BALTIMORE (AP) - Prosecutors will call more witnesses Friday in the trial for Officer Edward Nero, one of the Baltimore police officers facing charges stemming from Freddie Gray's arrest and subsequent death.
Gray died April 19 of last year, a week after his neck was broken while he was handcuffed and shackled but not seat-belted into the back of a police van.
Edward Bailey, a 20-year Baltimore Police Department veteran and member of the inspections unit, took the stand yesterday as the state's sixth witness in Nero's trial.
Bailey testified Thursday that he was responsible for generating reports about whether prisoners are buckled in during police transport. He testified that in 2014, he audited 18 wagons, two from each police district, and found that only one, from the Northwestern District, failed the test.
But Bailey also said that it is the wagon driver's responsibility to make sure the prisoner is secured during transport.
Nero faces assault, misconduct in office and reckless endangerment charges stemming from Gray's arrest. Prosecutors say Nero and two other officers arrested him illegally, and that they were negligent by failing to buckle him into a seat belt. Nero's attorney said Nero didn't arrest the man, and that it was the wagon driver's responsibility to secure Gray. His trial began Thursday.
Nero is one of six officers charged in the case.
