Witness says Freddie Gray injured himself

[ttt]

I do not know what to think of this.  :?

www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/prisoner-in-van-said-freddie-gray-was-banging-against-the-walls-during-ride/2015/04/29/56d7da10-eec6-11e4-8666-a1d756d0218e_story.html?hpid=z1


BALTIMORE — A prisoner sharing a police transport van with Freddie Gray told investigators that he could hear Gray “banging against the walls” of the vehicle and believed that he “was intentionally trying to injure himself,” according to a police document obtained by The Washington Post.

The prisoner, who is currently in jail, was separated from Gray by a metal partition and could not see him. His statement is contained in an application for a search warrant, which is sealed by the court. The Post was given the document under the condition that the prisoner not be named because the person who provided it feared for the inmate’s safety.

The document, written by a Baltimore police investigator, offers the first glimpse of what might have happened inside the van. It is not clear whether any additional evidence backs up the prisoner’s version, which is just one piece of a much larger probe.

Gray was found unconscious in the wagon when it arrived at a police station on April 12. The 25-year-old had suffered a spinal injury and died a week later, touching off waves of protests across Baltimore, capped by a riot Monday in which hundreds of angry residents torched buildings, looted stores and pelted police officers with rocks.

Police have said they do not know whether Gray was injured during the arrest or during his 30-minute ride in the van. Local police and the U.S. Justice Department both have launched investigations of Gray’s death.


Jason Downs, one of the attorneys for the Gray family, said the family had not been told of the prisoner’s comments to investigators.

“We disagree with any implication that Freddie Gray severed his own spinal cord,” Downs said. “We question the accuracy of the police reports we’ve seen thus far, including the police report that says Mr. Gray was arrested without force or incident.”

Baltimore police said they will wrap up their investigation Friday and turn the results over to the Baltimore state’s attorney’s office, which will decide whether to seek an indictment. Six police officers, including a lieutenant and a sergeant, have been suspended.


Capt. Eric Kowalczyk, chief spokesman for the Baltimore Police Department, declined to comment on the affidavit, citing the ongoing investigation.

The affidavit is part of a search warrant seeking the seizure of the uniform worn by one of the officers involved in Gray’s arrest or transport. It does not say how many officers were in the van, whether any reported that they heard banging or whether they would have been able to help Gray if he was seeking to injure himself. Police have mentioned only two prisoners in the van.

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. They said they later found a switchblade clipped to the inside of his pants. Batts has 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.


Video shot by several bystanders has fueled the rage in West Baltimore. It shows two officers on top of Gray, their knees in his back, and then dragging his seemingly limp body to the van as he cried out.

Batts has said Gray stood on one leg and climbed into the van on his own.

The van driver stopped three times while transporting Gray to a booking center, the first to put him in leg irons. Batts said the officer driving the van described Gray as “irate.” The search warrant application says Gray “continued to be combative in the police wagon.”

The driver made a second stop, five minutes later, and asked an officer to help check on Gray. At that stop, police have said the van driver found Gray on the floor of the van and put him back on the seat, still without restraints. Police said Gray asked for medical help at that point.

The third stop was to put the other prisoner — a 38-year-old man accused of violating a protective order — into the van. The van was then driven six blocks to the Western District station. Gray was taken from there to a hospital, where he died April 19.


The prisoner, who is in jail, could not be reached for comment. No one answered the phone at his house, and an attorney was not listed in court records.

Batts has said officers violated policy by failing to properly restrain Gray. But the president of the Baltimore police union noted that the policy mandating seat belts took effect April 3 and was e-mailed to officers as part of a package of five policy changes on April 9, three days before Gray was arrested.

Gene Ryan, the police union president, said many officers aren’t reading the new policies – updated to meet new national standards – because they think they’re the same rules they already know, with only cosmetic changes. The updates are supposed to be read out during pre-shift meetings.

The previous policy was written in 1997, when the department used smaller, boxier wagons that officers called “ice cream trucks.” They originally had a metal bar that prisoners had to hold during the ride. Seat belts were added later, but the policy left their use discretionary.

Ryan said that until all facts become clear, he “urged everyone not to rush to judgment. The facts as presented will speak for themselves. I just wish everyone would take a step back and a deep breath, and let the investigation unfold.”

