[Publisher’s Commentary]
The Baltimore Police officers whose actions led to the death of Freddie Gray had no probable cause to chase and arrest him.
Which leads me to believe that the April 12 arrest of Freddie Gray was a ruse by the officers to camouflage the fact that they had mortally injured him — he died of serious spinal injuries on April 19. His spine was reportedly 80% severed.
What was the reason for chasing Freddie Gray in the first place?
He had allegedly “looked” into the eyes of an officer before running. This in itself is an odd explanation. If Freddie Gray had some reason to avoid the police on that day wouldn’t the presence of officers, in uniforms, not have been enough to send him into flight rather than him finding himself “looking” into the eyes of an officer?
Be that as it may, it’s reasonable to believe that the officers who chased Freddie Gray were angered that he’d made them chase after him.
How did the chase end?
The only video evidence that’s emerged so far shows Freddie Gray being taken by the police officers to the van that transported him to the precinct.
At that point Freddie Gray is in obvious agony and can be heard yelling out in pain. He is also injured andunable to walk under his own power; his legs and feet are clearly dragging on the ground.
This is an indication that Gray may have already sustained the mortal injuries by this point. In fact a bystander, who can be seen, is overheard frantically yelling “That boy’s leg look broke …”
It’s possible it could have been Gray’s back that was broken–hence his inability to control his legs. Everyone knows the first thing you do for the victim of spinal injury is immobilize him or her. Medical records show no broken leg meaning it’s more likely the paralysis evident on the video was from a spinal injury.
Clearly Freddie Gray must have sustained his injury after the officers caught up with him: he had been able to run away from them, so clearly he was not injured before he came into contact with them.
Did Gray sustain the initial injuries to the spinal chord and three vertebra from a vicious tackle from behind? Was the injury inflicted by being pinned down, with a knee, or knees on his back? Gray was only 5 feet 8 inches and weighed a mere 145 pounds.
There have also been reports of witnesses who claimed Gray was beaten with batons and also “folded”; that his legs were bent backwards while an officer or officers pinned him down with a knee or knees.
The police have said the location where the officers chased Freddie Gray is known as a drug-dealing area: That information is being offered as justification by police as to why the officers chased Freddie Gray in the first place.
Once the officers searched Freddie Gray and found no drugs, assuming they had already injured him mortally, they clearly had a problem. It still would have been disastrous even if the officers found drugs in Freddie Gray’s possession. Even a drug dealer does not deserve to sustain life-threatening injuries by the police during the course of his arrest.
It seems to be that the biggest problem the officers faced, by the time the video recording captured them transporting Freddie Grey to the vehicle, was the severe injuries they might have already inflicted; the more so against an individual who had engaged in no crime.
So, rather than call for medical help to come to the location where Freddie Gray was tackled, the officers decided to remove the evidence of their apparent crime — the mortal injury they inflicted on Gray — away from the scene of the incident.
If the officers knew Gray, who was crying in agony, needed immediate treatment, and decided to deny it to him, what was their ultimate plan? Was their intention to deny him medical treatment until it was too late? What other explanation would account for the delay — the fact that medical assistance was not called for until 40 minutes later?
Did the officers not know that at some point they would have to account for the injuries sustained by Freddie Gray?
Even after his serious injury, Gray was still able to cry in agony before he was taken into the van. Was it too risky to have Freddie Gray speak and describe how the injury had been inflicted on him? Might that explain why, according to his family’s lawyer, his voice box was crushed? It could not have happened when he was tackled since he was able to express his pain when being dragged to the vehicle.
There have also been reports about Freddie Gray sustaining additional injuries during the 30 minutes trip to the police precinct during which there were reportedly three stops. Were the stops designed to provide the officers with time to inflict additional injuries to Freddy Gray while at the same time depriving him of the treatment the officers must have known he needed? This would clearly amount to torture and ultimately murder.
Why did the officers go to the police precinct rather than straight to a hospital? Why did the officers continue to deprive Gray of treatment by pretending he didn’t need it by taking him to the precinct?
If Freddie Gray was not arrested for a credible crime — possession of a pen-knife — then it becomes more convincing that the arrest could have been a ruse.
Could it really be that the officers arrested Freddie Gray only because they realized that they had inflicted mortal injury to an innocent man and that they could not afford to let him tell the story?
