Others: On April 12, 2015, Freddie Carlos Gray Jr., a 25-year-old African American, was arrested by the Baltimore Police Department for possession of a knife.

After Gray's funeral, civil disorder intensified with looting and burning of local businesses and a CVS drug store, culminating with a state of emergency declaration by Governor Larry Hogan, Maryland National Guard deployment to Baltimore, and the establishment of a curfew.

On September 12, 2017, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it would not bring federal charges against the six Baltimore police officers involved in the arrest and death in custody of Gray.

[4] He was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder after entering school, where he attended special education classes, played wide receiver in a local football little league team, and was a truant student.

[19] Approximately three weeks prior to the incident, Mosby had requested "enhanced" drug enforcement efforts at the corner of North and Mount.

[30] Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts noted from the video that "Gray stood on one leg and climbed into the van on his own.

[36][37] The media has suggested the possibility of a rough ride—a form of police brutality where a handcuffed prisoner is placed without a seatbelt in an erratically driven vehicle—as a contributing factor in Gray's injury.

[41][42][25] Moreover, and as noted by the BBC in December 2015, "Throughout the trial, the prosecution insisted that Mr Porter could have saved Gray's life by restraining him and by calling for medical help after his injury.

"[44] The department's seatbelt policy had been revised six days prior to Gray's arrest, in an attempt to protect detained individuals from serious injuries during transport.

[54] On May 1, 2015, after receiving a medical examiner's report ruling Gray's death a homicide,[25] state prosecutors said that they had probable cause to file criminal charges against the six officers involved.

[55] Mosby said that Gray "suffered a critical neck injury as a result of being handcuffed, shackled by his feet and unrestrained inside the BPD wagon".

[60] In December 2015, Baltimore judge Barry Williams declared a mistrial in the trial of Officer Porter after the jury was unable to reach a verdict.

[62] In June 2016, law professor John Banzhaf of George Washington University filed a complaint with the bar against Marilyn Mosby for prosecutorial misconduct.

[25] Gene Ryan, president of the police union, chapter said that despite the tragic situation, "none of the officers involved are responsible for the death of Mr.

[66] In a May 4, 2015, interview on Fox News, Alan Dershowitz said that he believes Mosby overcharged the officers in an attempt to satisfy protesters and prevent further disturbances.

[68] Croyder opined that Mosby circumvented normal procedures "to step into the national limelight", and that she "pandered to the public", creating an expectation of a conviction.

[70] The lawyers representing the officers filed a motion insisting that the city must pay thousands of dollars in damages for arresting and detaining them—or else they could sue Mosby and the Mayor of Baltimore, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.

[71] In an 11-page rebuttal, Chief Deputy State's Attorney Michael Schatzow wrote that Gray was detained "well before the arresting officers knew he possessed a knife" and that the motion was absurdly "bounc[ing] from one ridiculous allegation to another, like a pinball on a machine far past 'TILT'".

[89] On September 12, 2017, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it would not bring federal charges against the six Baltimore police officers involved in the arrest and in-custody death of Freddie Gray.

[96] Public reaction to the death has drawn further parallels to the response to the 2014 shooting of Michael Brown, as part of a larger string of controversial uses of force by police officers in the United States against African Americans.

[32] The next day, Gene Ryan, the president of the local lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police, expressed sympathy for the Gray family, but criticized the "rhetoric of protests" and suggested that "the images seen on television look and sound much like a lynch mob".

[108][109][110] On April 27, rioting and looting began after the funeral of Gray, with two patrol cars destroyed and 15 officers reported injured.

[112] A Major League Baseball (MLB) game between the visiting Chicago White Sox and host Baltimore Orioles scheduled for the evening was postponed due to the unrest.

Other protests in response to Gray's death took place in cities including Chicago,[128] Minneapolis,[129] Miami,[130] Philadelphia,[131] Portland,[132] and Seattle.

[citation needed] On September 8, 2015, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake announced that the city had reached a $6.4 million settlement with Gray's family.

Rawlings-Blake said the settlement "should not be interpreted as a judgment on the guilt or innocence of the officers facing trial", but had been negotiated to avoid "costly and protracted litigation that would only make it more difficult for our city to heal".

[151] In May 2015, Salomon Faye released "Black Power", a music video on YouTube that shows rallies in the aftermath of Gray's death.

The avant-garde rock Baltimorean band Horse Lords close their 2016 album, Interventions, with the track "Never Ended", which is built on samples from protests in response to Gray's death.

In 2016, Kevin Morby released "Beautiful Strangers", which addressed issues plaguing the world: gun violence, the death of Freddie Gray, and terrorist attacks in Orlando and Paris.

[159][160] Gray's death and subsequent protest are featured in We Own This City, a six-hour long mini-series which premiered on HBO on April 25, 2022, that focuses on corruption within a Baltimore police task force.