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Following Judge Barry G. Williams declaring a mistrial Wednesday afternoon, tensions grew amongst demonstrators, as a scuffle broke out and at least one protestor was arrested and brought inside the courthouse.

“I’m mad. I’m upset. But I am also not surprised,” said Justin Sanders, 32, of West Baltimore outside the courthouse. “How can anybody be surprised anymore?”

The mistrial was declared after the jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict to acquit or find Porter guilty of involuntary manslaughter, second-degree assault, misconduct in office, or reckless endangerment. Attorneys are due in court tomorrow to set a retrial date.

“It’s part of the process,” said community organizer J.C. Faulk outside the courthouse. “What the city is doing is delaying the inevitable.” While clearly not happy with the court’s ruling, he added, “Now is not the time to put bodies on the line.”

Following the announcement, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake immediately released a statement, urging citizens to “respect the outcome of the judicial process . . . I urge everyone to remember that collectively our reaction needs to be one of respect for our neighborhoods, and for the residents and businesses of our city.”

Congressman Elijah Cummings echoed the mayor’s sentiment in a statement released Wednesday evening.

“With the eyes of the world on Baltimore City, we must ensure that any protests that take place are peaceful, and we must ensure that the process of healing our community continues,” Cummings said in the statement. “We must continue to channel our emotions into strong, positive change, so that, as a city, we truly see our young men of color before it is too late.”

Similarly, mayoral candidate and City Councilman Nick Mosby released a statement saying, “As a city, we must come together and continue the healing process of working to rebuild trust and improve community-police relations for the safety of residents and our police officers.”

Gene Ryan, president of the Baltimore City Fraternal Order of Police, called the decision “obviously frustrating” in a statement.

“Officer Porter and his attorneys will continue, with the full support of the Fraternal Order of Police, to press for his acquittal,” Ryan said.

City State’s Attorney prosecutors Michael Schatzow and Janice Bledsoe, pictured, left the courthouse without speaking to the media.

As Wednesday evening went on, protestors continued to march from the courthouse to City Hall, just a block away.

Amongst the demonstrators was City Councilman Carl Stokes, who said, to him personally, it was “most bothersome” that Porter’s defense attorneys made the case that their client was not guilty because “nobody follows the rules,” in terms of seat-belting arrestees in transport vans.

Stokes was also upset at the defense for putting all the blame on not securing Gray on the van driver and, ultimately, making the case that it didn’t matter whether Porter called for medical assistance or not because Gray would not have survived his catastrophic injury regardless.

“[Porter] and his fellow officers are accountable and responsible for Freddie Gray’s death,” he said. “But there is a systemic issue as well. There is a culture that has developed within the police department that some of our citizens’ lives are worthless.”

Also following the trial closely was Tessa Hill-Aston, NAACP Baltimore chapter president.

“I’m disappointed,” she said. “I sat in court each day and heard medical testimony and everything else. I know Freddie Gray was in pain. I heard testimony that made me cringe about the pain he was in. And nobody called for help. Somebody has to be responsible and accountable for that.”

Hill-Aston added that she expects protests this evening in the city, but hopes no one will do anything that ends up in an arrest.

“We know what can happen to people when they get locked up,” she said. “I don’t want to see anyone else get hurt.”

Additional reporting was contributed by senior editor Ron Cassie.

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The two-hour afternoon event marked the kickoff of Bikemore’s yearlong, “I Bike, I Vote,” campaign, designed to encourage bicyclists not only to vote, but become advocates and help create political support for safe bicycling infrastructure and policy in the city as well.

About a dozen City Council candidates and most of the leading mayoral candidates—state Sen. Catherine Pugh, Councilman Nick Mosby, former mayor Sheila Dixon, and Maryland Attorney General’s Office appointee Elizabeth Embry—attended the meet-and-greet. (In fact, one presidential candidate, 2012 Green Party nominee Jill Stein, who is running again in 2016 and gave the keynote at Baltimore Green Assembly, also Sunday, turned up.) Monument City Brewing Company provided the beer, T-Blocks offered indoor bike parking, Side A Photography placed a photo booth, and Bikemore displayed information on local bicycling projects. Cornish laid out the nonprofit’s 2016 election platform, which includes supporting candidates “who understand a third of Baltimore lacks access to a car, and that improving access to public and active transportation is the only clear path to upward mobility for Baltimore’s poor.”

Recent studies have linked geographic mobility to economic mobility and a lack of transportation access to higher rates of unemployment and lower incomes.

