Witness: Freddie Gray Was Trying To Injure Self In Baltimore Police Van

by JASmius



Well, here's some additional context to this story:

Freddie Gray, the 25-year-old black man who died of a spinal cord injury sustained while in Baltimore police custody, was banging against the walls of the police van he was being held in, according to testimony from another prisoner in the van, the Washington Post reported Wednesday night.

The prisoner, who was the only other prisoner in the van, was separated from Gray by a metal partition, but told investigators he could hear Gray "banging against the walls" and believed he was was intentionally trying to injure himself," an affidavit obtained by the Post read.

The Post agreed not to name the individual out of fear for his safety.

The latter lends considerable authenticity to this prisoner's account, doesn't it?  Mr. Gray certainly could have been banging against the paddy wagon walls given that he wasn't buckled in or otherwise restrained.  Most likely is that he was trying to contuse himself to make it look like the police personnel had beaten him up with fists and nightsticks and such, the better to capitalize on the Ferguson Insurrection and play up the "police brutality" angle.  Although it strains credulity to assert that he would have "martyred" himself by breaking his own neck for that same purpose.

Another possibility is that he was on a raging drug high - Mr. Gray did have a rap sheet twenty-two drug dealing arrests long - and both CNN and the WaPo go on to imply that very strongly:

Also on Wednesday, CNN reported that a friend of one of the police officers who arrested Gray said that the suspect was not shackled or restrained in the van because officers were not able to bring him under control. The officers were afraid that Gray would attack or bite them so they kept their distance once he was in the van.

Gray had been arrested on April 12th after fleeing from police in a high-crime area and was carrying a switchblade knife.

You'd think there'd be a procedure for this sort of situation, which doesn't seem like it would be all that unusual.  Tranquilizer darts, perhaps?  Or restraining ("sleeper") holds?  Of course, something similar is what wound up leading to the death of Eric Garner in New York City last year, so it's becoming an impossible catch-22.  Which is, of course, the whole point from the Black Klan perspective.

Bottom line is, if the suspect is physically resisting arrest to such a violent degree that the officers are in danger of bodily harm, how are they supposed to subdue the suspect in a "peaceful" manner?  Which begs the point: Black suspects aren't supposed to be subdued, because they're not supposed to be arrested.  Call it "freelance slavery reparations".

If Freddie Gray had been able to calm himself down, he'd have been able to collect and enjoy them.