Bel Air Resident is Among 6 Officers Charged in Freddie Gray Case

One of the six police officers charged in connection with the death of Freddie Gray lives in Bel Air.

Officer Edward Nero, 29, and another bicycle policeman arrested the 25-year-old Gray on a west Baltimore street last month, Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby said Friday.

Gray later died in police custody, and Mosby alleged that not only was there no probable cause to arrest him but also the officers failed to provide Gray with medical aid when he requested it.

Nero’s father told The Washington Post that the officer was certified as an emergency medical technician in New Jersey, where he used to live.

“If this kid needed medical attention, my son would have been the first one to give it to him,” Nero’s father told The Post.

Before moving to Maryland, Nero volunteered from 2002 to 2012 for the Washington Township Fire Department in New Jersey, where the fire chief told the South Jersey Times he was known as an “all-around good guy” and an “outstanding and dedicated firefighter.”

Nero was still in high school when he first began volunteering for the department, and he came to Baltimore in part because the police department would pay for him to be trained, The Washington Post reported. He joined the Baltimore Police Department in 2012.

Nero now resides near Bel Air Middle School, according to The Baltimore Sun. He and his wife have lived in their Bel Air home with their 1-year-old daughter for less than a year, The Washington Post reported.

His brother—inspired by Nero—is joining a police force in New Jersey in the next week, the Courier-Post reported.

Meanwhile, Nero was suspended from the Baltimore Police Department pending the investigation into Gray’s death.

Nero was charged Friday morning with false imprisonment, two counts of second-degree assault and two counts of misconduct in office.

His father said “I’m sure he’ll be acquitted” but the experience will “probably destroy his life, his career and his motivation to help other people.”

Nero was one of six officers charged with various offenses in the death of Gray, who was arrested April 12 and died April 19 from an injury that Mosby said he sustained in a police van while his legs were shackled, his hands cuffed and his body unrestrained by a seatbelt.

Nero’s bail was set at $250,000 along with the other bicycle officer who arrested Gray; both were facing the least charges of any of the police involved in Gray’s detainment. The six officers charged turned themselves in Friday and all but one posted bond by Friday night, according to AOL.

He is scheduled to appear May 27 in Baltimore City District Court.

More:

• How 6 Officers Contributed to Death of Freddie Gray: State’s Attorney
• Criminal Charges to be Filed After Freddie Gray’s Death Ruled Homicide
• Why Baltimore Burned
• Freddie Gray Was a ‘Martyr,’ Jesse Jackson Says
• Baltimore City’s Attorney on Freddie Gray Report: ‘Not New to Us’
• Police Identify Six Officers Involved in Freddie Gray’s Arrest