What happened in the Freddie Gray case? View a timeline of the last 10 years.

Ten years on, all but one of the six officers charged in Gray’s death are still on the force, which polices under a consent decree to correct what the federal government said was a “pattern and practice” of unconstitutional practices. Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is out of office, as is State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby, whose successor, Ivan Bates, defended one of the officers. A rash of reforms and millions of dollars in spending have brought tangible changes, but not enough to undo decades of disinvestment in Sandtown-Winchester, where Gray was arrested, and other under-resourced communities like it.

Key events of the case and its fallout are summarized in the timeline below.

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Freddie Gray walks along West North Avenue with friends Davonte Roary and Brandon Ross, whom he was meeting for breakfast. At the intersection of West North Avenue and North Mount Street, the group encounters Lt. Brian Rice, a Baltimore Police officer on bicycle patrol. Rice makes eye contact with Gray, who along with Roary runs. Rice and two other officers on bicycle patrol, Garrett Miller and Edward Nero, follow the men.

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Gray surrenders to Miller in the 1700 block of Presbury Street near the Gilmor Homes public housing community, after the officer threatened to use his Taser, according to a Department of Justice factual summary that accompanied the federal government’s decision not to pursue civil rights charges against officers who interacted with Gray. Officers handcuff and frisk Gray, removing a knife from his pocket, according to the DOJ. Miller places the knife on the ground, where Gray is sitting. According to the federal government, Gray lunges toward the knife and Miller then positions Gray on his stomach and locks his legs. Kevin Moore, a friend of Gray’s who recorded part of the arrest, later said that during the arrest Gray’s face was planted on the ground, one officer had his knee on Gray’s neck and another officer was bending his legs backward. Police and Baltimore prosecutors would later disagree on whether the knife that police said they found on Gray was legal, and prosecutors did not mention the knife at officers’ trials, maintaining that Gray was illegally detained before the knife was found.

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Officers request a van to transport Gray. Gray, who has asthma, asks for an inhaler, but police ignore the request, according to Moore. Officer Caesar Goodson Jr. arrives with an empty police van. A small crowd gathers to protest his arrest. Gray yells about his wrists, and his feet drag as officers lead him to the van, according to the DOJ. Although officers told investigators that Gray would not walk under his own power, video later showed Gray standing on his own on a ledge of the van before entering the vehicle. Miller and Nero, with assistance from another officer, place Gray on the right side of the rear cabin, facing a hard partition, the DOJ said. The officers do not put Gray in a seat belt. Witnesses hear Gray banging and yelling after the van’s doors are shut.

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At Rice’s direction, federal prosecutors said, Goodson drives the van about a block south to Mount and Baker streets, where Miller, Nero, Rice, Officer William Porter and others are, so that officers can place leg shackles on Gray away from the crowd at Presbury Street, according to the DOJ. Miller and Rice pull a yelling and flailing Gray out of the van. A crowd forms near the van as officers place restraints on Gray. A cellphone video recorded by a friend of Gray’s, Ross, shows Gray face-down and motionless, his legs hanging out the back of the van, when police fasten irons on his ankles and put him into the wagon headfirst. People in the crowd yell at officers about Gray’s arrest. Some people say that officers injured Gray. Gray is left on the van’s floor, lying on his stomach with his head facing the front of the van and his hands cuffed. Multiple witnesses later told The Baltimore Sun that they saw officers beat Gray; police said evidence, including an autopsy, disputed their accounts. Once the van doors are shut, Miller, Nero, Porter, and multiple civilian witnesses hear Gray yell and bang against the van, shaking it. Rice tells Goodson to drive to Central Booking.

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Driving east on Riggs Avenue, Goodson makes a wide right turn onto Fremont Avenue, briefly putting the van’s tires over the double yellow line, the Department of Justice said. About two blocks onto Fremont Avenue, at Mosher Street, Goodson makes an unannounced stop that’s recorded by a private surveillance camera. Goodson walks to the rear of the van and disappears from the view of the camera for about 10 seconds. Goodson gets back into the van and drives off.

