2 distinct images of Baltimore officer on trial in Gray case

BALTIMORE (AP) — Officer William Porter did nothing to help Freddie Gray as he lay helpless on the floor of a Baltimore police transport van complaining that he couldn't breathe and pleading for a medic, prosecutors said.

[...] defense attorneys painted a wholly different portrait of the young officer during opening statements Wednesday in one of Baltimore's highest-profile and highest-stakes court cases in the city's recent history.

Porter thought Gray, well-known to neighborhood patrolmen as always making a scene when being detained, was suffering from "jail-itis"— a police slang term for faking distress in order to be taken to the hospital rather than jail, the attorney said.

The former outlined a series of events that they said equated to criminal negligence, while the latter painted a picture of an officer using his best judgment while performing the challenging job of policing Baltimore's troubled streets.

Prosecutors said he repeatedly told Porter he couldn't breathe and that he needed medical care during several stops on his 45-minute journey from the Gilmor Homes housing complex, where he was first handcuffed and placed in the back of a transport van, to the Western District police station house, where he arrived unresponsive.

[...] Gary Proctor, Porter's defense attorney, said the officer didn't think Gray was actually hurt because there were no outward signs of injury and Gray had a history of causing a ruckus during arrests; just a few weeks prior Gray tried to kick out the windows of a police car.