MD-Cops arrest healthy man, hours later he is near death in ICU, likely got a "nickel ride"


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.

Unbelted detainees have been paralyzed and even killed by rough rides in police vans." 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 being arrested.

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.
View gallery
Death of Freddie Gray after police arrest
Protesters stand outside the Baltimore Police Department's Western District police station at th …

"Policy is policy, practice is something else," particularly if a prisoner is combative, Davey told The Associated Press. "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."

Commissioner Anthony Batts said there are no circumstances under which a prisoner should not be wearing a seatbelt during transport.

"He wasn't wearing a seatbelt and that's part of our investigation," Batts told The Associated Press on Thursday. "It's our responsibility to make sure people are safely transported, especially if their hands are behind their back."

Batts also said another man who was in the van during the tail end of Gray's ride told investigators that Gray was "was still moving around, that he was kicking and making noises" up until the van arrived at the station.

But Batts was careful to say that the investigation includes "everything the officers did that day."

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.

But if it happened on the way to the station, it wouldn't be the first such injury in Baltimore: Dondi Johnson died of a fractured spine in 2005 after he was arrested for urinating in public and transported without a seat belt, with his hands cuffed behind his back.

"We argued they gave him what we call a 'rough ride,'" at high speed with hard cornering, said Attorney Kerry D. Staton. "He was thrown from one seat into the opposite wall, and that's how he broke his neck."

Staton obtained a $7.4 million judgment for the family, later reduced to the legal cap of $200,000.

It also has happened in Philadelphia, where police in 2001 barred transportation of prisoners without padding or belts after The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the city had paid $2.3 million to settle lawsuits over intentionally rough rides, which permanently paralyzed two people.
Click to expand...
 
It was just a misstep, now calm the fuck down.


Baltimore police cite missteps in arrest of Freddie Gray; Hogan asks for calm

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local...961d14-ea9e-11e4-aae1-d642717d8afa_story.html

BALTIMORE — Top officials here acknowledged Friday that Freddie Gray was not treated properly when he was arrested nearly two weeks ago, but said they are still probing how he suffered the severe spinal injury that appears to have led to his death.

Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts said Gray was never seatbelted after placed into a transport van, a violation of department policy. Deputy Commissioner Kevin Davis said Gray was not offered medical attention despite several requests, and said officers should have called for an ambulance when they first arrested him.

Gray, 25, died Sunday, a week after he was arrested in a West Baltimore housing project. Questions about what happened to him have spurred days of protests and thrust Baltimore into the center of a debate over police conduct, stirred by a spate of civilian deaths at the hands of law enforcement officers

...
 
Why did this turn into a riot situation?

This was just another Nickle Ride. This was just another death in police custody. Besides a FEW no one even read this thread. I actually read it and thought...meh...just another death to be "investigated" at worse some money thrown in the family's direction and that's it.

Baby's get their face blown off, pregnant women can get punched in the face, and really not more than a couple people upset. So what happened here? Why did this normal everyday kind of case of police abuse, turn into something more?


Because it fit the media narrative? Because Baltimore has been at almost a boiling point for years like Ferguson? Just curious why this case got reaction.

I actually read about it on fedbook from random people talking about Freddie Gray, I was thinking...who the hell is Freddie Gray? Is that the guy from the Nickle ride a couple weeks ago???
 
If you want to get even more depressed, check out the comments on this page:

http://twitchy.com/2015/04/28/maryl...tweet&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=twitter

O2izZyi.png
 
I get the feeling that the injury occurred during the arrest take down. "Damn Joe, did you hear the snap when a) he landed on the cement curb or b) when I jumped on his neck with my knee? We better drag him over to the paddywagon and put him in there quick, so we don't get blamed."

Of course with an existing spinal injury, bouncing around in the back of the wagon won't help any.
 
Now some are claiming Freddy Gray had spinal surgery recently to repair damage from a car wreck years ago. So it was an accident just waiting to happen -- like all those folks who die of an enlarged heart after being struck in the head a few times with a police baton.

They were all ready to just drop dead at any moment; getting a police smackdown had nothing at all to do with their deaths. (/s)
 
Last edited:
SeanTX said:
Now some are claiming Freddy Gray had spinal surgery recently to repair damage from a car wreck years ago. So it was an accident just waiting to happen -- like all those folks who die of an enlarged heart after being struck in the head a few times with a police baton. They were all ready to just drop dead at any moment; getting a police smackdown had nothing at all to do with their deaths.
Click to expand...

Ah, the old "Freddie Gray did this to himself" ploy.

Smart cops.
 
SeanTX said:
Now some are claiming Freddy Gray had spinal surgery recently to repair damage from a car wreck years ago. So it was an accident just waiting to happen -- like all those folks who die of an enlarged heart after being struck in the head a few times with a police baton. They were all ready to just drop dead at any moment; getting a police smackdown had nothing at all to do with their deaths.
Click to expand...


i'm sorry, but this is something a 10 year old girl would write.

geez, what drool.

seriously the worst post today, but then i've only just begun my day.

How could Gray have SURGERY on his neck and spine, and then be out a week later running?....amazing. I suspect someone is fibbing here.
 
Last edited:
It's something I've been reading on conservative / liber-neocon sites -- they'll do anything to stick up for the police if the victim is black. They only care about police abuse if it doesn't involve a "bum", n*gger, drunk driver, etc.

Anyone in an unpopular group is fair game for whatever happens to them (according to them). They'll only get upset if you try to limit how many rounds they can have in a magazine or something like that.

I've also seen claims that the black guy in SC who was shot in the back used the cop's taser on him, and that you can see the wires from the taser in the video, probes embedded into the cop's leg and vest. Something that would have been trotted out as a defense right away if it had really happened.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Occam's Banana
AZ - cops were called about a white suspect, so they beat & arrest a deaf black man
Replies
7
Views
3K
Brian4Liberty
Brian4Liberty
Occam's Banana
First Amendment auditing & "cop watching"
Replies
19
Views
3K
Occam's Banana
Occam's Banana
Occam's Banana
Cop Executes Unarmed Man on His Knees with His Hands Up, Complying with Orders
Replies
5
Views
658
Anti Federalist
Anti Federalist
Occam's Banana
AL - Man dies of hypothermia while in jail
Replies
11
Views
1K
oyarde
O
Occam's Banana
CO - cops murder man who called 911 for help
2
Replies
26
Views
2K
CCTelander
C
Back
Top