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Goodson radios to request that a police unit meet him at Druid Hill Avenue and Dolphin Street to check on Gray. Porter answers the call and meets Goodson at the location. According to Porter, Goodson opened the van’s doors to reveal Gray lying on his stomach on the floor of the van, his head toward the front, feet facing the door and hands cuffed behind him, according to the Department of Justice’s factual summary. Porter said Gray asked for help up and that he helped him to the van’s bench, with Gray using his legs during the maneuver. Federal prosecutors said that, according to Porter, Gray says “yes” when Porter asks whether he wants to go to a hospital. The DOJ said that Goodson agrees with Porter that Gray wouldn’t “pass medical” at Central Booking, and Porter suggests they take Gray straight to a hospital.

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Rice radios a request for a police van and available police units to respond to 1600 W. North Ave. Goodson and Porter respond to Rice’s request without putting Gray in a seat belt, the DOJ says.

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Goodson parks the van near 1600 W. North Ave., near Rice, Miller and Nero, who were standing on a sidewalk with another handcuffed arrestee, whom police decide to take to the Western District station for questioning. According to the Department of Justice, the van’s doors are opened and an officer observes Gray facing the van’s bench in a kneeling position. Sgt. Alicia White, who was investigating citizen complaints about Gray’s arrest, tries to talk to Gray, also observing him kneeling on the van’s floor. Gray does not verbally respond, federal prosecutors said, but makes an audible noise. According to the DOJ, Porter again asks Gray whether he wants to go the hospital and Gray again says yes. The Department of Justice said that according to Porter, he told White, his supervisor, that Gray wanted a medic. Prosecutors said that White told him to follow the wagon to the Western District station and, after the other arrestee was let out of the van, to escort Gray to a hospital. Goodson and Porter depart for the station.

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Around 9:18 a.m., according to the DOJ, the van arrives at the Western District police station to drop off the other arrestee. Officers find that Gray is unconscious and does not seem to be breathing. The other arrestee, Donta Allen, who was separated from Gray by a thin metal divider, later told investigators that on the way to the station he heard loud banging from the other side of the wagon.

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The Baltimore Fire Department gets a call for an “unconscious male” at the Western District police station.

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A city fire department medic unit arrives at the Western District police station. Paramedics observe that Gray is not breathing and has a small amount of blood coming from his nose and a frothy discharge coming from his mouth. Paramedics are on the scene providing “patient care” for 21 minutes, departing for Shock Trauma at 9:54 a.m.

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Medic unit arrives at Shock Trauma. Gray has multiple surgeries and spends days in a coma. Imaging reveals a fractured neck and pinched spinal cord. Medical experts likened his injuries to those sustained by someone who dives into a shallow pool and hits their head on the bottom.

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Hundreds of people demonstrate outside the Western District police station. Protesters say they are upset about Gray’s injuries and that the dearth of details released by police deepened their frustrations. Their chants include, “No justice, no peace. We don’t need you on our streets.”

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Gray dies at Shock Trauma. The medical examiner’s autopsy report would rule the 25-year-old’s death a homicide “due to the failure of following established safety procedures through acts of omission.”

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After learning of Gray’s death, residents again take to the streets outside the station where he had been brought, demanding answers. Members of the People’s Power Assembly, a Baltimore activist group that has long protested police brutality in the city, mix with people from the Justice League NYC, who redirected their previously planned 250-mile march to Washington, D.C. With police still not saying how Gray was injured or why they stopped him, an attorney for the Gray family releases a statement saying that Gray’s spine was 80% severed.

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Leaders from the Baltimore chapter of the NAACP and the Baltimore City chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference are among those in attendance at new protests. William Stewart, who says he was a friend of Gray’s, is one of about 40 people protesting in the morning, using chants such as “Indict, convict, send those killers cops to jail.” Stewart says of police: “That’s like a father killing their son. They’re supposed to protect us.”

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Police identify the six officers suspended with pay in connection with the investigation as Lt. Brian Rice, Sgt. Alicia White, and Officers William Porter, Garrett Miller, Edward Nero and Caesar Goodson Jr. They range in age from 25 to 45 and in department experience from three years to 18 years.

