Freddie Gray's Family to Get 'Extraordinary Payment'

$6.4M settlement from Baltimore expected to be OK'd tomorrow
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 8, 2015 10:47 AM CDT
Freddie Gray's Family to Get $6.4M From Baltimore
In this April 27, 2015, file photo, family members of Freddie Gray, including sister Fredricka Gray, left, mother Gloria Darden, center, and stepfather Richard Shipley listen during a news conference.   (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

In what the Baltimore Sun frames as "an extraordinary payment," the paper reports that the city will pay Freddie Gray's family $6.4 million to resolve all civil claims related to his arrest and death. The payout needs approval from the city's spending panel and that OK is expected to come tomorrow. Once granted, the money would be doled out over a two-year period. A statement from Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's office says that the settlement "should not be interpreted as a judgment on the guilt or innocence of the officers facing trial." Rather, the city's decision to accept civil liability in the case was done to avoid the cost of a court battle that could have ultimately cost taxpayers much more.

The Sun reports on the magnitude of the settlement: Since 2011, the city has only paid out sums in excess of $200,000 six times; there were a total of 120 claims made in that period related to alleged police brutality, and the Grays' settlement is just slightly larger than all of those combined. (More Freddie Gray stories.)

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