The Baltimore police officer who drove the van in which Freddie Gray, a young African American, was transported before he died was acquitted today of all charges including second degree murder and manslaughter.

Caesar Goodson was the third of six officers charged over the death of the 25-year-old, which sparked riots in Maryland's largest city last year.

No guilty verdicts have been handed down in the three trials. Because the state failed to meet its burden of proof in any of the seven charges against Goodson, 'the verdict on all counts is not guilty,' said Judge Barry Williams, who presided over the case.

Gray was arrested on April 12, 2015 after fleeing at the sight of police, and suffered a broken spine while being transported in the back of a Baltimore police van, unsecured and with his hands and feet bound.

He died a week later. Williams had challenged state prosecutors' charge that Goodson had deliberately given Gray a 'rough ride' in the back of the van.