Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett has returned a check for over $296,000 reimbursing the county for police aid sent to Baltimore City during last year’s unrest.

As reported in The Baltimore Sun:

Leggett sent a letter to Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake this week, saying, “While we certainly appreciate the gesture, Montgomery County, like Baltimore City, is part of the great state of Maryland, and we accepted the call for assistance with the belief that the City would do the same for us in a time of need. Consequently, we are returning the check.”

Montgomery joins Baltimore County in foregoing reimbursement for sending officers to assist the city when rioting and looting broke out in the hours after Freddie Gray’s funeral. Gray, 25, died in April 2015 after sustaining a spinal cord injury in police custody.

Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz announced in December that he wouldn’t seek $257,000 in reimbursement from the city. He said at the time that the county offered assistance on an emergency basis.

“The city is our neighbor, and when a friend is down, you lend them a helping hand and help them step up,” Kamenetz said then.

Anthony McCarthy, a Rawlings-Blake spokesman, said the city calculated the manpower and resources from surrounding jurisdictions at $2.1 million for the assistance in April and May 2015.

For more information read the full article in The Baltimore Sun.