Cornish drew big applause when she said that Bikemore also supports candidates “who will hold public agencies accountable so bicycle infrastructure is built on time and to spec the first time by competent contractors, and is subsequently maintained in a regular maintenance program.”

Recent Baltimore City bicycling infrastructure plans, including the extension of the Jones Falls Trail, Charm City Bikeshare, the Maryland Avenue cycle track, and the Downtown Bicycle Network have been beset by years of delay. In the process, Baltimore has fallen behind cities across the country, in terms of building safe bicycling infrastructure and growing the city’s percentage of bicycle commuters. The entire Bikemore 2016 election platform can be found here.

Mosby, who recently announced his campaign for the city’s highest office, said he has supported Bikemore’s efforts in the past and will continue to do so, adding that improving bicycle infrastructure is needed help the city’s low-income population that can’t afford a car—and attract and keep a growing Millennial Generation workforce. He said the blame for the city’s failure to improve its bicycle infrastructure falls squarely on City Hall leadership that has failed to make it a priority and hold the city’s bureaucracy accountable to timelines.

“In terms of multi-modal infrastructure, we’ve fallen behind,” Mosby said. “We are on either on our third or fourth attempt to launch Charm City Bikeshare.” Mosby also highlighted the modest start-up nature of Baltimore’s bikeshare initiative—just 250 bikes—while Washington, D.C.’s Capital Bikeshare program has grown to more than 3,000 bicycles at 350 stations over the past few years.

Embry, who announced her campaign last week, said she used to bike commute from her Waverly home to City Hall when she was employed in the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice. “I have to look into the details [of Bikemore’s positions], but I support the principles of their platform,” Embry said.

Three candidates to replace District 1 City Councilman Jim Kraft—Zeke Cohen, Mark Edelson, and Mark Parker—were all on hand. Traffic and transportation mobility are major issues, in particular, in the historic, southeast neighborhoods of Canton, Fells Point, and Highlandtown where ongoing development in nearby Harbor East, Harbor Point, and Canton Crossing has pushed congestion to new levels of frustration for residents.

“It can be a challenge to build bikeable and walkable streets—these are old neighborhoods—but adding more parking and more cars isn’t sustainable,” Cohen said. “Not from an environmental perspective and not from a traffic and congestion perspective.”

Parker, a pastor who grew up in Otterbein and biking around the city, said he gave up his car two years ago. “I live two blocks from the church and I didn’t need it,” Parker said. “

Every meeting I go to [in Southeast], traffic is what I hear about. There’s no more room for cars in the street and bicycling has to be an option.”

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The announcement of her 2016 campaign “and vision for Baltimore” took place at City College high school at 10:30 a.m. A Twitter account, @Embry4Baltimore, and website, EmbryForBaltimore.org, has already been launched.

“And so, because I am not a politician, you may not know my name yet; you may not know my story yet; but you will. And that starts today,” she announced this morning, before going into her stance on criminal justice. “Public safety does not require mass arrests or zero tolerance . . . The war on drugs is too often, and for too many, a war on drug addicts.”

Embry, who has long been rumored to run, is currently the director of the criminal division in the Office of the Attorney General, headed by Brian Frosh. She is the daughter of longtime Abell Foundation president Robert Embry.

The Yale and Columbia University graduate previously served as acting director of the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice in Baltimore and as deputy for policy and planning in the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office.

Embry has been an assistant solicitor in the Baltimore City Office of Law and was a felony prosecutor in the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office.

Embry joins a seemingly ever-growing field, which expanded earlier this week with the addition of venture capitalist and philanthropist David Warnock.

“Never more than now has our city needed a leader who puts the people of Baltimore above all else, who has a clear vision and real solutions to get the city running again and the experience and energy to get the job done,” Embry told The Sun in a recent interview.

In September, in the ongoing wake of Freddie Gray’s death, a spike in homicides in the city, and the departure of former police commissioner Anthony Batts, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, who announced in September that she is not be running for re-election.

City Councilman Nick Mosby, former Mayor Sheila Dixon, City Councilman Carl Stokes, and State Sen. Catherine Pugh—already in the race. Other Democratic candidates that have filed include, in alphabetical order: Richard Black, Mack Clifton, Joshua Harris, Mike Maraziti, and Calvin Young III.

One Republican, Brian Charles Vaeth, has also filed to run, and two Green Party candidates, Bonnie Renee Lane and Emanuel McCray. One Independent Party candidate, Collins Otonna, and one unaffiliated candidate, Connor Meek, have also filed.

