By Jenny Hollander | Bustle
On Tuesday, the Washington Post reported that sources close to the matter confirmed that Baltimore would be paying Freddie Gray’s family $6.4 millionin a wrongful death settlement. Gray died in April after being taken into police custody by Baltimore cops, and wasn’t breathing when he was carried from the police van later that afternoon; it’s unclear precisely what happened in that van, but Gray wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, and died from his injuries a week later.
All six officers who arrested Gray and were in that van with him have been arrested for charges relating to Gray’s death, and are awaiting six separate trials. Until Baltimore officials formally announce the settlement, it’s unclear whether the city has taken responsibility for Gray’s death as part of the settlement. The figure is eerily close to the settlement New York City gave to the family of Eric Garner — $5.9 million — who died on a Staten Island a little under a year before Gray when a police officer put him in a chokehold, causing an asthma attack that led to Garner’s death.
Keith Alexander of the Washington Post reported that the settlement is not final, but will need to be approved by the city; so far, Alexander added, the city has paid approximately $5.7 million in police misconduct cases in the last four years.
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