Baltimore's chief prosecutor charged one police officer with murder on Friday and five others with lesser crimes in the death of a young black man who suffered a critical neck injury in the back of a police van, a case that fueled new anger over police treatment of minorities.
A Baltimore police report on the death of a black man who suffered spinal injuries while in custody was handed over on Thursday to the city's chief prosecutor, who must decide whether to bring charges against six officers involved in the man's arrest.
The streets of Baltimore were largely quiet overnight, with only scattered arrests reported during a curfew imposed after the latest wave of rioting fueled by anger against U.S police killings of black men.
Baltimore's mayor came under criticism on Tuesday for a slow police response to some of the worst urban rioting in the United States in years with shops looted, buildings burned to the ground and 20 officers injured.
Baltimore erupted in violence on Monday as hundreds of rioters looted stores, burned buildings and at least 15 police officers were injured following the funeral of a 25-year-old black man who died after suffering a spinal injury in police custody.
A string of deadly confrontations between mostly white police and black men will be among challenges immediately facing Loretta Lynch when she is sworn in on Monday as U.S. attorney general.
Baltimore's mayor and police on Sunday again blamed outside agitators for violence and vandalism that flared during a mostly peaceful protest over last week's death of a young black man who sustained an unexplained spinal injury while under arrest.
Thousands of people marched peacefully through downtown Baltimore on Saturday to protest the unexplained death of a black man in police custody but pockets of violence erupted when a small group smashed windows and threw bottles at officers.
An investigation into the death of a black man in Baltimore police custody is still trying to figure out what happened, the police commissioner said on Friday as the city braced for a major protest over the incident.
