Officers Charged in Freddie Gray Death
Many of us have been in the loop of the Freddie Gray story, but here’s a recap:
What we know: Gray was arrested on a weapons charge in a high-crime area of Baltimore. He “gave up without the use of force,” as stated by Baltimore Deputy Police Commissioner Jerry Rodriguez. None of the six officers involved in the arrest described using force against the 25-year-old.
“Gray was placed inside a police van and was able to talk,” said Rodriguez, who described Gray as upset.
Gray was taken into custody a week before he died of a spinal injury.
“And when Mr. Gray was taken out of that van, he could not talk, and he could not breathe,” according to Rodriguez. Police have said Gray was not buckled in with a seat belt during the ride to a booking center.
What we don’t know: It’s unknown what caused the spinal cord injury that led to his death a week after the arrest, and it’s also unknown what happened inside the van.
So again, man goes into van unharmed and comes out with a spinal injury—one that lead to his death. This has inflamed the City of Baltimore, as the people demand truth and accountability.
Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts has admitted flaws in the way officers handled Gray after they chased him through a West Baltimore housing project and arrested him. Batts also said officers repeatedly ignored Gray’s pleas for medical help and failed to secure him with a safety belt or harness in the back of the transport van.
According to a police document obtained by The Washington Post, a prisoner sharing the police transport vehicle with Gray told investigators that he could hear Gray “banging against the walls” of the van and believed that he “was intentionally trying to injure himself.”
This statement in itself lacks credibility and integrity. So Gray severed his own spinal cord, huh? When are the masses going to begin to hold everyone accountable? Why would the masses rather believe a man would injure himself than to believe harm was inflicted upon him? More stories about Gray having a supposed “pre-existing” spinal injury have surfaced, but have been founded as bogus.
Well the truth and accountability prevails. On Friday, May 1, Baltimore’s prosecutor brought charges against six police officers in the death of Freddie Gray, saying he suffered “a severe and critical neck injury” as a result of being placed “handcuffed, shackled by his feet, and unrestrained” inside a police van.
Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby expanded on how Gray may have died: “The manner of death deemed a homicide by the Maryland state medical examiner is believed to be the result of a fatal injury that occurred while Mr. Gray was unrestrained by a seat belt in the custody of the Baltimore Police Department wagon,” she said.
Police have said previously that Gray had not been properly fastened into the van which is a violation of department policy. The station investigators believe Gray slammed into part of the police van, apparently breaking his neck. Along with a broken neck Gray suffered with a head injury that matches up to a bolt in the van, the station reported without mentioning how the injury may have happened.
In the end, truth and accountability is all the people want.
http://therougecollection.net/therouge/officers-charged-in-freddie-gray-death/
