Baltimore prosecutor says police gave Freddie Gray a ‘rough ride’

BALTIMORE — The officer at the wheel when Freddie Gray suffered a fatal spinal injury in the back of a police van caused the young black man’s death by deliberately giving him a “rough ride,” prosecutors said for the first time Thursday as the driver went on trial on murder and manslaughter charges.

A “rough ride” is police lingo for teaching someone a lesson by putting him in a police wagon without a seat belt and driving so erratically that he is thrown around.

[...] the accusation during opening statements at Officer Caesar Goodson’s trial was the first time they said the driver meant to hurt Gray, whose death in April 2015 touched off the worst riots in Baltimore in decades.

During the drive, Goodson ran a stop sign and made a sharp right turn at such high speed that he crossed a double yellow line, Schatzow said, citing video surveillance footage.