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发帖数: 29846 | 1 A look at the knowns and unknowns in the Baltimore case
April 29, 2015 - 3:36 PM
By SARAH BRUMFIELD, Associated Press
Protestors demonstrate outside the State Attorney's office calling for the
continued investigation into the death of Freddie Gray, Wednesday, April 29,
2015, in Baltimore. Activists stressed that they will continue to press for
answers in the case of Gray, the 25-year-old black man whose death from a
spinal-cord injury under mysterious circumstances while in police custody
set off the riots. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
BALTIMORE (AP) — A week and a half after 25-year-old Freddie Gray died,
there are still many unanswered questions about the explosive case. A look
at some of the knowns and unknowns:
WHY DID POLICE STOP HIM?
Police say they went after him after he fled at the sight of an officer in a
drug-infested neighborhood. Why he ran is anyone's guess. Police say they
later found a switchblade in his pocket.
During the arrest, officers on bicycles chased him down, pinned him to the
sidewalk and then lifted him and took him, his legs dragging on the ground,
to a police van. He pleaded for an inhaler during the arrest and asked
repeatedly for medical help during the half-hour ride to the station. He
died a week later.
WHAT WAS THE CAUSE OF DEATH?
Police say Gray died of a "significant spinal injury." An attorney for the
family says his spine was "80 percent severed in the neck area." An autopsy
has been done, and while the findings have not been released, police say no
bodily injury was evident during the post mortem and no limbs were broken.
SO HOW AND WHEN DID THE INJURY HAPPEN?
That's the big question. It's not clear whether he got hurt during the
arrest, the ride, or both. Police say he was in leg irons and handcuffs in
the van but was not belted in, a violation of policy. That has raised
suspicions that Gray was deliberately taken on a "rough ride" to teach him a
lesson and was injured when he got thrown around the back of the vehicle.
WHO KNOWS WHAT WENT ON INSIDE THE VAN?
Police say they have interviewed a second, unidentified man who was in the
van, and he said the driver wasn't driving erratically. Police say this man
didn't see anyone harm Gray but heard Gray "thrashing about."
WHAT ABOUT THE OFFICERS INVOLVED?
Police have suspended six in the meantime, and five of them have given
statements to investigators. The sixth declined to do so. All of them joined
the force between 1997 and 2012.
WHERE DOES THE CASE GO FROM HERE?
Baltimore police are conducting an internal investigation and say they will
share their findings by Friday with the Baltimore state's attorney for
possible prosecution. It is not known when or if those findings will be made
public. The U.S. Justice Department is also investigating, as is the Gray
family attorney. |
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