Baltimore man dies, was healthy at arrest, spine 80% severed at neck in custody

[dixiegrrrrl]

Freddie Gray, a Baltimore man injured during an arrest by Baltimore police last week, died Sunday morning at Shock Trauma, according to family members and a hospital spokesperson.
Gray's death comes a week after his arrest and just hours after a protest was held at Baltimore police headquarters.

Snip:

Four bicycle officers tried to stop Gray about 9 a.m. on April 12 in the 1600 block of W. North Ave. for an alleged violation that police have not disclosed. He ran, police said, and the officers caught him and restrained him on the ground while awaiting backup.
According to a police timeline he was fine when he was loaded into a van to be taken to the district station, but was injured by the time he got out. He suffered a broken vertebra and an injured voice box, his family said.

Snip:

Gray was healthy at the time of the arrest, which Murphy said occurred "without any evidence he had committed a crime." Murphy said Gray's spine was "80 percent severed at his neck" when he was in custody. Murphy said Gray "lapsed into a coma, died, was resuscitated, stayed in a coma and on Monday, underwent extensive surgery at Shock Trauma to save his life.

"He clung to life for seven days" before dying Sunday morning, Murphy said.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/blog/bs-md-freddie-gray-20150419-story.html

[AuntPatsy]

1. ..

[Jefferson23]

2. Healthy 27 year old, 80% of spine severed..must have been a slip and fall.

[Judi Lynn]

7. Quite the extreme slip and fall, too. Unusually severe. n/t

[Jefferson23]

11. Yep..the kind no self respecting physician will likely support.. the bastards strike again. n/t

[malaise]

16. Murder by cops

How much more of this must we tolerate - and not just in the US

[Jefferson23]

19. We tolerate the wrong things...so true. n/t

[sabrina 1]

22. Well, we tolerate war criminals, so why not killer cops? As a society we are badly in need of an

intervention. I'm not sure it can be fixed from within. I see no sign that there is any will to change things. We treat our war criminals like elder statesmen. That is not the sign of a society that is going to change itself, any time soon.

'How many more' of these murders people are asking? Apparently there is no limit to how many more.

By now, considering the huge numbers of American citizens killed by cops, Congress should have intervened. They are intervening in every country in the world BUT here.

Over 5,000 dead Americans by cop since 9/11.

We went all over the world killing people because of those deaths.

This is a National Security issue. But where is Congress? Who are these murderous thugs accountable to?

[malaise]

24. You mean as a planet

It's a mess in many places

[sabrina 1]

25. An Alien intervention ... maybe. But while there are plenty of much worse places, I have not

noticed them claiming to be the 'leaders of the free world' or that they are 'bringing democracy' to the world.

And we sure haven't fixed any of the places we went to. We've killed more people than the original 'bad guys'.

I was thinking more along the lines of other nations deciding to stop enabling our warmongering. The other so-called developed nations.

Or maybe it will just come from the people, as it has throughout history.

[malaise]

30. Very true

but all e,pires spew the same BS

[Enthusiast]

27. Wonderful post!

"We treat our war criminals like elder statesmen."

[Oilwellian]

55. That jumped out at me as well

Brava, Sabrina! That is so very true and a symptom of our overall sick country.

[Enthusiast]

59. Check out this thread....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026536210

[samsingh]

80. there has been way too much - too many young black men murdered by thugs that call

themselves police.

[Dragonfli]

17. Reminds me of the "accidents" suffered by so many in the UK movie "Hot Fuzz" /nt

[Jefferson23]

20. The alleged perpetrator gave me no choice is one they hold dear...it is sick. n/t

[avebury]

33. And the "accidents" surffered by so many prisoners

in Apartheid Africa.

[FourScore]

3. This has to stop! n/t

[daleanime]

8. Amen.....

[glinda]

21. +1

[Turbineguy]

4. Fight or Flight

and we know what happens when you chose fight.

[nolabear]

6. Or flight either, apparently.

[awoke_in_2003]

70. Or doing nothing

Cops don't need a reason to kill a black man in this country. White Americans won't wake the fuck up until they start becoming targets.

I am sure some jackass will now respond by providing a link where a cop killed a white man. Fine. Show me enough links to prove they are systematically targeting white men.

[SamKnause]

5. Evil out of control bastards.

[lpbk2713]

9. To serve and protect.

My ass.

[hifiguy]

13. Oh, they do serve and protect.

Their masters and themselves. And no one else.

[closeupready]

18. Or even just serve themselves, as Bill DiBlasio found

last January when the NYPD was talking seriously about going on strike.

[Lindsay]

58. It's no longer serve and protect.

It's submit or die.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

65. this. n/t

[okaawhatever]

10. K & R nt

[justiceischeap]

12. Video of the arrest

[Glimmer of Hope]

14. It looks like his legs are limp as they drag him.

[grasswire]

15. he is able to hold his head up...