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Minutes after several members of Maryland’s congressional delegation ask the Department of Justice to open a criminal and civil rights investigation into Gray’s death, a department spokeswoman says that it “has officially opened this matter and is gathering information to determine whether any prosecutable civil rights violation occurred.”

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Several hundred protesters turn out for a fourth consecutive day of demonstrations, this time gathering at the intersection where Gray was arrested and marching to the Western District police station, where officers pulled his unresponsive body out of a transport van. Making a rare public appearance, members of Gray’s family are visibly shaken as they lead a crowd along Mount Street. Gray’s mother, Gloria Darden, is overcome with emotion for a moment as she walks with pastor Jamal Bryant and Tessa Hill-Aston, president of the Baltimore chapter of the NAACP. “They’re just a grieving family,” Bryant says. “It’s taken a whole lot out of them to be here.”

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Gene Ryan, president of the Baltimore police union, draws outrage for comparing the Gray protests to a “lynch mob” for the calling of immediate jailing of officers. He walks back the comment, saying, “Maybe I need to reword that.”

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Protesters turn out for a fifth consecutive day of protests. Police detain one protester at a rally outside the Western District police station, leading others to press forward and toss bottles at officers. Protesters marching to City Hall block traffic downtown. Young children walk with their mothers, teens ride bikes, and older residents stand arm-in-arm, chanting, “No justice, no peace” and “All night, all day, we gon’ fight for Freddie Gray.”

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Gov. Larry Hogan says he will send Maryland State Police troopers to Baltimore as protests intensify over Gray’s death.

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In another afternoon and evening of demonstrations, hundreds of protesters pour onto downtown streets, halting rush-hour traffic, as they march from a rally outside City Hall to the Inner Harbor and Federal Hill and then to the Western District police station. Police arrest two protesters on charges of disorderly conduct and destruction of property, but nonviolence prevails, with protesters pulling peers away from a confrontation with a taxi driver. Police and city leaders take new steps to maintain order, canceling leave for officers and allowing city employees to leave early to reduce traffic congestion.

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“We know he was not buckled in the transportation wagon as he should have been. No excuses from me. Period,” Police Commissioner Anthony Batts says at a news conference. “We know our police employees failed to get him medical attention in a timely manner multiple times.”

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Some people damage police vehicles and businesses after a day of otherwise peaceful protests. Officers in riot gear and some on horseback clear crowds and make arrests. Oriole Park at Camden Yards, where an announced 36,757 fans watched the Orioles defeat the Boston Red Sox, is temporarily put on lockdown.

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After Baltimore officials appealed for help in the Gray investigation, police release a photo of a witness to the arrest and ask him to come forward. Kevin Moore says he is the man pictured, but he is angry about the release. The West Baltimore man — a friend of Gray’s who captured part of the arrest on cellphone video — said he believes police released the photo to intimidate him.

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Gray’s family holds a viewing at the Vaughn Greene funeral home in Govans that draws both those who knew Gray and those who simply had been moved by what happened to him. The 25-year-old’s slim body, dressed in a white baseball cap, spotless sneakers and blue plaid tie, lies in a gleaming white casket. “He could be anyone’s child,” says Angela Hall, who stopped by the viewing with her fiance and three children. “He’s someone’s brother. He’s someone’s son.”

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Gray’s twin sister pleads for peace after protesters turned unruly in Baltimore. Fredericka Gray, standing by Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake’s side at a news conference, says, “Can y’all please, please stop the violence?” She says her brother wouldn’t have wanted it.

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In a funeral service that’s both personal and political, family, friends and strangers alike say farewell to Gray, who friends remembered as an avid footplayer who was close with his family and beloved for his sense of humor and laid-back personality. Amid a succession of fiery speakers, attendees fall silent as Gray’s stepfather, Richard Shipley, quietly reads a poem he said the family wrote for their lost loved one.

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Unrest, including looting and arson, spreads through the city after officers in riot gear clash with young people near Mondawmin Mall. Hogan declares a state of emergency and calls in the National Guard. Rawlings-Blake institutes a weeklong citywide curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.