Early voting in the 2016 Maryland primary begins April 14, 2016. Primary election day is April 26, 2016.

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David Warnock, a managing partner at the private equity firm Camden Partners involved in several nonprofit organizations, including the Center for Urban Families, announced Tuesday that he is candidate for the city’s highest office.

Warnock plans to hold a formal campaign kick-off event Nov. 23, spokeswoman Krishana Davis said, the details of which have not yet been formalized. Warnock, Davis added, will file candidate papers this afternoon at the Baltimore City Elections Board office.

The 57-year-old, who has never held public office, joins a plethora of elected Democratic officials—City Councilman Nick Mosby, former Mayor Sheila Dixon, City Councilman Carl Stokes, and State Sen. Catherine Pugh—already in the race. Other Democratic candidates that have filed include, in alphabetical order: Richard Black, Mack Clifton, Joshua S. Harris, Mike Maraziti, and Calvin Allen Young III.

One Republican, Brian Charles Vaeth, has also filed to run, and one Green Party candidate, Bonnie Renee Lane. One Independent Party candidate, Collins Otonna, and one unaffiliated candidate, Connor Meek, have also filed.

In making the announcement, Warnock, a Grand Rapids, MI native who earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Delaware and came to Baltimore in 1983 to began his financial career at T. Rowe Price, touted his successful business background. “I’ve been a Baltimore success story,” he told the Baltimore Business Journal. “I think Baltimore likes winners.”

In 2010, Warnock co-founded the 650-student Green Street Academy charter school, which recently moved into the former Gwynn Falls Park Junior High in West Baltimore. He serves as the co-chair of the school’s Board of Trustees.

In our September “Conversation Issue,” Warnock sat down for a discussion with Rev. Donté L. Hickman Sr., pastor at East Baltimore’s Southern Baptist Church, around the city’s ongoing struggles, touching on economic, criminal, social justice, and political topics (photo below).

“In the wake of Freddie Gray, one of the things I think we as citizens of Baltimore, particularly as opinion leaders in Baltimore, have to do is talk about what’s really great in Baltimore,” Warnock said at the time. “What are the things that pull us together—not divide us? And people of means need to understand that you can’t harvest the fruit of the city without planting seeds in different parts of the city.”

Warnock, according to a Sun story today, has three children and lived in Baltimore in the 1980s and 1990s before moving to Baltimore County. He moved back to Baltimore in December, purchasing a $1.7 million condominium at the Ritz-Carlton Residences.

“I think David’s decision to get in the race for mayor is a phenomenal testament to the passion for and potential of our city,” Hickman said in an email. “Mr. Warnock is a proven leader that brings a wealth of leadership and wisdom with his candidacy for mayor of our city. And I look forward to discerning through this process the leader that we will eagerly work with to transform our beloved Baltimore.”

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Mosby, 36, joins a crowded field of hopefuls that includes former Mayor Sheila Dixon, fellow City Councilman Carl Stokes, and state Senator Catherine Pugh.

Mosby—a Baltimore native who was elected to City Council in 2011—was joined for the announcement by about 300 supporters, including his wife, city state’s attorney Marilyn Mosby, who stood silently by her husband’s side during his announcement.

The Mosbys rocketed into the national spotlight this spring when Marilyn Mosby, in her role as the city’s chief prosecutor, brought charges against six city police officers accused of contributing to the death of Freddie Gray in April. Meanwhile, much of the rioting and peaceful protesting that surrounded Gray’s death consumed Mosby’s 7th District, which encompasses Sandtown-Winchester where Freddie Gray lived, Mondawmin Mall, where Baltimore City public school students clashed with police, and Penn North where some of the worst rioting occurred. Councilman Mosby made almost as much of an impression as his wife during the unrest when a video of him with a Fox News reporter went viral. In the clip, Mosby describes that night’s rioting as “wrong” and “destructive” but also the product systemic neglect and oppresion of young, poor, inner city black men. “This is bigger than Freddie Gray. This is about the social economics of poor urban America,” he said. ” We look at communities like this in urban America—lack of education, lack of commercial development, lack of opportunity—it’s the social economics of it. It has nothing to do with West Baltimore or this particular corner of Baltimore. This could erupt anywhere in socially economically deprived America.”

In his announcement, Mosby hit many of the same themes, positioning himself as a fresh voice and a champion of the overlooked and underserved. “As a father raising two young girls in West Baltimore, you can count on me to fight for better schools, safer streets, more jobs, a transparent government, and better police-community relations,” said Mosby, who lives with his family in Reservoir Hill. “To the young man out there who seems invisible, I see you. To the young woman who feels voiceless, I hear you,” he said.

