The six Baltimore police officers involved in the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray were charged with a range of crimes yesterday, including homicide and manslaughter. Shortly thereafter, the Baltimore Police Union attempted to raise $600,000 for the officers' "living and legal expenses" via a GoFundMe campaign, the Baltimore Sun reports. That campaign was only up for around 40 minutes before it was taken down for violating GoFundMe's terms of use.

"GoFundMe cannot be used to benefit those who are charged with serious violations of the law," Kelsea Little, a spokesperson for GoFundMe, said. "The campaign clearly stated that the money raised would be used to assist the officers with their legal fees, which is a direct violation of GoFundMe's terms. Specifically, 'campaigns in defense of formal charges or claims of heinous crimes, violent, hateful, sexual or discriminatory acts' are not permitted on GoFundMe."

While this won't prevent the union from raising money altogether, it's good to see GoFundMe taking swift action to shut down such a questionable campaign. In a tweet which has since been removed, the Police Union said yesterday it was looking for alternate fundraising sources.

Gray died on April 19th, one week after he was injured while in police custody. A medical examiner determined Gray's fatal spinal injury was sustained while he was in the police transport van.