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Residents from across Baltimore descend on impacted areas to help clean up from the unrest as others pass out food and drink to the volunteers. “It looked as if a tornado hit in here,” Sequoia Alexander says of a grocery store where she and her mother are shoveling trash. More than 380 businesses, mostly in West Baltimore, were damaged or destroyed, and property losses would later be estimated at nearly $13 million.

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Baltimore’s new weeklong, citywide curfew is met by a small, defiant group of people facing off with helmeted police officers in West Baltimore. Police say just before midnight that 10 people had been arrested citywide, including seven for breaking curfew and two for looting.

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The Orioles defeat the Chicago White Sox, 8-2, in the first closed-admission game in major league history. The club’s decision to keep fans out allows police officers who would have attended the game for security to work in the city. The Orioles also relocate a weekend home series to St. Petersburg, Florida.

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Hundreds of high school and college students from campuses across the city converge on Penn Station and march to City Hall. Their aim, they say, is to show the world that Baltimore’s young people are not bent on violence and looting, but seeking justice for Gray and themselves.

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After arresting more than 200 people during the unrest, police say they let half of them go.

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The announcement that Baltimore Police have concluded their investigation into Gray’s death is not accompanied by any reports or findings, though police disclose that they learned of a previously unknown stop by the driver of the police van transporting Gray.

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Sources familiar with the Baltimore Police’s investigation into Gray’s death say that police found that Gray sustained a serious head injury, with one wound indicating that he struck a protruding bolt in the back of the police van.

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After Gray’s death is ruled a homicide, Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby says charges will be filed against officers.

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Widespread outrage over Gray’s death gives way to impromptu celebrations after Mosby files criminal charges against six police officers.

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Delivering a statement at City Hall, a grim-faced Rawlings-Blake says she is so sickened and heartbroken by the alleged conduct of officers in the Gray case that she told Police Commissioner Anthony Batts to immediately suspend the charged officers without pay.

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Gray’s stepfather, Richard Shipley, says his family is satisfied with the criminal charges brought against the six police officers. “Let us have peace in the pursuit of justice,” he says during brief remarks at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture.

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All six police officers charged in Gray’s death are released from the Central Booking and Intake Center downtown after posting bail, court records show. The four officers facing felony charges post $350,000 bails; the two facing misdemeanors post $250,000 bails.

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U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch says the Department of Justice will examine the best options to improve the Baltimore Police Department in the aftermath of Gray’s death.

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Two days after Rawlings-Blake publicly called for such a probe, Lynch announces that the Justice Department will launch a full-scale civil rights investigation into the Baltimore Police Department.

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Baltimore Police add Gray’s death to the department’s list of city homicides, nearly two weeks after Mosby filed charges.

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Baltimore Police officers are indicted on various charges related to Gray’s arrest and death. The officers’ prosecutions ultimately end with acquittals or dropped charges.

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A copy of the autopsy report obtained by The Sun says that Gray sustained a single “high-energy injury” — like those seen in shallow-water diving incidents — most likely caused when the police van in which he was riding decelerated.

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A circuit court judge rules that the cases against six Baltimore Police officers charged in Gray’s arrest and death will go forward in separate trials, with Mosby remaining at the helm of the prosecution.

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Rawlings-Blake’s administration plans to pay Gray’s family $6.4 million as a settlement for civil claims in his arrest and death. The wrongful death settlement does not acknowledge any wrongdoing by police, but accepts all civil liability in Gray’s arrest and death. A record at the time, the payout was later eclipsed by payouts related to Baltimore Police’s Gun Trace Task Force and the wrongly convicted “Harlem Park Three.”

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Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Barry Williams rules that the trials of six police officers charged in Gray’s arrest and death will stay in Baltimore, saying the defense had failed to prove that the officers cannot receive a fair trial in the city.

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At a brief news conference at City Hall, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake says she will not run for reelection. With 15 months left in office, Rawlings-Blake says she wants to take election politics out of the decisions she must make to help the city recover from the unrest and prepare for police officers’ trials. Before her announcement, Rawlings-Blake had faced criticism over her handling of the unrest and many observers questioned her reelection chances.