Mosby emphasized his own journey as proof of this. He grew up in Northeast Baltimore, raised by a single mother. He then graduated from Baltimore Polytechnic Institute and earned a degree in electrical engineering from Tuskeegee University. He also has worked as a network engineer and project manager for companies such as Verizon and BGE.

“I can go into any boardroom downtown, see an issue, develop a plan, and execute on it. But you can drop Nick Mosby on any street corner from East to West Baltimore and I can do the exact same thing,” he said to appreciative applause and cheers from the crowd.

Mosby’s entrance in the democratic mayoral primary—which, in a city where registered Democrats far outnumber registered Republicans amounts to the general election—further shakes up an already unpredictable race. Current Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake announced in early September that she would not seek reelection. Until then, many political watchers were sizing up the race as a contest between former Mayor Sheila Dixon, who was forced to resign amidst scandal in 2010, and Rawlings-Blake who had seen her popularity plummet after this spring’s unrest. With Rawlings-Blake out, some were calling the race Dixon’s to lose, though Dixon was candid in a recent interview with Baltimore magazine about pockets of weak support throughout the city, especially in traditionally white neighborhoods. (An article about Dixon’s comeback attempt is available in the November issue of Baltimore magazine.)

Jeff Smith, an assistant professor of politics and advocacy at The New School in New York City, also spoke to Baltimore for the Dixon article, and said he feels Dixon has a good shot at reelection, but that a candidate like Mosby would be Dixon’s “nightmare scenario.”

“Someone that has decent black support—and especially black elite support—but then total crossover appeal,” would likely threaten Dixon’s base, he posited.

Among those present at yesterday’s rally were City Council president Bernard C. “Jack” Young (who also attended a similar rally of Dixon’s in September) and fellow City Councilman Robert Curran, who represents much of Northeast Baltimore in the 3rd District. Another prominent Baltimorean, whose presence spoke to Mosby’s potential crossover support was Phil Chorney, a cofounder of the Charm City Folk and Bluegrass Festival, who credited Mosby with bringing the festival from the parking lot at Union Craft Brewing in Hampden to Druid Hill Park, where it has flowered into one of the city’s most popular springtime events.

“Councilman Mosby most likely did not grow up listening to bluegrass, but every year he comes out to support us,” Chorney told the crowd.

However, Mosby has a few things working against him, including his late start in the race.

“As a former politician, I know it’s really hard to raise money between Thanksgiving and the end of the year. So . . . you basically only have from January until April to raise money and that’s not very long,” said Smith, a former Missouri state Senator who narrowly lost a Democratic primary to replace retiring Congressman Dick Gephardt in 2004. (Smith was subsequently convicted of two counts of obstruction of justice related to a campaign finance scandal and served a year in federal prison.)

Perhaps the more pressing problem for Mosby is worry that, if elected, his marriage would present a conflict of interest. As The Sun notes in an article today, Mosby “would have authority over the $38 million budget of his wife’s office and her more than 300 employees.” Furthermore, The Sun notes, “City prosecutors have been known to bring charges against wrongdoing by employees of the Police Department or other city agencies. Marilyn Mosby is currently investigating alleged wrongdoing by public housing employees, who are overseen by the mayor’s housing chief. If Nick Mosby were to win, Marilyn Mosby could find herself in a situation where she would be tasked with investigating people on her husband’s staff.”

Though neither Mosby commented on the potential conflict of interest yesterday, Marilyn Mosby did address the topic in an interview with Baltimore in January. When asked if her new role as city state’s attorney conflicted with her husband’s City Council position, she said, “There is no conflict of interest. I am beholden to the constituents who elected me. I’m not beholden to City Council, so there’s never any conflict or should be any appearance of a conflict of interest between my husband being a public servant and myself being a public servant.”

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Davis, a former deputy to past commissioner Anthony Batts, had previously served as chief of police in Anne Arundel County and assistant police chief in Prince George’s County. He has been working as interim commissioner since Batts was fired on July 8 by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. Davis earned degrees Towson University and Johns Hopkins University after graduating from DeMatha High School.

Only Councilman Carl Stokes, who has announced that he is running to replace Rawlings-Blake, who will not seek re-election, and Councilman Nick Mosby, who has indicated that he’s considering a bid for mayor, voted against Davis’ confirmation. Both have raised issue with the $150,000 severance package that Rawlings-Blake has said she will offer Davis, whose tenure will include employment under a new mayor after next year’s election.

