Freddie Gray severed his own spinal cord

[Spikender]

Indeed. It actually is a realistic scenario. Kind of how noone here believed that a handcuffed person in the back of a cop car could shoot himself in the head, but it does happen.

True, there are multiple documented cases at this point. That's the kind of full-proof, lock box type evidence I'm looking for.

 

[Natural Citizen]

Oh God no. It's been my understanding since I first saw that video with his limp legs having no coordination and no strength whatsoever that the cops originally slammed him to the ground and, when doing so, his spinal cord snapped. I doubt he could even feel his legs at that point.

Ben Swann actually did an entire 30 minute piece on that exact phenomenon. The way that they pile into you and shove their knee in your back and whatnot. He had a retired U.S. Marshall on talking about the way that they did that. while they were observing him being drug to the van.

It's in one of these Baltimore videos. I think they are all Ben discussing the issue if I'm not mistaken. If you flip through you may find it. Likely the only place where you'll find any kind of genuine television reporting on the matter.

https://www.youtube.com/user/RTAmerica/videos

 

[AuH20]

I'm not sure Freddie Gray wanted to die just to claim the police abused him.

You could argue that he didn't know it would lead to his death, but I severely doubt he beat himself on the walls of the police van when he knew he had issues with his spine just to cry foul about it.

If you're facing 5 to 10 years, short term pain probably beats long term time in a cost benefit analysis. That's the thought process at work.

 

[charrob]

Ben Swann actually did an entire 30 minute piece on that exact phenomenon. The way that they pile into you and shove their knee in your back and whatnot. He had a retired U.S. Marshall on talking about the way that they did that. while they were observing him being drug to the van.

It's in one of these Baltimore videos. I think they are all Ben discussing the issue if I'm not mistaken. If you flip through you may find it. Likely the only place where you'll find any kind of genuine television reporting on the matter.

https://www.youtube.com/user/RTAmerica/videos

Thanks N.C.!

 

[Brian4Liberty]

No doubt this mystery prisoner is a very reliable fellow with no motivation whatsoever to not tell the truth.

 

[Brian4Liberty]

What happened with that earlier story about him having recent spinal surgery?

 

[twomp]

If you're facing 5 to 10 years, short term pain probably beats long term time in a cost benefit analysis. That's the thought process at work.

Oh so he is ignorant drug dealing criminal AND someone who thinks about long term cost benefit analysis while being dragged into a van with 6 criminals in blue costumes? He already couldn't walk...

 

[charrob]

What happened with that earlier story about him having recent spinal surgery?

I hadn't seen that before, but here's an article from the Baltimore Sun. Freddie and his twin sister had lead poisoning as children from the house they grew up in and it appears that some court case related to that was misconstrued as being a car accident by the 'Free Republic' -- which has since removed the story.

 

[Spikender]

If you're facing 5 to 10 years, short term pain probably beats long term time in a cost benefit analysis. That's the thought process at work.

Let's ask Freddie Gray, the man who apparently couldn't even walk before he was thrown in the van, what his intentions were.

Wait. Never mind.

 

[staerker]

We're typically dealing with two untrustworthy parties in the criminal and the police officer (see thin blue line).

Well, in this case we're dealing with one dead party, and six other parties that won't talk. Pretty telling.

 

[twomp]

Let's ask Freddie Gray, the man who apparently couldn't even walk before he was thrown in the van, what his intentions were.

Wait. Never mind.

Apparently he was treated for three fractured vertebrae and a crushed voice box. He was an amateur criminal. If he were a pro-criminal, he would have stopped doing this himself when he only had two fractured vertebrae and a crushed voice box. Then he would have cashed in, bling bling $$$!

 

[RickyJ]

I hadn't seen that before, but here's an article from the Baltimore Sun. Freddie and his twin sister had lead poisoning as children from the house they grew up in and it appears that some court case related to that was misconstrued as being a car accident by the 'Free Republic' -- which has since removed the story.

There is nothing free about "Free Republic"! They are one of the most censored forums on the Internet and regularly beg for dollars despite getting much more than they need to run the site. The police knew what they did and was hoping he would die so they wouldn't get sued. Amazingly they got their wish, like they always seem to do.

 

[charrob]

There is nothing free about "Free Republic"! They are one of the most censored forums on the Internet and regularly beg for dollars despite getting much more than they need to run the site. The police knew what they did and was hoping he would die so they wouldn't get sued. Amazingly they got their wish, like they always seem to do.

Thanks; I hadn't heard of them before just seeing it now in the Baltimore Sun article. It really is amazing how people are doing everything they can to squirm out of this and find excuses. It really is sad.

 

[Spikender]

Apparently he was treated for three fractured vertebrae and a crushed voice box. He was an amateur criminal. If he were a pro-criminal, he would have stopped doing this himself when he only had two fractured vertebrae and a crushed voice box. Then he would have cashed in, bling bling $$$!

I've crushed my voice box all the time and never even noticed.

Guess I don't talk enough to even notice.

 

[invisible]

Those Baltimore cops really can do some amazing stuff. They made my video camera disappear some years back, right in the middle of recording them. If they can pull that off, then they would certainly seem to be capable of having someone break their own spine.

 

[HankRicther12]

[SIZE=+1] Freddie Gray severed his own spinal cord[/SIZE]

I knew it just as much as I know the sun rises every morning.

Rarely do I ever watch Fox ""News"". However I stopped over my Dad's house tonight and he had it on: THIS is their spin and they are laying it on thick: Freddie chose to harm himself.

