Ethical Dilemma Week 8
The Death of Freddie Gray
By Hope Schwegler
May 4, 2015
Phil 2003 Principles of Ethics
Professor Margaret De Alminana

‘On April 12, 2015, Freddie Gray, a 25 year old African American male, was arrested by the Baltimore Police Department. He had a known unethical character and had been involved in twenty criminal court cases, five of which were still active at the time of his death. He was due in court on a possession charge on April 24, 2015. Freddie Gray died on April 19, 2015, due to injuries to his spinal cord. On April 21, 2015, pending an investigation of incident, six Baltimore police officers were temporarily suspended with pay. On May 1, 2015, state prosecutors in Baltimore received a medical examiner’s report ruling Gray’s death as a homicide. Was it foul play that was intentional, gross negligence, or inflicted self harm by the prisoner? We identified “Rae’s first step in making a moral decision is to gather the facts.” Much of the other information had conflicting reports and statements.

So what are the “ethical issues that Rae has for level two” in the model for making moral decisions? The formal charge filed by Office Garrett Miller accused Gray of violating statute 19 59 22, “unlawfully carry, possess, and sell a knife commonly called a switch blade knife, with an automatic spring or other device for opening and/or closing the blade within the limits of Baltimore City.” The prosecutor alleged that Gray’s arrest was unlawful because the switchblade the arresting officers reported he had in his possession was actually a spring-assisted pocket knife that is legal under Maryland state-law. The prosecutors stated that they had probable cause to file criminal charges against the six police officers who were believed to be involved in his death.’ Did Freddie Gray break the law to warrant this arrest that led to his