Last week, police arrested more than a dozen mostly young protesters who occupied City Hall after hours following a City Council hearing supporting Davis for promotion to the full-time position. That demonstration was followed with more protests yesterday at City Hall, and later, on downtown streets by activists alleging that Davis is not committed to protecting the right of peaceful protests.

Activists known as Baltimore Bloc, along with the Baltimore Algebra Project, Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle, and City Bloc, among other local groups, recently drafted a 19-point plan designed to ensure free speech rights for public protestors as the trial dates for the six police officers charged in the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray approach.

Although Davis said he and the police department have “taken steps to ensure a better flow of communication” with protestors, City Bloc organizer and City College high school senior Makayla Gilliam-Price told The Real News that the new commissioner hasn’t promised accountability, in terms of protecting demonstrators’ safety.

Baltimore had recorded a relatively low number of homicides (65) prior to Gray’s death in mid-April. Afterward, however, a four-decade high of 42 murders in May was followed with 45 killed in July—the month Batts was fired—once again placing Baltimore among the most dangerous cities in the country.

Councilman Brandon Scott, who earlier this year opposed naming Davis to replace Batts, said while promoting him may not be the most popular decision right now, “confirming Davis is the best decision for Baltimore.”

“I understand the concerns that many have about appointing a new commissioner when we know a new mayor will take office next year,” Scott said in a statement. “However, with the violence that is occurring in our city right now I believe that we cannot afford to have the department operate without a permanent leader.”

Scott added that he believes that the city leaders should begin having conversations about how Baltimore police commissioners are hired, noting that he has introduced a council resolution asking that the General Assembly and governor of Maryland no longer require that Baltimore police commissioner terms be six years in length.

Davis recently told Baltimore magazine at a Western District public safety that it’s his hope that 2015 will mark a turning point in relations between the police department and aggrieved communities—and the city as a whole.

Eugene O’Donnell, a John Jay College of Criminal Justice professor and a former New York City police officer, has called the challenge facing Davis, “the toughest job in the United States at the moment.”

The Baltimore City Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 3, “the voice of the active and retired officers of the Baltimore City Police Department,” immediately tweeted their support for Davis last night:

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“As I prepared to engage in a vigorous mayoral campaign and participated in planning meetings with my campaign team and volunteers, I came to the realization that every moment that I spend running for mayor would take away from the urgent responsibilities to the city that I love,” Rawlings-Blake said in a statement. “Over the next 15 months, my time would be best spent focused on continuing to move the city forward and building upon our progress, without the distraction of campaign politics.”

Coming a day after the second pre-trial motions hearing in the Freddie Gray cases, Rawlings-Blake’s announcement Friday came as a major surprise to political observers and shakes up a suddenly wide-open Democratic race for mayor with the primary still seven months away.

In making the announcement, Rawlings-Blake stressed her decision was not made out of a fear of losing the upcoming election and highlighted her accomplishments while in office, including reforming the city’s pension system, improving Baltimore’s bond rating and overall financial picture, reducing property taxes, prioritizing the Vacants to Value initiative, and helping secure more than $1 billion for school construction.

“I haven’t lost a race since middle school,” Rawlings-Blake said, jokingly noting that the opponent who beat her then—a boy named Anthony Watson—isn’t among the current field of candidates.

She said she has no immediate plans to run again for political office, but did not rule out doing so in the future. Part of the reason that the decision not to run for re-election comes as a surprise is that Rawlings-Blake seemed on firmer political ground in recent weeks after firing former police commissioner Anthony Batts and naming interim commissioner Kevin Davis to take over. That move that appeared to be supported by the Baltimore City Fraternal Order of Police leadership, from whom Rawlings-Blake has taken a great deal of heat since the April unrest, and seemed to be steadying the ship at the police department, at least publicly, and in terms of managing the more recent protests around the courthouse.

“Much work remains to be done, and I will spend the remaining 15 months of my term as Mayor continuing to be focused on our city’s future and moving this city forward,” Rawlings-Blake said. “I will continue efforts to improve police-community relations and decrease violent crime. I will continue to fight for City Council approval of my ambitious plan to invest $136 million in recreation centers for our communities. I will continue to create opportunities for new jobs and attack neighborhood blight.”

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican who has clashed with Rawlings-Blake at times over the response to the protests and riots after Gray’s death from injuries suffered while in police custody and his decision to cancel Baltimore’s Red Line mass transit project, released the following statement: “It takes courage and strength to lead one of America’s great cities, and Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake stood up and has served the city she loves over the course of two decades. I value my working relationship with the mayor and thank her for her service. Our administrations will continue working together to make Baltimore a better and stronger city.”

