Posted on 04/28/2015 7:41:14 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Perhaps lost amid the chaos that has descended on Baltimore is that two investigations are seeking to determine how Freddie Gray suffered a fatal spine injury in police custody.
A scroll through the Baltimore Police Department's Twitter feed Tuesday offers a tour of the mayhem the city is experiencing -- looting, vandalism, blazes, attacks on police and firefighters, marauding "groups of criminals" stoking the havoc
But not a mention of the investigation in the past four days.
The investigation is expected to be completed Friday, at which point, it will be handed over to a prosecutor who will decide whether to file charges in the case.
"Let me further clear up: When we take our information or our files to the State's Attorney's Office on Friday, that is not the conclusion of this investigation," Police Commissioner Anthony Batts said last week. "That is just us sitting down, providing all the data we have. We will continue to follow the evidence wherever it goes."
A police spokesman told CNN's Evan Perez that while the investigation will continue after Friday, Baltimore police still intend to give prosecutors a report on the investigation in three days.
As for the federal investigation into whether Gray's death was the result of a prosecutable civil rights violation, newly appointed Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Monday that the Justice Department's civil rights division and the FBI "will continue our careful and deliberate examination of the facts in the coming days and weeks."
Because of the Baltimore Police Department's history, the Justice Department has been working with the police force since October as part of a reform initiative that will assess "policies, training and operations as they relate to use of force and interactions with citizens."
Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake requested that the Justice Department to take a look at the Police Department, The Baltimore Sun reported, saying that her request came on the heels of the newspaper's report that the city had paid almost $6 million in judgments and settlements in 102 police misconduct civil suits since 2011. Overwhelmingly, The Sun reported, the people involved in the incidents that sparked the lawsuits were cleared of criminal charges.
Many questions remain
City officials have promised answers and accountability in Gray's death.
"We welcome outside review," police spokesman Capt. Eric Kowalczyk has said. "We want to be open. We want to be transparent. We owe it to the city, and we owe it to the Gray family to find out exactly what happened."
Added Rawlings-Blake, "We will get to the bottom of it, and we will go where the facts lead us. ... We will hold people accountable if we find there was wrongdoing."
According to police, officers encountered Gray on April 12 and he "fled unprovoked." Three officers gave chase, apprehended Gray and carried him -- screaming, his legs dangling listlessly -- to a police transport van. Once at the police station, officers requested an ambulance, which took Gray to the University of Maryland's Shock Trauma Center, where he died a week later.
An autopsy report indicated Gray died of a spinal injury, but Batts said Friday that the medical examiner was still awaiting a toxicology report and a spinal expert's analysis before issuing his final report.
So far, six officers involved in the arrest have been suspended with pay: Sgt. Alicia White, 30; Officer William Porter, 25; Officer Garrett Miller, 26; Officer Edward Nero, 29; Lt. Brian Rice, 41; and Officer Caesar Goodson, 45.
Releasing the officers' names is standard procedure after an in-custody death and in no way implicates wrongdoing, Kowalczyk said.
Though the investigation is not yet complete, Batts said Friday that there are at least two indications that officers involved in Gray's arrest did not follow protocol.
"We know he was not buckled in the transport wagon, as he should've been. No excuses for that, period," he said. "We know our police employees failed to get him medical attention in a timely manner multiple times."
That Gray wasn't buckled has raised speculation that he was injured during what's known as a "rough ride" or "nickel ride," in which officers place a handcuffed suspect in a police van and drive recklessly so as to toss the suspect around.
Asked whether Gray could have incurred his injuries via a rough ride or outside of the van, Batts said there is "potential" that both could be true.
'It's complex'
The Baltimore Police Department has established a task force composed of 30 investigators -- including members of the force investigation unit and homicide detectives -- to look into Gray's death, Batts said.
They've conducted dozens of interviews, canvassed the region on foot seeking witnesses and procured video from several closed-circuit television cameras around the city.
Deputy Commissioner Kevin Davis, who is overseeing the task force as the head of the Investigations and Intelligence Bureau, said Friday that the evidence shows Rice and two other officers on bikes were the first to see Gray. Two officers remained on their bikes and one gave chase on foot, pursuing Gray for about one-fifth of a mile.
"That's where the apprehension of Freddie Gray occurred, and quite frankly that's exactly where Freddie Gray should've have received medical attention, and he did not," Davis said Friday.
The paddy wagon carrying Gray traveled about one block before stopping, and Gray was removed from the van and placed in leg irons, Davis said. It then traveled about 1.3 miles before stopping again "to deal with Mr. Gray, and the facts of that interaction are under investigation," he said.
It was at that stop, Batts added, that officers picked Gray off the floor and placed him on a seat in the transport van. Gray requested a medic during that stop, he said.
The van then traveled to another incident, about a mile away and just a few hundred feet from where Gray was first spotted and chased. There, a second prisoner was placed in the van, which headed back to the police department's Western District building, about four-fifths of a mile away, the deputy commissioner said.
It was only then that an ambulance was called and Gray was taken to the University of Maryland's Shock Trauma Center.
"It's complex," Davis said of the probe. "It involves a minutiae of details. It requires our full talents, our full time, and we're going to get this right."
While Batts told reporters that "the picture is getting sharper and sharper as we move forward," he said there is still a gap between where officers first chased Gray and where bystander video captures the officers mid-arrest before carrying him to the van.
