Detainee wasn’t belted in during police van ride
BALTIMORE — No video captured what happened to Freddie Gray inside the police van where officers heaved him into a metal compartment after pinning him to a sidewalk. The cause of his fatal spine injury has not been revealed.
But a troubling detail emerged as hundreds of protesters converged on City Hall again Thursday: He was not only handcuffed and put in leg irons, but left without a seat belt during his trip to the station, a police union’s lawyer said.
Unbelted detainees have been paralyzed and even killed by rough rides in what used to be called “paddy wagons.” It even has a name: “nickel rides,” referring to cheap amusement park thrills.
Police brutality against prisoners being transported was addressed just six months ago in a plan released by Baltimore officials to reduce this misconduct. Department rules updated nine days before Gray’s arrest clearly state that all detainees shall be strapped in by seat belts or “other authorized restraining devices” for their own safety after arrest.
Gray was not belted in, said attorney Michael Davey, who represents at least one of the officers under investigation.
But he took issue with the rules.
“Policy is policy, practice is something else,” particularly if a prisoner is combative, Davey said. “It is not always possible or safe for officers to enter the rear of those transport vans that are very small, and this one was very small.”
The Gray family’s lawyer, Billy Murphy, said “his spine was 80 percent severed” while in custody. It’s not clear whether he was injured by officers in the street or while being carried alone in the van’s compartment.
Videos of Gray’s arrest on April 12 show him screaming on the ground before being dragged, his legs limp, into a van. Witnesses said he was crying out in pain.
Police procedures also require officers to get immediate medical help if detainees need it, and to avoid aggravating any injury.
In Gray’s case, he repeatedly asked for help during the trip, but the driver instead diverted to another location to pick up another prisoner, and paramedics weren’t called until after they arrived at a police station 40 minutes later.
The Department of Justice is investigating whether Gray’s civil rights were violated, and an internal police investigation will be delivered by May 1 to the state’s attorney’s office, which will consider filing any criminal charges.
Commissioner Anthony Batts said Monday that officers repeatedly ignored Gray’s requests for medical attention before he was hospitalized in critical condition. “He asked for an inhaler, and at one or two of the stops it was noticed that he was having trouble breathing,” Batts said. “We probably should have asked for paramedics.”