Rawlings-Blake said a decision not to seek re-election had been percolating for several months as her administration prepared for the legal issues surrounding the Gray case. The announcement follows by two days her administration’s agreement—and the City’s Board of Estimates approval—of a controversial $6.4 million wrongful death settlement with Gray’s family that accepted all civil liability, but expressly did not acknowledge guilt by the police officers charged in the case.

Rawlings-Blake’s decision obviously opens up space for April’s Democratic primary contestants, a field which includes former mayor Sheila Dixon—who announced she was running in July—and state Sen. Catherine Pugh and City Councilman Carl Stokes, who both announced Tuesday that they were entering the fray.

Dixon, in a statement, commended Rawlings-Blake, a former City Council member who rose to City Council president when Dixon became mayor. “She and her family have made many sacrifices and I think earned the right to pursue other goals.”

Rawlings-Blake was initially appointed mayor in 2010 when Dixon was forced to resign as part of a plea deal after stealing gift cards intended for the poor. Rawlings-Blake, whose father, Howard P. “Pete” Rawlings, was a widely respected state delegate from Baltimore City, was elected in her own right in 2011.

Stokes, near his City Hall office, said he was surprised by the mayor’s announcement, but praised Rawlings-Blake’s decision to place managing the city through its current struggles over running a re-election campaign.

“I know it’s a hard decision for her,” Stokes said.

By stepping aside, Stokes added, the mayor, City Council, and various City departments should be able to address and communicate about issues more directly, without worrying about how they will play out or be spun in the context of a political campaign.

City Councilman Brandon Scott, who got his start in politics as a community outreach worker for Rawlings-Blake and is also considering a bid for mayor, said he respected the mayor’s decision. “She came into the City Council when she was 25 and is leaving at 45, 46 [when her term expires]. She gave the prime of her life to the city,” Scott said. “History will look back and see the mayor did some great things.”

Other potential contenders for mayor include businessman and best-selling author Wes Moore, who is said to be considering a bid; state Del. Jill P. Carter, whose supporters have launched a Facebook page with almost 2,700 followers encouraging her to run; and City Councilman Nick J. Mosby, who represents West Baltimore and is married to City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby.

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The mayor’s office in a statement did not indicate, when, or if, any of the results of the initial city police probe into Gray’s death will be made public. The results of the initial police investigation had been expected Friday.

The criminal investigation into Gray’s death is now in the hands of the Office of the State’s Attorney, which is also conducting an independent investigation, the mayor’s office said in its statement. Ultimately, it will be up to City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby to determine whether to file criminal charges. Once the criminal investigation is complete, an internal disciplinary city police department process can begin, the mayor’s office stated.

“Even as the Baltimore City State’s Attorney conducts her investigation, it is important to remember that another outside, independent investigation is also taking place by the U.S. Department of Justice,” Rawlings-Blake said. “The family of Mr. Gray wants answers. I want answers. Our entire city deserves answers into Mr. Gray’s death. I ask that everyone remain patient and vigilant on this path to justice.”

Bruce Goldfarb, spokesman for the state’s medical examiner office told Baltimore magazine this morning that every case that the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner investigates is delivered to the City State’s Attorney directly and that they do not release anything to the public while a case is being investigated or prosecuted.

For the past two days now, civic leaders and local elected officials have been trying to lower expectations that more information about the circumstances of the 25-year-old Gray’s death this month in police custody would be forthcoming this week. The news the Baltimore Police Department has delivered the results of its initial investigation to the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office comes a day before large protests scheduled for late Friday afternoon and Saturday.

Little new information is likely to be released publicly from the initial city police investigation, city civic leaders and local elected officials have cautioned. They have been trying for several days, in the aftermath of violent protests earlier this week, to tamp down expectations that significant new information would be released to the public immediately following the initial city police investigation. The Gray family’s attorney, Billy Murphy, and others, including City Councilmen Brandon Scott and Nick Mosby, who represents Gray’s district and who is married to the City State’s Attorney, have also been preaching patience to protestors this week.

On Tuesday night, crowds of young demonstrators noisily but peacefully marched and chanted around a cordoned off City Hall in Baltimore, Murphy tried to get the message out that the legal process will take time and protestors need to remain patient. He said that it could be weeks or longer before full investigations are completed and new Baltimore City state’s attorney Marilyn Mosby makes a decision on filing charges against any police officers involved in the fatal arrest and transport of the Gray earlier this month.