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The judge in the case against six police officers charged in Gray’s arrest and death bans prosecutors and the officers’ defense attorneys from discussing the case with anyone outside their own legal teams.

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Jurors in the first trial of a Baltimore Police officer charged in Gray’s death will remain anonymous, as is standard in criminal proceedings in Maryland, but they will not be sequestered, a judge rules.

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About 75 potential jurors are asked by Judge Williams whether they are unaware of the high-profile case. No one raises a hand. All potential jurors also indicate they are familiar with the $6.4 million civil settlement the city paid to Gray’s family, as well as the curfew enacted after April’s unrest.

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The first trial in Gray’s death opens with prosecutors alleging that Porter “criminally neglected his duty” to help the 25-year-old as he suffered from an injury in the back of a police transport van. Porter’s attorney tells jurors that the young officer checked on Gray and believed he may have been faking injury or had exhausted himself after thrashing around the back of the van. Charged with manslaughter, second-degree assault, misconduct in office and reckless endangerment, Porter accompanied the police van to its ultimate destination, the Western District police station, and was present at three earlier stops.

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Porter tells investigators he saw no reason to call a medic for Gray, but was poised to take him to a hospital for treatment.

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From the witness stand in Porter’s trial, the assistant state medical examiner who conducted Gray’s autopsy, Dr. Carol Allan, says that the fact that Gray was not in a seat belt was “not a primary” concern when considering his injuries, and says that if the driver of the police van, Goodson, had taken Gray to the hospital immediately after Porter asked him, she would not have ruled Gray’s death a homicide.

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The state prosecutors rest their case against Porter in Gray’s death after five days of witness testimony.

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A defiant Porter takes the witness stand. He says taking the stand lets him elaborate on his April statement. When he gave his initial statement, he says, he thought he was just a witness — not a suspect. Porter disputes the prosecution’s claim that he told a police investigator that Gray told him that he couldn’t breathe when Porter joined the van’s driver in checking on Gray during the van’s stop at Druid Hill Avenue and Dolphin Street.

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The defense team for Porter rests its case in his manslaughter trial in Gray’s death after putting Porter’s mother on the stand as a character witness.

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Jurors in Porter’s trial report that they are deadlocked. Williams sends them back to continue deliberating.

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A mistrial is declared after jurors tell a judge that they cannot reach a verdict on any of the four charges against Porter.

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Maryland’s second-highest court halts an order compelling Porter to testify at the trial of Officer Caesar Goodson Jr., who drove the police van that transported Gray.

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Maryland’s second highest court postpones Goodson’s trial just as the case was set to get underway with jury selection. The appellate court says it needs time to consider whether Porter, who himself is set to be retried after a mistrial, can be forced to testify at Goodson’s trial.

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In a rare move, Maryland’s highest court agrees to halt trial proceedings against the Baltimore Police officers charged in the Gray case, taking up competing appeals on whether Porter can be compelled to testify against his five fellow defendants.

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Officer Garrett Miller, one of the bicycle patrol officers who pursued Gray, is ordered by a Baltimore judge to testify at the trials of two fellow police officers.

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Baltimore Police Officer Edward Nero, one of the bicycle patrol officers who pursued Gray, is to stand trial before a judge rather than a jury on charges stemming from Gray’s arrest, clearing the way for the case’s first verdict.

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Williams rejects the state’s case against Nero, acquitting the officer on all counts. Nero had faced misdemeanor charges of second-degree assault, reckless endangerment and two counts of misconduct in office.

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Legal experts say Goodson’s decision, which came during a pretrial motions hearing, may have been made easier by Nero’s acquittal.

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Goodson, who faced the most serious charges of any of the six officers indicted in Gray’s arrest and death, including second-degree depraved heart murder, is found not guilty on all of them. Williams also acquits Goodson of three counts of manslaughter, second-degree assault, reckless endangerment and misconduct in office.

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Like the two officers to complete trials before him, each of whom was acquitted, Lt. Brian Rice chooses to have his case decided by a judge.

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Prosecutors drop one of two misconduct in office charges as the trial of Rice gets underway. Rice pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter, second-degree assault, both counts of misconduct in office and reckless endangerment.

