Legal specialists said the $6.4 million was in line with settlements for recent racially charged police misconduct cases and might herald an era in which juries and city officials were inclined toward bigger payouts, given the national conversation over police treatment of African-Americans.

Image Freddie Gray in 2013.

In July, the estate of Eric Garner, who died in New York after the police used a chokehold, a banned maneuver, to restrain him, settled with the city for $5.9 million. In Cleveland on Tuesday, just as the Gray settlement was being announced, a jury awarded $5.5 million to the estate of Kenneth Smith, a 20-year-old hip-hop artist who was fatally shot by an off-duty officer.

“It used to be that we couldn’t even get fair play in these cases because the cards were stacked against us,” said Terry Gilbert, the lawyer representing the Smith estate. “But now there is a new mood in this country because of the police shootings. People are beginning to see there are serious problems with criminal justice.”

In Baltimore, Kurt L. Schmoke, who was the city’s first elected black mayor and is now the president of the University of Baltimore, called the proposed settlement a “positive step” and said it could help calm a city that remains on edge.

“It is an admission by the city leaders that there was negligence but that they’re taking steps to heal the wounds that arose out of that negligence,” Mr. Schmoke said. “It won’t satisfy everyone, but if the family can convey a message that this is a positive step, then I think it could help defuse some of the anger that’s out there.”