“I wish I could push a button, but justice doesn’t happen that way,” Murphy told protestors gathered around him after an appearance on CNN. “We need to lower expectations. We need to tell people straight that this is going to take time to get this right. So let’s get the word out together.”

Murphy said that he does not expect the results of their investigation to provide the public with major insights into the ongoing investigation of Gray’s death in police custody. He certainly doesn’t expect Mosby’s office to indicate a quick path to any charges. “There may be some information that gets released to the public, but I don’t think Friday [the originally scheduled conclusion of the initial police investigation] will be some magic day for disclosure,” he said.

Further, Murphy added, it terms of legal strategy, it would not behoove the City state’s attorney to tip her hand before the investigation gets to the stage where she’s ready to go forward with any potential prosecutions. “[Baltimore Ravens head coach] John Harbaugh doesn’t telegraph to [New England Patriots head coach] Bill Belichick what play he’s going to call before he runs it,” Murphy said. “You don’t to lose. You don’t want me to lose. That’s not my reputation.”

Baltimore City Council member Brandon Scott, who has expressed deep anger and frustration over Monday night’s violence and unrest in the city, shared Murphy’s desire to tamp down expectations. He also said that he doesn’t expect an accelerated investigation and/or legal action in Gray’s case. “It’s a fragile situation,” Scott said, acknowledging many protestors are demanding speedy justice. “Which is why everyone—community leaders, clergy, parents, adults, the media—needs to explain to those who want to see justice in the Freddie Gray tragedy to be patient.

“We saw the legal process took months in Ferguson, with Trayvon [Martin], with Eric Garner in New York,” Scott continued. “I’m sure some information can be released to the public [immediately], but I don’t know how much. I’m not going to be disappointed if it’s not a lot. The City state’s attorney needs to make sure she crosses all the ‘t’s’ and dots all the ‘i’s.’ And I’m sure she will.”

Nick Mosby, who helped lead a clergy march on Monday in West Baltimore as riots exploded, said, “We have to get this right.”

“It’s been many years of growing frustration,” Mosby said, referring to the plight of many of the city’s young protestors. “[Freddie Gray’s death] just blew the lid off. Many of these are children and teenagers who have been living in harsh, abject poverty without any hope of a better future. They also don’t have the means, or knowledge, to express that frustration and that’s something we have to help them learn.”

Tessa Hill-Aston, president of the Baltimore chapter of the NAACP, asked that protestors remain patient and peaceful as investigations and the legal process around Gray’s death continue. She also said that he doesn’t want city police, state troopers, out-of-town law enforcement agencies and the Maryland National Guard to escalate confrontations with protestors when they are not being violent.

Ben Jealous, former head of the national NAACP, still lives in Baltimore, where the organization’s headquarters are located. His parents met as schoolteachers many decades ago at Harlem Park Elementary/Middle School in West Baltimore. He also said the causes and conditions for the protests coming out of the city’s poverty-stricken neighborhoods have been simmering for decades.

He highlighted the peaceful protests Tuesday night throughout the city, which were followed up again by peaceful—and even celebratory— rallies and demonstrations, including a huge, diverse march from Penn Station to City Hall Wednesday afternoon.

“The city needs to be focused on rebuilding and becoming stronger after all this,” Jealous said outside City Hall. “I think the seeds [in the peaceful protests] are being planted to do just that.”

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Gray died at the University of Maryland Medical Center’s Shock Trauma unit after suffering a broken neck following an arrest in West Baltimore. The Baltimore City Police Department has not provided the cause for Gray’s fatal injuries, which included a nearly severed spine, according to multiple reports, but identified and suspended with pay six officers involved in Gray’s arrest yesterday.

The unexplained circumstances of Gray’s death and arrest—caught on cellphone video when he appeared possibly injured, but not fatally so—has sparked days of protest in Baltimore.

According to the initial
police report, Gray was stopped because he “fled unprovoked upon noticing police presence” and that officers placed him under arrest. A knife was also found clipped to the inside of his pants pocket, according to police. “The defendant was arrested without force or incident,” the report states. “During transport to Western District via wagon transport the defendant suffered a medical emergency and was immediately transported to Shock Trauma via medic.”

In an interview Wednesday morning with CNN, Rep. Elijah Cummings said that the Baltimore City Police Department requires a “Ferguson-type” study by the Justice Department, adding that the police “. . . do not have a right stay silent.”

“They say it happened without force,” Cummings told CNN. “It’s ridiculous . . . We will have transparency. Who will speak for Freddie Gray? I want to make sure [Gray’s relatives] are treated fairly.”