Some may disagree, but since I first saw the original video that came out, it was obvious Freddie was paralyzed and his legs limp BEFORE they ever put him in that police van. Then they kept insisting the injuries occurred inside the van and the officers simply made "mistakes" Nothing intentional. Just "mistakes". Now we know why they kept insisting that his injuries came from inside the van rather than before he was originally placed into the van: "because Freddie chose to harm himself by severing his own spinal cord". You always think there is a level of decency that even these maggots will not go below: but now we can see that they are even more evil than that.



So the real question is: how much money was paid to this "other prisoner" to create this lie? And how much of a reduced prison sentence will he get for telling this lie?

You have obviously never dealt with prisoners/suspects under arrest. They "go limp" all the time to make you drag them in a sign of protest. They also injure themselves all the time in order to go to the hospital instead of jail.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...lames-officers-camera-shows-self-assault.html

I wonder, where do you live? Do you live in a ghetto, or perhaps do you live in a lily-white town far removed from all these things you claim to be such an expert about?

NOW, let me clear, I'm not claiming I know what happened, however, you don't either so stop pretending you do or that you know the first thing about dealing with the "urban youth". These cops might be guilty, if so, I say send them to jail, well, I mean I'll give them their trial and all, but how about we make sure we actually know what happened first eh?

 

[UWDude]

You have obviously never dealt with prisoners/suspects under arrest. They "go limp" all the time to make you drag them in a sign of protest. They also injure themselves all the time in order to go to the hospital instead of jail.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...lames-officers-camera-shows-self-assault.html

I wonder, where do you live? Do you live in a ghetto, or perhaps do you live in a lily-white town far removed from all these things you claim to be such an expert about?

NOW, let me clear, I'm not claiming I know what happened, however, you don't either so stop pretending you do or that you know the first thing about dealing with the "urban youth". These cops might be guilty, if so, I say send them to jail, well, I mean I'll give them their trial and all, but how about we make sure we actually know what happened first eh?

Shut up, sock puppet.

 

[Zippyjuan]

"Rough riding". Toss somebody into the back of the van and drive in such a manner the person is tossed around inside the van. Not the firs time either. Police admitted that he did not even have a seat belt on. They took their time in getting to their destination too- making other stops before checking on their prisoner in the back.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/04/the-rough-ride-and-police-culture/391538/

Police say that intentionally banging a suspect around in the back of a van isn't common practice. But the range of slang terms to describe the practice suggests it's more common that anyone would hope—and a roster of cases show that Freddie Gray is hardly the first person whose serious injuries allegedly occurred while in police transit. Citizens have accused police of using aggressive driving to rough suspects up for decades in jurisdictions across the country. Though experts don't think it's a widespread practice, rough rides have injured many people, frayed relationships, and cost taxpayers, including Baltimore's, millions of dollars in damages.

Once Gray was in the van, he was handcuffed. Apparently because he was "irate" during the ride, officers stopped and shackled his legs, too. The one thing they didn't do was buckle his seat belt. Not only does that sound like common sense, it's also department policy—and BPD admits it was violated.

Critics argue that the reason a prisoner would be left unbuckled is not to protect officers but to dole out extrajudicial treatment. Baltimore juries have on occasion agreed. In 2004, a man named Jeffrey Alston won $39 million from Baltimore after he was paralyzed from the neck down during a police-van ride. The following year, Dondi Johnson Sr. won $7.4 million after a ride left him a paraplegic. In 2013, Johns Hopkins librarian Christine Abbott filed a suit against the department for a "rough ride" after a 2012 arrest that resulted from a noise complaint. Her lawyer alleges she was not buckled and an officer drove "maniacally" as she was taken in, throwing her around the unpadded van. (Abbott is white; Alston and Johnson, like Gray, are black.) Arrestees and advocates say drivers will jam to abrupt stops and take corners hard to toss riders around. In addition to rough rides, my colleague Conor Friedersdorf notes, the Baltimore Police Department has a long and ignominious rap sheet of brutality not befitting a place that calls itself Charm City.

As one might expect, it's hard to know how common this practice is, and there are no good tallies. There are multiple ways a suspect could be injured, including while being apprehended, and the accounts of police and suspects about what happened may vary. (The Bureau of Justice Statistics found about 688 arrest-related deaths per year from 2003 to 2009, with 60 percent ruled homicides.) The multiplicity of slang terms is one metric. "Bringing them up front" refers to jamming on the breaks so a prisoner flies forward. "Screen tests" are the same, so that a prisoner rams into the screen between the front seat and the passenger area of a van or cruiser.

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

I'm not sure why people are so gung-ho to blame the police right off the bat. We don't even know what happened.

I've actually got a lot of sympathy for the police. Can you imagine if your job every single day had you dealing with the worst people society has to offer? It must be really taxing on them mentally to wake up every single day for 40 years to be cursed at by bums and ever be fearful that someone could pull a gun on them from under the dashboard. It's probably especially hard in these inner city communities with sky high murder rates where the population has no respect for you, and would actually cheer your death.

I don't live in a high crime area, so maybe I don't have the right to talk. But the cops have always been very fair to me. They've let me off the hook for offenses that they really should have booked me for, and tried their best to ensure my safety, and the safety of people around me.

It's just how I was raised, but I always treat them with respect. They are always "sir" or "ma'am", and I do whatever they tell me to. I'll definitely raise my own kids to do the same. They've done a great job with crime in my hometown and when I've called them, have been very receptive and responded right away.

I don't think we get anywhere by condemning the cops and pouring on hatred and vitriol. I think it's better to build up a relationship between them and the community they serve. There are a lot of concerns about police militarization and low recruitment standards. We can work with local governments and police organizations to implement reforms and create a better situation.

 

[69360]

Eh, maybe if his arms and legs were shackled behind his back and he got himself twisted up and the paddy wagon hit bumps or something. Seems far fetched. More than likely he was a typical scumbag who fought with the cops and got a beatdown.