“It’s all fun and games until somebody gets hurt” is the popular phrase spoken by many when a victim is wrongfully harmed in an unfortunate circumstance. But, when will justice truly be served when the accused constantly walks free? May 23, 2016 Baltimore Officer, Edward Nero, walked free, unaccountable for the homicide of Freddie Gray.

Police brutality has been ongoing for years, but social media allows for these wrongful acts to be more publicized in comparison to past years. It seemed that leading up to 2016, week after week there was another report on the news or on social media showing a black civilian being brutally harmed or killed. Twenty- five year old Freddie Gray was just another black man of many killed at the hands of careless, corrupt officers.

As the report follows, on April 12, 2015 six Baltimore Police Officers illegally arrested Freddie Gray for the possession of an alleged illegal switchblade. During the police van ride Gray was reported to have suddenly fallen into a coma and on April 19 he was reported dead from spinal cord injuries obtained during the police van ride. Later Gray was found to have suffered neck and head injuries prior to.

In a following report by the medical examiner, it was found that the six above officers were guilty of giving Gray a 'rough ride'— "a form of police brutality in which a victim is helplessly thrown around the interior of a police vehicle by deliberately abrupt police driving, while unable to protect themselves due to handcuffs or other restraints. (Rough rides were already implicated in deaths, paralysis, and severe spinal injuries in several other cases)". The officers who failed to follow proper van safety procedures were brought up on charges of manslaughter, illegal arrest and other criminal charges.

Each officer will have separate trials and thus far Officer William Porter was granted with a mistrial and now as of May 23, 2016 Baltimore Circuit Judge Barry Williams acquitted Officer Edward Nero on all counts of his four misdemeanor charges of second-degree assault, reckless endangerment and two counts of misconduct in office.

As stated in The

Baltimore Sun, "Marc Zayon and Allison Levine, Nero's attorneys, said Nero and his family "are elated that this nightmare is finally over."" But, what about the nightmare that Gray's family and friends are going through, what about the good police officers who now have to face continuous degradation from civilians because of corrupt officers, and what about the nightmare people of color face because any day they too may be illegally arrested and dead by the hands of the same officers who were hired to serve and protect.

When will the cycle of destruction end? When will the police force filter their own departments? When will justice truly be justice in the courtroom? Annalise Keating from How To Get Away With Murder may be right in saying, "It's not what's right and what's fair. It's who tells the most convincing story" and this is sad and terrifying for the future of our community.