http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/30/us/baltimore-freddie-gray-death-investigation/
“Sources said the medical examiner found Gray’s catastrophic injury was caused when he slammed into the back of the police transport van, apparently breaking his neck; a head injury he sustained matches a bolt in the back of the van.”
“On Thursday, a Baltimore police investigation into Gray’s death found no evidence he died as the result of injuries caused during his arrest, according to CNN affiliate WJLA, citing “multiple law enforcement sources briefed on the police findings.”
The sources quoted by the Washington-based station said the medical examiner had determined Gray’s death was caused by a catastrophic injury after he slammed into the back of the police transport van while inside it, “apparently breaking his neck; a head injury he sustained matches a bolt in the back of the van.”
It seems prudent to study available information before one forms an opinion or scenario of what they think happened.
Based on available information, It doesn’t make a lot of sense to theorize that a police van was was driven around at 8:45 am in the morning in such a purposeful, reckless manner that it resulted in a man’s death and that the result of death was the pre- planned malicious intention of the driver, which is what the charge of 2nd degree murder suggests.
Let’s use our heads here please.
“a head injury he sustained matches a bolt in the back of the van.”
I’m sure “the back of the van” means in the compartment in the back as opposed to the front where there drivers sit.
I think the idea that, in that space, restrained the way he was, he broke his own neck is ridiculous. Lying on his belly with no way to guard his head, feet bound, one quick slam on the brakes would have slid him head first into the forward “bulkhead” or whatever you call it. That’s all it would have taken. Maybe a quick acceleration and hard braking. Left and right turns would not have done a thing, since he was in a kind of “slot” between the bench seat and the middle divider. It’s not like the police have not done that many times before. Was it noticed all those other times?
It would be nice if the van had GPS.
I've suggested a plausible scenario. The man was standing while facing towards the front. As the Van accelerated, he fell backward. The combined momentum of his fall with the van's acceleration might have been sufficient to break his neck, and was easily sufficient to dent his skull with that bolt.
Alternatively, he could have been facing rearward and either lunged forward or fell forward just as the van accelerated.
If you discount the implausible idea that someone did it to him on purpose, you have to consider how it might have possibly happened by accident. Based on what I have heard so far, these are the only plausible scenarios to explain the event.
It was reported early on that the cops had to stop and put leg cuffs on Gray. This was to keep him from standing up and moving around.
This implies that he was doing so, and the laws of physics kicked in. Even if the van took off gently, anyone standing there with hands cuffed would go horizontal and slide to the rear.