Members of Maryland’s congressional delegation, including Cummings, U.S. Sens. Barbara Mikulski and Ben Cardin, and Reps. Dutch Ruppersberger and John Sarbanes, had called upon the Department of Justice to open an investigation yesterday in a
letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.

“I think folks have been crying for this,” City Councilman Nick Mosby, whose district includes the neighborhood where Gray was arrested, told
The Sun, referring to the federal investigation. Mosby’s wife, Marilyn, is the Baltimore state’s attorney.

Following the announcement by the Justice Department yesterday, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake issued the following statement in support of the decision to open a civil rights probe into Gray’s death:

“From the outset of our investigation, I have repeatedly affirmed my support for an outside review into the death of Mr. Gray. Whenever a police force conducts an internal investigation, there are always appropriate questions of transparency and impartiality. My goal has always been to get answers to the questions so many of us are still asking with regards to Mr. Gray’s death. Any effort that adds additional transparency and builds community trust in this process is welcomed. This outside review will assist us in getting to the bottom of what happened to Mr. Gray in the most objective and transparent way possible.”

The Justice Department’s Community Oriented Policing Services Office was already in the midst of conducting a “collaborative review” of the Baltimore City Police Department at the request last fall by the mayor and the police commissioner Anthony Batts. A
Sun investigation last year detailed $5.7 million in court judgments and settlements involving more than 100 lawsuits alleging Baltimore City police misconduct since 2011.

As protesters chanted “No justice, no peace!” Tuesday evening near his Sandtown-Winchester home, according to reporting by
CNN, Gray’s mother, Gloria Darden, collapsed in tears at the spot where her son was arrested. Demonstrations are planned today in front of the Western District police station where Gray was taken after his arrest.

Demonstrators say they will rally in front of City Hall on Thursday.

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The good news is organizers now say the event will go off Sept. 20 and a press release will be put out Wednesday afternoon with the official announcement. The bad news? The event’s famous toilet races remain in doubt.

Benn Ray, president of the Hampden Village Merchants Association and one of the festival’s organizers, hosted a public meeting last week at his store, Atomic Books, along with City Council members Nick Mosby and Mary Pat Clarke, and said the new date was worked out with officials from the city and mayor’s office. Ray said that with the new date, scheduling conflicts have arisen with some vendors and bands, but organizers are optimistic about filling the available slots.

“We’re confident we’re going to get quality performers to step in; we wouldn’t be doing it otherwise,” Ray said. “I actually think we are going to be able to pull off some surprises, too.”

The organizer of Hampdenfest’s legendary toilet races, Steve Baker, owner of the WhollyTerra art studio, has a scheduling conflict and won’t be able run that event on this year, but there remains a chance the races may still go off, according to Ray.

“There’s a possibility someone else may be able to organize it,” Ray said.

We can only hope.

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This Friday—National Bike to Work Day—sponsored locally by the Baltimore Metropolitan Council, will be celebrated in Baltimore City and the surrounding area at 28 destinations, offering coffee, bagels, and often a little bike schwag to boot from about 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. Even better, you get to rub elbows with fellow bicycle commuters before work.

The full listing of Baltimore area “pit stops”—including 16 around the city—can be found here. Registration is free.

City Councilman Nick Mosby can’t bike to work Friday, but is hosting an bike to work rally (8 a.m. start) this Wednesday at Nancy’s cafe at 131 W. North Ave.

On Friday, City Councilman Bill Cole will be biking to work, meeting other riders at Sharp and Henrietta streets in Otterbein/Federal Hill for a cruise over to City Hall where Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake will be speaking at 9 a.m.

In League of American Bicyclists’ “bicycle-friendly” cities—meaning those places like Baltimore that have demonstrated a commitment to improving bike infrastructure and encouraging bicycle commuting—bike rider rates have increased by 80 percent. Overall, Portland ranks first in the percentage people bicycling to work at 6.1 percent, followed by Madison (5.1 percent), Minneapolis (4.1 percent), Boise (3.7 percent), Seattle (3.4 percent), San Francisco (3.4 percent), and Washington, D.C. (3.1 percent.) In Baltimore, the percentage of bicycle commuters jumped from .3 percent in the 2000 census to .8 percent in the 2012 census.

The Baltimore Metropolitan Council promotes Bike to Work Day as part of its “Clean Commute” initiative, noting on its website that “emissions from single occupancy vehicles contribute significantly to our region’s dangerous ozone levels.”

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