The search warrant application says that detectives at the time did not know where the officer’s uniform was located and that they wanted his department-issued long-sleeve shirts, pants and black boots or shoes. The document says investigators think that Gray’s DNA might be found on the officer’s clothes.

[cookiemdough]

Groundwork laid...

[ESF]

This sounds like made up evidence to me.  I think that prisoner got a sweet deal.

I just posted this in the other thread, but since it relates to this thread too, here you go.

wonkette.com/584232/sorry-wingnuts-you-will-have-to-find-a-different-lie-about-freddie-grays-severed-spine

[irishbride2]

::throws things;;

[emilyj]

I find this statement dubious: "Police have said they do not know whether Gray was injured during the arrest or during his 30-minute ride in the van."

If he was injured to the point of a severed spinal cord during the arrest, wouldn't you realize something was VERY wrong?

Also...how hard do you have to bang yourself in to a wall - a wall of a moving van, no less - to sever your own spinal cord?

I'm...skeptical. 

[cookiemdough]

If he was throwing himself around why not put his seatbelt on? You stop to shackle him but don't follow policy? Oh and the last paragraphs of the cops may have missed the protocol updates. Bullshit.

[LadySusan]

I too find it improbable that Mr. Grey severed his own spinal column because are you fucking kidding me?

[elleblue]

I find this just about as believable as the journal evidence used in the Grand Jury hearings of Darren Wilson.

[anonymous]

Is the actual uniform, the one the officer was wearing that day, going to show up? Doubt it

[gazpacho]

Here we go again. I knew this was coming. So, we are to believe he severed his OWN spinal cord?!?!

[anonymous]

Did he also crush his larynx?

[irishbride2]

I just had to unfollow my fucking weather man because he posted this crap and supported it.

I also sent him a scathing message explaining why I was unfollowing him.

eta: he wrote back almost immediately, which I give him credit for. But his explanation of "but its news from a reputable source!" is bull since he has not posted every damn article from major papers on this subject. They have been very one sided. 

[NewOrleans]

Good job telling the dirty cops what to say. They have no doubt been looking for a story.

[orangeblossom]

I call BS.

[jln]

Nope. I don't believe it. Someone gave this inmate a deal in exchange for this "story".

[NitaX]

Apr 29, 2015 21:33:37 GMT -5 gazpacho said:

Here we go again. I knew this was coming. So, we are to believe he severed his OWN spinal cord?!?!

There was that guy who shot himself while handcuffed in the back of the squad car that they sold to everyone in Arkansas too. So, yup.

[irishbride2]

Jesus Christ. Do not google image "Black Lives Matter."

I hate people.

[cookiemdough]

Now CNN is interviewing a family member of one of the officers saying that it wasn't a rough ride and a seatbelt wasn't used because it is an unspoken rule that it puts officers in danger to belt someone who was as irate as Freddie. The officer believes he was injured before he was picked up.

So let me get this right. He is injured before getting in the wagon. But he is in the van acting so irate they were scared to buckle him in. With a severed spine.

I am so done. DONE

[cookiemdough]

And the Post gets a leaked document today and now you have the officer family member speaking out. The set up is complete. Ain't nobody going to jail. Well except the rioters.

[stephm0188]

It takes one glace at the video of his arrest to see that this is obviously not true. :\

[anonymous]

Is this really how this is going to go down? I am so naive. I thought this one was going to be different.

[ttt]

Well if they thought this weekend was bad, just wait until this BS comes out Friday....

[pandora]

So, he injured his spinal cord BEFORE he was arrested. Come on.

BS.

Disgusting.

[runforrest]

I just...ugh.

[open24hours]

Fucking bullshit.

[orangeblossom]

Apr 29, 2015 22:04:25 GMT -5 ttt said:

Well if they thought this weekend was bad, just wait until this BS comes out Friday....

I've heard they may wait until Monday, because they don't want a repeat or worse over the weekend.

[pixy0stix]

So he DID trip and fall on a guillotine.

[darnkatz]

Well, isn't that convenient for those officers.

[summer]

I have officially now heard every goddamned thing. And people wonder why Black people pop off.

[thecatinthehat]

So a he ran away from the cops with a severed spinal cord!? I am even more enraged that this is the bullshit excuse they are going with.