Police: No ‘force or incident’ in man’s arrest
Gray later suffered ‘medical emergency’
BALTIMORE — Baltimore police wrote in court documents that Freddie Gray was arrested “without force or incident” for having a switchblade knife and suffered a medical emergency during transport.
The documents provide the first account of Gray’s arrest last week, during which time he was critically injured and later died. The case has sparked outrage and police have said little about the circumstances, saying the case was under investigation.
The account is provided in charging documents filed in District Court, where Officer Garrett Miller wrote that Gray was stopped because he “fled unprovoked upon noticing police presence.” When Gray, 25, was stopped, they found a knife clipped to the inside of his front pants pocket and placed him under arrest.
“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.”
At a news conference Monday afternoon, police said that Gray repeatedly asked for medical care and did not receive it during the arrest that preceded his death.
Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts said the department is reviewing its policies relating to prisoner transports and when officers should call medics for suspects. He said there were many occasions when medics should have been called.
An officer pulled out a Taser, but did not deploy it during the arrest, and Gray asked for an inhaler, but did not have one with him, Batts said.
The police van stopped to put leg irons on Gray, then was called to pick up another prisoner before taking both prisoners to the Western District, where a medic was called for Gray, police said.
Police said the two prisoners were separated by a metal barrier in the back of the van, which did not have a camera inside.
City police have said that video 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.
An attorney hired by Gray’s family said his spinal cord was severed. He underwent extensive surgery at Shock Trauma, but died Sunday morning, a week after the April 12 incident.
The officers involved have been placed on administrative assignment pending the outcome of the investigation.