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2nd LD Writethru: Charges dropped against remaining U.S. police officers in Freddie Gray case

Xinhua, July 27, 2016 Adjust font size:

Charges against all the three remaining U.S. police officers were dropped Wednesday in the case involving the death of black man Freddie Gray in Baltimore, Maryland, local media reported.

Chief Deputy State's Attorney Michael Schatzow told Judge Barry Williams at the start of a pretrial motions hearing for police officer Garrett Miller that the state was dropping all charges against the three remaining officers in the case, namely Miller, William Porter and Alicia White, The Baltimore Sun reported on its website.

Miller was the next officer originally scheduled to stand trial in the case, while Porter was to face a retrial in September and White was to be tried in October.

This ended the high-profile case without conviction of any of the six Baltimore police officers charged in this case that ignited protests and violence in the city last year.

Gray, a 25-year-old African-American, died last year in a Baltimore hospital after he was arrested on April 12 by police for possessing an illegal switchblade.

Gray fell into a coma first while being transported in a police van. His death a week later in the hospital was believed to be caused by injuries to his spinal cord.

His death triggered a series of violent protests by African-Americans in the city.

Thirty-four people were arrested and 15 police officers were injured in violent clashes between police and black protesters on April 25, 2015, while looting and burning of local businesses during another violent protest on April 27 held after Gray's funeral shocked the whole nation.

As a result, six police officers involved in Gray's death were indicted on charges including illegal arrest, involuntary manslaughter, second-degree murder and reckless endangerment.

The first trial of Porter in September 2015 ended in a mistrial in December. The second officer, Edward Nero, was acquitted in a bench trial by Judge Williams in May 2016.

Officer Caesar Goodson, who faced the most severe charges, was acquitted in June, while another officer, Brian Rice, was found not guilty on all charges in early July.

The state prosecution dropped the charges against the remaining officers probably because it acknowledged the unlikelihood that Judge Williams would convict any of the officers in the case, The Baltimore Sun reported. Endi