Acquitted Police Officer in Freddie Gray Case May Get $127,000 in Back Pay

“Being suspended without pay for over a year has been financially devastating to Lt. Rice and his family,” Michael Belsky, Rice’s attorney.

The highest-ranking Baltimore police officer acquitted in the death of Freddie Gray will likely receive a six-figure sum in back pay.

The Baltimore city Board of Estimates meeting is scheduled on Wednesday to consider the payment to Rice of $126,916, a sum which “represents the amount of salary that Mr. Rice would have earned for the period of May 1, 2015, through July 18, 2016.”

In July, Rice was found not guilty on charges of manslaughter, reckless endangerment, and misconduct in office stemming from the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old Black man, who sustained a fatal neck injury while riding in a police van in April 2015.

Based on the incident, Rice with three other officers charged with different counts of felony in connection with the Freddie Gray case were suspended without pay, under department policy. However, after being acquitted, Rice is entitled to back pay under the same policy.

Last month, the board approved $88,000 in back pay for Officer Caesar Goodson Jr., the police van’s driver.

We are wondering if it is the payment for taking Freddie’s life? Officers now not only go scot-free after killing innocent African-Americans they get rewarded for that. A more disheartening fact is that the money of Black taxpayers is also used to pay these inhumane rewards.

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