Officer in Freddie Gray case demanded man’s arrest as part of personal dispute

By the Guardian Staff

The most senior Baltimore police officer charged over the death of Freddie Gray used his position to order the arrest of a man as part of a personal dispute just two weeks before the fatal incident, prompting an internal inquiry by Baltimore police department.

Funeral of Freddie Gray

During an erratic late-night episode in March, Brian Rice boasted he was a Baltimore police lieutenant and warned “heads will roll” if officers in a nearby city did not “go arrest” his ex-girlfriend’s husband, according to a police report obtained by the Guardian.

The incident is the latest in a series… that raised questions over Rice’s ability to perform his duties as a supervising officer and the Baltimore department’s decision to keep him on front line patrols.

Two weeks later, it was Rice who initiated the arrest of Gray after the 25-year-old “made eye contact” with the lieutenant in a west Baltimore street and ran away. Gray was chased and subjected to a fatal arrest that was declared unlawful by the city’s top prosecutor…

It was previously disclosed that Rice was accused of threatening to kill Andrew McAleer, his former girlfriend’s husband, and himself during an alleged campaign of harassment between 2012 and 2013, which earned him a temporary restraining order. Rice was twice disciplined in this period by Baltimore chiefs and consigned to paperwork with his police gun and badge revoked, according to police sources.

Lt. Brian Rice

Prosecutors allege he and his colleagues illegally arrested Gray because a knife discovered in the 25-year-old’s pocket was lawful. Rice and some of the other six officers involved are accused of being culpable for Gray’s death after failing to seatbelt him in the police van or answer his pleas for medical attention. Rice, 41, is charged with manslaughter, assault and misconduct in office.

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