Baltimore Will Pay $3.5 Million To Local Businesses Damaged During Freddie Gray Protests

BALTIMORE, MD – APRIL 30: Protesters march from the Sandtown neighborhood to City Hall demanding better police accountability and racial equality following the death of Freddie Gray on April 30, 2015 in Baltimore, Maryland. Gray, 25, was arrested for possessing a switch blade knife April 12 outside the Gilmor Houses housing project on Baltimore’s west side. According to his attorney, Gray died a week later in the hospital from a severe spinal cord injury he received while in police custody. (Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images)

The city of Baltimore has reached a $3.5 million settlement with local businesses damaged during protests and unrest over the 2015 death of Freddie Gray.

Nearly 70 businesses were part of the lawsuit, first filed in 2017. They claim police response was slow during the riots, and that then-Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake made things worse with comments about giving “those who wished to destroy space to do that”.

Gray died in police custody after he was arrested in April 2015. None of the six officers involved in his death were convicted of a crime.

Should the city be held liable here? Could this settlement impact similar lawsuits in other cities?