.....but has no use of his legs, you are right.

Good that someone got video of part of it, anyway.

[PinkPotus]

23. I've seen passive resistance where people go limp.

Just because he's not using his legs doesn't mean he lacks the ability. Let's not let the police off the hook and imply that his neck was broken while he fled from them. It seems far fetched to me that someone on a bicycle could suffer a broken neck.

[Downwinder]

26. With a neck injury you don't move someone.

You get EMTs to put on a neck brace first.

[justiceischeap]

35. There's another video of the incident from a different angle

And you can hear a woman yelling that they're breaking his leg. You can also hear him screaming in pain.

Just do a search for "Freddie Gray Baltimore arrest" and it should be the first one up.

Point being, he's injured when they're dragging him away. The family and doctors also claim that he looked like he'd been beaten but doesn't look that way when placed in the van.

[avebury]

34. 80% Severed Spine by not police

brutality? WTF? The spine did not injure itself.

The family needs to have their own autopsy done and should insist on having their own representative present for the medical examiner's autopsy.

[tblue37]

28. People run from cops for a very good reason, even when innocent--and this is it.

No matter how innocent you might be, once the cops get ahold of you, they are going to have their fun, which you might or might not survive, but which will certainly do great harm even if you don't die of it.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

54. Yup.

I totally understand why people, especially black people run, even if they've committed absolutely no crime. They simply want to escape people who can beat them or may very well murder them 'legally' and with impunity.

[Enthusiast]

29. This nation has crossed the line. The cops are the bad guys.

This is not a good place for a nation to be. Maybe if I had a different ethnic background I would feel the cops were always the bad guys. Maybe it is only due to the increasing awareness of police violence.

[abelenkpe]

31. So these officers have been fired right?

Suspended?
Reprimanded?
Anything?

[valerief]

37. Promoted probably. This is America. nt

[cui bono]

41. According to the video above they are on "adminstrative duty". n/t

[Contrary1]

32. Where's the video of what happened...

once he was inside the van? We need more than just making the police officers themselves wear cameras. It should be mandatory that all law enforcement vehicles be outfitted with them too...with no "blind spots".

[valerief]

36. Vile. Fuckin' vile. And the worst part is these fuckin' monsters will get away with it

AND DO IT ALL AGAIN AND AGAIN.

[bigtree]

38. They cuffed, throw into the back of the van with no seat belt

...took him on a deliberately bumpy ride to rough him up. The practice has a history; the name evades me right now...

[dixiegrrrrl]

69. Actually, police say he WAS retrained in the van.

"The officers put him into a police van where, authorities say, he was placed in "additional restraints.""

but it is also clear that at some point, they applied extreme force to his neck, because
"His lawyer says Gray's spine was 80-percent severed at his neck, his voice box partially crushed."

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/freddie-gray-case-baltimore-police-accused-of-cover-up-in-violent-death/

[Liberal_in_LA]

39. kick

[Hissyspit]

40. Protecting and Serving the Shit Out of You...

[Rex]

42. So somebody broke his neck and killed him while he was in police custody?

Why can't they just report that? Or do they mean someone tried to cut his head off? WTF AMERICA!?

[dixiegrrrrl]

43. As the article says...

He got the injuries while in custody, died a week later after multiple medical attempts to save his life.

[Rex]

44. Officers involved have been placed on administrative leave as a matter of department policy.

Gosh, I guess it was a ghost! Thankfully the media is there!

"In a statement posted to Twitter, the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 3, Baltimore's police union, asked for "no rush to judgment until the investigation is complete and all the facts are known."

"We thank Mayor Rawlings-Blake and Commissioner Batts for their leadership and welcome a thorough and complete investigation into the death of Mr. Gray, as we also agree that all lives matter," the union said."

OBVIOUSLY, the guy roughed himself up.

[Sunlei]

45. 4 police knocked him to the ground, piled on & stomped on his neck. another 'runner' murder.

He ran, police said, and the officers caught him and restrained him on the ground while awaiting backup

[whopis01]

46. Black Baltimore man dies, was healthy when arrested by white cops. Fixed that.

Those assholes can't even be bothered to give a reason for arresting him.

The best they can come up with it to say that they think he was "immediately involved or had been recently involved in criminal activity."

