Baltimore City Reaches $3.5 million Settlement With Businesses That Were Damaged Due to Freddie Gray’s Death

Baltimore City has agreed to pay $3.5 million to resolve a lawsuit brought by business owners whose operations were harmed during the turmoil that followed Freddie Gray’s death in 2015.

The city and Chae Bros struck a multi-million dollar settlement last month, but it must be authorized by the Board of Estimates, according to Mayor Brandon Scott’s office. The board is scheduled to meet next week to examine the deal.

Sydney Burns the Associate Communications Director for the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement stated:

“The settlement amount is $3.5 million, which is roughly (half) of the documented economic losses. The Solicitor’s Office believes that this resolution is in the best interests of Baltimore residents.” – Sydney Burns 

The lawsuit was filed in 2017 by hundreds of businesses in reaction to millions of dollars in damages done to local businesses during the riots and turmoil that erupted in April and May of 2015 following Gray’s death in police custody.

Businesses sued the city for violating the Maryland Riot Act, claiming that municipal authorities, including then-Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, failed to prevent the looting and rioting that followed Gray’s death.

Gray was apprehended about 8:40 a.m. on April 12, 2015, and placed unrestrained in the back of a police van. He was transferred to a hospital less than an hour later, where he lapsed into a coma and died of his injuries a week later.

Aside from causing turmoil, the death of the 25-year-old resulted in the arrest of six Baltimore police officers. Officer William Porter’s case was deemed a mistrial, while Officers Edward Nero and Caesar Goodson were acquitted in bench trials. The charges against the trio and the rest of the cops charged were later withdrawn.

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