Freddie Gray's Death, Officer's Charges are 'Tragic': Defense

The attorney representing Officer William Porter, the first of six officers tried in the death of a Baltimore man in police custody, described the policeman as someone who wanted to help people.

Porter, 26, is charged with manslaughter, second-degree assault, reckless endangerment and misconduct in office in connection with the death of Freddie Gray.

“He laid a hand on Mr. Gray…to help him up,” Porter’s attorney, Gary Proctor, said during his opening statements Wednesday afternoon.

The 25-year-old Gray died in police custody April 19 from what prosecutors allege was a severe spinal cord injury he sustained in the back of a police van on April 12.

Related: ‘Gross Indifference’ Claimed in First of Six Police Trials

Porter responded immediately when he heard a radio call from a fellow officer asking for help checking on a prisoner because “that’s the kind of officer he is,” Proctor said.

“He didn’t become a police officer to swing a big stick,” Proctor said. He wants “to help people.”

Gray asked for help getting up in the back of the police van, where he was shackled and cuffed, Proctor said.

Officer Porter supported the upper half of Gray’s body while the detainee used his legs to push himself up, Proctor said.

According to Proctor, the officer was familiar with Gray.

Not only was Officer Porter from west Baltimore, where Gray grew up, but he knew Gray had been arrested the week before and “tried to kick the windows out of a squad car,” Proctor said.

Officer Porter’s attorney said he interpreted Gray’s requests for medical attention on April 12 as a manifestation of “jailitis,” or “feigning injury to get out of going to jail.” The attorney noted Porter’s first arrest was someone who faked a seizure to avoid going to jail.

Gray was “rocking that [police] wagon like crazy” until it reached its final stop at the western district, the attorney said. Officer Porter reportedly said: “I thought he was having an adrenaline dump.”

At shock trauma, where he was ultimately transported, Gray weighed in at 132 pounds, according to Proctor. He said it would be a stretch for prosecutors to claim Gray suffered an injury before getting to the police station, especially since the second prisoner would attest Gray was banging against the police van.

“There was no sign of any injury,” Proctor said of Gray’s situation. “There were no outward signs of injury.”

When a medic arrived at the western district after the van’s tour of west Baltimore, Proctor said the first responder thought Gray had suffered a drug overdose and treated him as such.

“An EMT misdiagnoses him,” Proctor said. “How is a two-year veteran of the force supposed to know?”

Added Proctor: “Mr. Gray’s death is tragic. So is charging someone who did nothing to precipitate it.”