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Williams drops an assault charge against Rice, but the trial will move forward with the remaining charges of manslaughter, reckless endangerment and misconduct.

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Williams clears Rice of involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment and misconduct in office.

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In a hearing meant to start Miller’s trial, prosecutors drop their cases against him, Porter and Sgt. Alicia White, whose lawyer, Ivan Bates, went on to succeed Mosby as Baltimore City state’s attorney. In an interview with The Sun, Mosby acknowledges the long odds of securing convictions in the remaining cases following the acquittals of three other officers on similar, though more serious, charges.

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The Department of Justice releases the findings of its investigation of Baltimore’s Police Department that it opened days after Gray’s death. Its report says that Baltimore Police routinely violated the constitutional rights of residents by conducting unlawful stops and using excessive force. In often scathing language, the report identifies systemic problems and says that the practices overwhelmingly affected Black residents in low-income neighborhoods.

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Maryland police accountability laws from the first General Assembly session since Gray’s death take effect. They set standards for recruitment and training of officers and change police disciplinary procedures to allow more transparency and an expanded civilian role. Advocates wanted the laws to go further but considered them an incremental improvement. Maryland’s broadest criminal justice reform in decades also begins to take effect. The Justice Reinvestment Act, most of which took effect in 2017, sought to reduce the state prison population while plowing millions of dollars into crime prevention.

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U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar approves a consent decree between Baltimore and the Department of Justice that mandates broad reforms to the Baltimore Police Department, as prescribed in a 17-section order. As of April 2025, the city had fulfilled two sections, relating to transporting people in custody and officer assistance and support, and was compliant with three others, relating to community oversight task force, First Amendment-protected activities and coordination with the Baltimore City school police force.

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The Department of Justice issues a statement on officials’ decision not to pursue charges against the officers who arrested, drove and interacted with Gray the morning of his fatal injuries. Officials concluded, the statement says, that there was not sufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the officers “willfully violated” Gray’s civil rights.

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With the full reinstatement of Sgt. Alicia White, whose administrative charges Police Commissioner Kevin Davis dropped, all six Baltimore Police officers who were charged in the Gray case are back on the job. Officers Edward Nero and Garrett Miller previously accepted minor administrative discipline, Lt. Brian Rice and Officer Caesar Goodson Jr. were acquitted by police trial boards, and Officer William Porter did not face administrative charges.

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The U.S. Supreme Court denies an appeal from five Baltimore Police officers in a case in which they alleged they were wrongfully prosecuted for Gray’s death by Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby. The decision leaves intact a decision by a Richmond, Virginia-based federal appeals court that blocked the officers’ lawsuit on the grounds that prosecutors have immunity from such charges.

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A wrecking crew tears down the six largest buildings of the West Baltimore public housing community where Gray was arrested. The partial demolition of Gilmor Homes includes Building 30 on Bruce Court, the nearest to the site of Gray’s arrest and where a graffiti memorial to Gray was painted on an exterior wall.

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Long-debated changes, whose passage was energized by the national outrage following the murder by police of George Floyd in Minneapolis, begin to go into effect under a package of Maryland laws known as the Police Accountability Act. Among other changes, they establish a division in the state attorney general’s office to investigate deaths of civilians during encounters with police and rewrite how officers accused of misconduct are disciplined. A law granting public access to some police disciplinary records is named for Anton Black, a 19-year-old Black man who died in police custody in Caroline County in 2018.

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The Baltimore Board of Estimates approves a $3.5 million settlement with 68 current and former business owners whose properties were damaged during the 2015 unrest following Gray’s death.

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A Maryland law takes effect giving the state Attorney General’s Office the authority to prosecute police for unjustly killing or injuring civilians. Previously, the office’s Independent Investigation Division investigated all deadly police encounters, but the decision to prosecute was left to the local state’s attorneys.

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One of the police officers who was charged in Gray’s arrest and death, now-Capt. Alicia White, assumes a command position in the Baltimore Police Department’s Public Integrity Bureau, which handles misconduct investigations. White, whose charges were dropped by prosecutors, is one of two commanders over the bureau’s Investigative Section.