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Baltimore Reaches $6.4 Million Settlement Proposal With Freddie Gray Family

A mural memorializing Baltimore resident Freddie Gray adorns a wall near the place where he was tackled and arrested by police.
Chip Somodevilla
/
Getty Images
A mural memorializing Baltimore resident Freddie Gray adorns a wall near the place where he was tackled and arrested by police.

The Baltimore City Law Department has reached a tentative $6.4 million settlement with the family of Freddie Gray, the 25-year-old man who suffered a fatal spine injury while in police custody.

The proposed settlement still has to be approved by the city's Board of Estimates, which is comprised of five city leaders including the mayor and the president of the city council.

If you remember, the death of Gray sparked days of peaceful protests and a night of riots in April.

In a press release, the city said the proposed settlement does not "resolve any factual disputes surrounding the events of April 12, 2015, and expressly does not constitute an admission of liability on the part of the City, the Baltimore Police Department, or any of the police officers who interacted with Mr. Gray on that day."

The settlement also does not affect any of the criminal charges being brought against six Baltimore Police Department officers.

A few days ago, a judge in Baltimoredecided to let prosecutors proceed with those charges.

In a statement, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said the settlement was in the "best interest of the city" in part because it "avoids costly and protracted litigation that would only make it more difficult for our city to heal and potentially cost taxpayers many millions more in damages."

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Eyder Peralta is NPR's East Africa correspondent based in Nairobi, Kenya.