Baltimore cop who arrested 27-year-old who died in police custody of ‘severed spine’ is identified …as mayor points finger at officers

April 21, 2015 in News by RBN Staff

Source: Daily Mail
By CHRISTOPHER BRENNAN and EVAN BLEIER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM and ASSOCIATED PRESS
16:46 EST, 20 April 2015

  • Freddie Gray, 25, died Sunday a week after his arrest in Baltimore
  • Four officers arrested him for a violation now revealed to be switchblade
  • He was dragged during the arrest and witness said his legs ‘looked broke’
  • Gray was loaded into a transport van and put in restraints on way to station
  • Gray lapsed into coma and underwent extensive surgery at trauma center
  • Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake promised thorough investigation
  • ‘Whatever happened happened in the back of the van,’ she said  

Baltimore police who said a 25-year-old they arrested was taken into custody ‘without incident’ are facing questions about what happened to lead to his death from a severed spine.

Freddie Gray died Sunday after he ‘had his spine 80 per cent severed at his neck’ following his arrest by three bicycle officers for a violation that’s been kept ‘secret’ until today.

Official police documents filed Monday said that the man was arrested by Officer Garrett Miller for having a switchblade knife after being stopped because he ‘fled unprovoked after noticing police presence’.

Gray, who was screaming in pain as he was taken to a police van, then lapsed into a coma and was taken to a University of Maryland trauma center where he struggled to stay alive for seven days before his death.

Police still have no answers about exactly what happened that led to the neck injury though Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said, ‘Whatever happened happened in the back of the van’.

Six officers have been suspended, but investigators say they still don’t know how it happened.

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Freddie Gray died Sunday after he 'had his spine 80 percent severed at his neck' during an arrest in Baltimore last Sunday

Freddie Gray died Sunday after he ‘had his spine 80 percent severed at his neck’ during an arrest in Baltimore last Sunday

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake (right, with Police Commissioner Anthony Batts) said that she is frustrated by the lack of answers given in the police report

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake (right, with Police Commissioner Anthony Batts) said that she is frustrated by the lack of answers given in the police report

 


Rawlings-Blake, Police Commissioner Anthony Batts and Deputy Commissioner Jerry Rodriguez held a press conference on Monday pledging a thorough investigation of the incident.

The mayor had vowed in the aftermath of the death to ensure the city held ‘the right people accountable’ after his early-morning death at the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center.

She expressed frustration on Monday as authorities could not figure out the exact circumstances that led to Gray’s neck injury and said that the description of events given in a police report may not have shown probable cause in his arrest.

‘When Mr. Gray was put in that van, he could talk, he was upset. And he was taken out of that van, he could not talk and he could not breathe,’ Rodriguez said

“We are not in the business of hiding facts.’

Six officers were involved in the arrest and transportation of Gray after he was taken into custody. Their races are not known.

They have all been suspended from the department, though Batts said that they would be paid, as per state law.

The recent disclosure marks the first time authorities have given a reason for Gray’s interaction with police.

Though his arrest was for the switchblade, officers said that his arrest in a ‘hot spot’ area of Baltimore known for narcotics was because he was running away after seeing police.

In a video of the arrest, it appears the officers dragged Gray to a police van while he screamed out in pain

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3047680/Baltimore-authorities-pledge-thorough-investigation-black-27-year-old-s-mystery-police-custody-death-severed-spine-report-says-arrested-without-incident.html#ixzz3XzdG7cm1
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