Which pretty much translates to "we saw a black guy and we all know that black guys are criminals"

[dixiegrrrrl]

67. Actually, you are pretty correct. Police said, today:

The account is provided in charging documents filed in District Court, where officer Garrett Miller wrote that Gray was stopped because he "fled unprovoked upon noticing police presence." When Gray, 25, was stopped, they found a knife clipped to the inside of his front pants pocket and placed him under arrest.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/blog/bs-md-ci-freddie-gray-arrest-documents-20150420-story.html

So he was in the area, saw the cops, decided to go the other way, which triggered the cop's "black man looking guilty" buttons.
They grabbed him, for no legal reason, and THEN "found" a knife on him.

I did not know carrying a knife was illegal.

[whopis01]

84. Sometimes it sucks to be correct. n/t

[Sunlei]

47. There is a video now and yes it is obvious, the man was hurt and dragged into a police van!

police made broken neck worse dragging him around. He was screaming in pain

[justiceischeap]

51. I suspect his neck wasn't broken before they put him in that van

I think they dislocated his knee and that's why he was screaming in pain and his leg was at an odd angle when they were dragging him to the van.

If you listen to the step-father, he says it looks like Gray was beaten about the face. That wasn't shown in the video, so I think there was severe abuse on the way to the station--out of the eyes of video and public.

[Madmiddle]

48. The thugs that did this to him

call themselves police. I call them scum of the earth. The cops will get away with this murder. Do not respect anyone with a badge anymore. They are not there to protect and serve, they are they to damage and hurt. We the people must stop this.

[Mr Dixon]

49. SAD

IMO the police are at War with Black Men, the problem is the Black men have no idea war was declared. The police see black men as the enemy no matter what the situation is, I call it a war because the police are acting like Soldiers is combat shoot 1st as questions later, the difference is Soldiers are in foreign countries fighting for a cause which they are training to do that is there job. The police however are not training to kill people there supposed to be enforcing the law of the land, they’re not in combat yet their behavior says otherwise IMO.

[snort]

50. Murderin Pigs gonna murder

[marym625]

52. jesus christ.

What in the Holy fuck is wrong with these cops? Have they zero compassion, morality, thought process?

I am so sick of this! Not one more!

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

53. Joe Scarborough: We're talking about a severed spine here, could have happened many ways.

[democrank]

56. Rest in peace, Freddie Gray.

A broken neck and an injured voice box........

[KansDem]

57. Another choke hold gone bad?

Not that choke holds can "go good." But I wonder if the victim was placed in a choke hold but instead of strangulation, the police broke his neck.

"80 percent severed at his neck"

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

60. Sometimes, there are no words....

[Dont call me Shirley]

61. Freddie.."

For the love of life, cops, stop your violence and killing!

[cannabis_flower]

62. They should...

carefully examine the timeline. If there isn't excessive force on the video, then something happened between the time he was put in the van and the time he got to the station.

[justiceischeap]

64. From the video I've seen

the excessive force happened somewhere else--I'm guessing inside the van on the way to the police station or at the police station.

Here's an article that seems to have more detailed reports of what happened.

http://heavy.com/news/2015/04/freddie-gray-baltimore-dead-cause-of-death-in-police-custody-cops-arrest-details-van-protest-video/

[chervilant]

63. A homeless man was killed in LA Sunday.

By cops, with video linked here. These murders are happening much more frequently, and we are getting the same, tired, disgusting excuses!!!!!

I am a stranger in a strange land, and the "America" I was taught to love is a big lie.

[GoneFishin]

66. Kick.

[riqster]

68. Until cops are consistently held accountable, this crap will continue.

[benld74]

71. Sickening

[blackspade]

72. More cold blooded murder by the blue line gang.

[closeupready]

73. Hoodlums.

[frylock]

74. the pigs are still hunting for a suitable reason as to why he was initially detained..

I guess "resisting arrest" just isn't going to work this time around.

[jwirr]

75. They are now trying to say it was self inflicted. Have they done a autopsy yet?

[dixiegrrrrl]

81. Autopsy says...broken neck.

and police say:
None of his limbs were broken; he did suffer a very tragic injury to his spinal cord, which resulted in his death' Baltimore Police Department's Deputy Commissioner Jerry Rodriguez

Rodriquez, btw, is now retiring from the force.

[jwirr]

82. There is so much of this. They can't even tell us why they arrested him. This has got to stop.

[RKP5637]

76. More and more many of the nation's (Ugh) finest belong behind bars! n/t

[leveymg]

77. Disobeying an officer's order or resisting arrest have become capital crimes.

They automatically come with guilty verdicts, sentence imposed immediately. In this case, by hanging or breaking by sudden rotation.

[samsingh]

78. the police have become brutes and murderers - this is digusting beyond words

[samsingh]

79. if the police are guilty i hope they rot in jail for the rest of their miserable disgusting lives

[sub.theory]

83. That's Messed Up

Let's see how they try and explain this.

We really do have a major problem in this country. We have got to start having some changes. Independent oversight. Body cameras. This can't keep going on.