Cops: Man Fatally Injured While in Custody Was "Arrested Without Force"
[There was a video here]
Freddie Gray, the 25-year-old Baltimore man who died Sunday after suffering critical injuries while in police custody, was arrested last week “without force or incident” for possessing a switchblade knife, according to police documents obtained by the Baltimore Sun.
According to charging documents filed in city court, Gray “fled unprovoked upon noticing police presence” and was later arrested after police found a knife inside one of his pockets.
From the Baltimore Sun:
“The defendant was arrested without force or incident,” Miller wrote. “During transport to Western District via wagon transport the defendant suffered a medical emergency and was immediately transported to Shock Trauma via medic.”
City police have said that video [above] of the incident — which shows a portion of the arrest — does not show use of force at the time of Gray’s arrest, and the cause of his injuries remains unclear.
Gray’s spine was 80 percent severed at the neck at some point during his time in police custody, according to his family’s attorney. After lapsing into a coma on Monday, Gray underwent extensive spinal surgery Tuesday. Early Sunday morning, a week after his arrest, Gray died from complications of his injuries.
Protests have erupted in Baltimore since Gray’s death yesterday, with hundreds marching through the city and gathering outside the Baltimore Police Department’s Western District station.
The police officers involved in his arrest have been placed on administrative assignment pending the outcome of an investigation, which Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said will be performed in partnership with the State’s Attorney’s office.
“We can’t just depend on the police looking at the police,” Rawlings-Blake said Monday on MSNBC. “And we don’t depend on that.”
[Video via Baltimore Sun]