then they’ll decide whether the officer should be disciplined and what the punishment will be. The hearing is expected to last up to five days.
