Vol. 79/No. 16 May 4, 2015
A police report claims Gray “fled unprovoked upon noticing police presence” April 12, the Wall Street Journal reported. The paper said the report states the cops arrested him “without force or incident.”
Officer Garrett Miller says he saw a knife clipped to the inside of Gray’s pants pocket and filed charges against him.
Gray’s spine was 80 percent severed at the neck while he was in police custody, William Murphy Jr., an attorney representing Gray’s family, said April 19. He had surgery April 13, then went into a coma until he died six days later.
A video taken by a bystander shows Gray, who was 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighed 145 pounds, grimacing and crying out while being dragged, his legs listless, to the police van. His family says he was in good health previously.
The day after Gray’s death, Police Commissioner Anthony Batts and Deputy Commissioner Jerry Rodriguez announced that six city cops had been suspended with pay while the department investigates. They released a timeline of events during the arrest, indicating Gray asked repeatedly for an inhaler and medical attention and was placed in leg irons for “acting irate” during the van ride.
“I know when Mr. Gray was placed inside that van, he was able to talk,” Rodriguez told the press. “When Mr. Gray was taken out of that van, he could not talk and he could not breathe.”
The next day the federal Justice Department announced it was opening an investigation into Gray’s death.
Hundreds chanting “Justice for Freddie” marched April 21, led by Gray’s mother, other family members and Rev. Jamal Bryant. The action opened a week of protests and rallies.
The spotlight on police brutality in Baltimore came in the wake of the April 4 killing of unarmed African-American forklift driver Walter Scott in North Charleston, South Carolina. Police officer Michael Slager stopped Scott for a missing taillight and then shot him in the back as he ran away. After a bystander’s video disproved Slager’s claim he was defending himself, the cop was charged with murder and fired.
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