Megyn Kelly and DeRay Mckesson Clash Over Freddie Gray

Megyn Kelly and DeRay Mckesson had a heated exchange Monday over a trial related to the death of Freddie Gray.

The Kelly File host asked the gay Black Lives Matter activist whether the acquittal of police officer Edward Nero was "biased and racist to the core," as Kelly quoted one of the trial's critics.

Gray, an African-American, died of a broken spine while in the custody of the Baltimore Police Department in 2015. Mckesson, echoing the criticism of many activists, advocated for systemic change that would prevent future fatalities from occurring.

"We need to make the laws so that they can hold police officers accountable," Mckesson said.

"What did [Nero] do that was wrong?" pressed Kelly.

The Fox News host noted that Nero "had virtually no interaction" with Gray at the time of his arrest April 12 of last year, which was for alleged possession of a switchblade. Gray suffered a spinal injury while riding in a police van without a seat belt, and he fell into a coma in the van and died a week later. The death was ruled a homicide. The state's attorney's office filed charges against six officers involved in the arrest.

"Freddie Gray should not have been stopped," Mckesson told Kelly. "He was no threat to the officers. The officers were a threat to Freddie Gray."

"Don't you see the danger to the community if we start locking up cops for making a bad judgment call?" Kelly asked in response.

"Do you think Freddie Gray should be dead, Megyn?" Mckesson shot back, adding, "I will never agree that an officer's role is to kill unarmed citizens."

The interview with Mckesson, a Baltimore mayoral candidate who was interviewed by Janet Mock in The Advocate's recent cover story, was then cut short by Kelly.

See the exchange below.