(Newswire.net — September 9, 2015) — Baltimore, Mar. – It is impossible to put a price on someone’s life. The City of Baltimore will pay $6.4 million to Freddie Gray’s Family, the New York Times reported. However, the officials didn’t admit there was any wrongdoing in Freddie Gray’s arrest, during which he died.
“The proposed settlement agreement going before the Board of Estimates should not be interpreted as a judgment on the guilt or innocence of the officers facing trial,” Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said Tuesday in a statement.
“This settlement is being proposed solely because it is in the best interest of the city and avoids costly and protracted litigation that would only make it more difficult for our city to heal and potentially cost taxpayers many millions more in damages,” the statement reads.
If approved, the amount will be larger than all 120 misconduct settlements lawsuits Baltimore contested in 2014. The settlement would also exceed the $5.9 million settlement that the New York Police Department paid for Eric Garner’s death.
According to the proposal, Baltimore will have to pay $2.8 million during the current fiscal year and $3.6 million in next year.
The proposal will have to be approved by the five members Board of Estimates, in charge to overseeing the city’s spending.
Baltimore Sun has learned that City Council President Bernard C. ‘Jack’ Young, also a member of the Board of Estimates, will support the proposal, among others.
“The council president felt strongly that the matter of the settlement needed to be addressed, because you have a situation where a lengthy legal proceeding in terms of the civil case would not necessarily be in the best interest of the city,” spokesman Lester Davis told the Baltimore Sun.
According to Davis, any lawsuit with the Gray family would likely have taken place in federal court, and cost the city even more money.
The settlement was made after weeks of talks between city leaders and Gray family attorneys, the Washington Post reported.