"He's able to talk. He's able to move. He's able to stand on his left foot. I'm told he's able to enter the van at that point in time," he said.
Every stage of Gray's transport is being investigated, Davis said, but the details are not yet clear enough to share with the public at the moment.
Batts elaborated: "What you see us tap-dancing on and balancing here is that if someone harmed Freddie Gray, we're going to have to prosecute them."
Giving out too much information now, he said, could endanger the prosecution.
I suspect Fiday’s report won’t make the folks any happier and might be another trigger for more protest (freebies from the stores too).
According to this source, here is what is known:
Gray ran from officers on bicycles at Baltimore’s Gilmor Homes on April 12 near where he lived. He surrendered without a struggle when officers caught up with him, police said. His arrest was recorded on a cell phone video, which showed him limp as he was dragged into a police van.
Gray died a week later, the latest black man to be fatally injured while under arrest.
Police said they put leg cuffs on him when he became irate inside the van. Gray asked for medical help several times, and police have since acknowledged that he should have received assistance immediately. He also was not restrained by a seat belt in the van. Six officers have since been suspended amid an investigation.
Gray’s autopsy showed that he died of injuries from a spinal injury. Gray’s family said that his larynx was crushed and 80 percent of his spinal cord was severed.
Authorities have not explained how he was injured. Police said in a charging document that Gray had a switchblade on him, clipped to the inside of his pocket.
Thanks, that’s more than I’ve heard.
I just read that Gray had spinal surgery weeks before the arrest. Not sure if that is true or how it would affect his death. Just interesting.
There’s more you haven’t heard - and it’s absolutely essential:
Apparently Gray had undergone spinal surgery shortly before the incident.
Apparently Gray should have been in prolonged bedrest, not baiting cops into manhandling him unaware of his condition.
‘nuf said.
RE: I just read that Gray had spinal surgery weeks before the arrest.
Could you provide the source for this information? Thanks.
So Gray’s anatomy was defective before the rough ride?
btt
There’s always more to a story. This is kinda big. Like Eric Gardner’s poor health sealed his fate.
It isn’t wise to jump to any conclusion on either side of this matter.
We should wait until we have known facts, and then weigh those facts at such time.
If this yute had a spaghetti spine, why wasn’t he in Congress?
“He also was not restrained by a seat belt in the van”
If that’s true it’s Negligent Homicide at the very least.
L
Hmm.. Facts...
March 20, 2015: Possession of a Controlled Dangerous Substance
March 13, 2015: Malicious destruction of property, second-degree assault
January 20, 2015: Fourth-degree burglary, trespassing
January 14, 2015: Possession of a controlled dangerous substance, possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute
December 31, 2014: Possession of narcotics with intent to distribute
December 14, 2014: Possession of a controlled dangerous substance
August 31, 2014: Illegal gambling, trespassing
January 25, 2014: Possession of marijuana
September 28, 2013: Distribution of narcotics, unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous substance, second-degree assault, second-degree escape
April 13, 2012: Possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute, unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous substance, violation of probation
July 16, 2008: Possession of a controlled dangerous substance, possession with intent to distribute
March 28, 2008: Unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous substance
March 14, 2008: Possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to manufacture and distribute
February 11, 2008: Unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous substance, possession of a controlled dangerous substance
August 29, 2007: Possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute, violation of probation
August 28, 2007: Possession of marijuana
August 23, 2007: False statement to a peace officer, unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous substance
July 16, 2007: Possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute, unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous substance (2 counts)
Read more at http://www.snopes.com/politics/crime/freddiegray.asp#qE0BQKYtd535VUCV.99
7th arrest in a tiny bit over 4 months, appears to have settled a car accident injury suit at the start of the month. Convicted felon with a weapon, resisted arrest...
Yet another case of a tragedy that could have been prevented by simply following the law, not breaking more of them, and not resisting.
Devote the investigation manpower towards solving one of the average 23 black on black murders that will happen this month.
We don’t designate outlaw status any more.
Make that:
FACT: We don’t designate outlaw status any more.
None of what you wrote justifies or explains in any way what happened to him.
The only thing that matters is truth.
If the cops injured him to such an extent that it severed his spine in four places and crushed his voice box, then they need to be charged with a crime.
If those injuries were not a result of his arrest and/ or transportation to jail, then that needs to come out too, and they need to be exonerated.
I do not need to be prejudiced one way or the other at this time in this matter.
I will wait for official results before I make up my mind what happened in this case.
You’re a liar (you’re not heartless after all)
:O
Well it was Rick Perry who said I am heartless, so he is the expert on such matters.
But sometimes I think there are some people who would agree with him. I am pro self defense and generally pro-police. But most of all I am pro-truth.
In all of these recent matters starting with Trayvon Martin and going through the young lady in Texas who brought a knife to the police station and then was killed, I have been on the side of lar enforcement.
However, in the recent case of the man shot in the back by Slager, I can see no basis to defend that action, at least not from what I know at this time, and in this matter of Gray, I want to await more evidence before deciding, but I will say that I am suspicious. It doesn’t look good for police.
Maybe I will change that opinion in the future, but I can’t see how those injuries could have occurred to him in any sort of justifiable way.
All I want is the truth, and then let me make up my mind at such time.
But what I really do not want is unsubstantiated stories like we got today about spinal surgery or law suits or whatever that was... come on, let’s just deal in truth and facts.
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