Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina said she was “relieved” to see six Baltimore police officers charged over the death of Freddie Gray.
“I think we were all relieved to see the six policemen charged in Baltimore,” Fiorina, a former Hewlett Packard CEO, told reporters on a conference call shortly after announcing her presidential bid.
“It’s heartbreaking to see what’s going on in Baltimore,” she added, referring to riots that broke out in the city, during a 45-minute question-and-answer session with reporters. “Any situation in which police are engaged in violence, then police must be held accountable.”
{mosads}Fiorina, though, also criticized those who joined the riots.
“Many of those looters … clearly have no stake in their community,” she said. “The lives and the businesses they destroyed are their neighbors.”
Gray a 25-year-old black man suffered a fatal spinal injury while in police custody and later died. His death sparked protests and riots in the city, and renewed a national debate over police tactics and race.
State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby on Friday announced charges against six officers, alleging that Gray suffered his injury because he was not properly buckled in the back of a police van. She also alleged that officers failed to provide him with proper medical help.
The police union and lawyers for the officers, though, have maintained their innocence and condemned what they see as politically motivated charges.
Fiorina called it “vital” for police officers to have body cameras.
“We need to know what’s going on at all times for everyone’s protection,” she said.
She also praised South Carolina officials for charging police officer Michael Thomas Slager with the murder of Walter Scott, another black man who died after an encounter with law enforcement.
Scott was shot and killed April 4. Slager was charged after a video of the incident surfaced, apparently showing him shooting a fleeing Scott in the back.
“South Carolina promptly charged a policeman with murder as they should have,” Fiorina said.