The Latest: Lawyers for Baltimore officer begin his defence

BALTIMORE – The Latest on an administrative police board that is hearing a disciplinary case against a Baltimore officer (all times local):

3:30 p.m.

Attorneys for a Baltimore police van driver who could be fired for the in-custody death of a black man are pointing to police department failures to disseminate policy changes.

Attorneys for Officer Caesar Goodson began their defence Thursday before a three-member disciplinary board. It is examining Goodson’s role in transporting Freddie Gray, who died a week after his arrest in April 2015 from a spinal cord injury.

Lt. Robert Quick, who was the supervisor of written directives at the department at the time, testified the system for conveying policy updates didn’t work well.

A department attorney says Goodson should be fired for failing to put Gray in a seatbelt, as policy required. But defence attorneys say the policy was only days old and wasn’t disseminated properly.

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3:25 a.m.

Witnesses who support an officer the Baltimore Police Department wants to fire for his handling of Freddie Gray, a black man fatally injured in his custody, are expected to testify on the officer’s behalf.

Caesar Goodson’s attorney will begin his defence Thursday as the disciplinary case resumes.

Goodson took Gray on a nearly 45-minute trip to a nearby police station after his arrest in 2015. By the time the shackled and handcuffed Gray arrived, his spine had been severed.

The department contends Goodson violated policies by failing to buckle Gray into a seatbelt, by failing to take him to a hospital and by making false statements about what happened.

The police department’s lawyer rested his case Wednesday before a board of officers.