These stops are confusing and the numbering system is never consistent, but they still matter. Here are some maps from WBAL:
The summary from WBAL:
Prosecutors contend Porter is criminally negligent for Gray’s death, because he didn’t call a medic when Gray requested one, and he didn’t buckle Gray into a seat belt at the police van’s fourth stop [labeled 5, above] at Druid Hill Avenue and Dolphin Street, the stop where Porter testified he helped Gray from the van floor onto the bench.
Porter said he didn’t call a medic, because Gray wasn’t specific about an injury, and he didn’t see any signs of external distress. Porter told the jury, at this point, he assisted Gray, who used his legs and could support his own weight.
Officer Mark Gladhill testified for the defense Thursday and said at the van’s fifth stop [I’m not clear if this is 5 or 6 above] he saw Gray leaning, but he was supporting his back and his head:
“You are positive that Mr. Gray was holding his own head up?” [Gladhill] was asked, to which he replied, “Yes. I’m positive.”
This wouldn’t be possible if Gray had already broken his neck. If Gray wasn’t seriously hurt when Porter dealt with Gray, Porter can’t be neglectful for not taking care of an injury that hadn’t yet happened. There’s still the seat belt issue, but that’s weak in relation to Porter. Prosecutors contend Gray got hurt earlier. (I’m not exactly certain how the prosecution asserts how they know that the injury happened earlier.) Gladhill’s statement is important.
From the Washington Post:
Porter responded after the police van’s driver, Officer Caesar Goodson Jr., put out a call for a welfare check on Gray. Porter testified this week that he helped Gray off the floor of the van, asked him if he needed a medic (but never called one) and told Goodson to take him to a hospital. Those actions, [Baltimore police Capt. Justin] Reynolds testified, go “beyond what many officers would have done.”
From WBAL:
Porter said he asked Gray at the fourth stop if he needed to go to the hospital and Gray said yes. Porter said he told van driver, Officer Caesar Goodson, that Gray needed to go to a hospital. He said, “I could not order Goodson to do that.”
Gray wasn’t Porter’s prisoner. That matters. Again from the Post:
At the fifth van stop, Gray again told Porter that he needed a medic, and Porter told his supervisor, Sgt. Alicia White, that Gray needed to go to a hospital. Reynolds said it was “absolutely reasonable” for Porter to expect the supervisor to get help. White has also been charged in Gray’s death.
Reynolds said that Goodson was ultimately responsible for Gray’s well-being and that the department’s general orders are “guidelines,” not strict requirements.
“There are parts of general orders you have to violate to do your job,” Reynolds said. He cited a much-ignored rule that officers be quiet and civil at all times as an example. He added: “Common sense prevails over everything else.”
If I were on the jury, I’d have more than reasonable doubt.
If Baltimore were a white-majority city with a white political power structure, the political Left would be screaming at the racism and injustice of prosecutors charging an innocent black man.
