U.S. Marshal Rips Phone From Hands Of Recording Bystander

[icenine]

Originally Posted by Boreas

Freddie Gray died in the hospital a week after the arrest. He suffered a crushed larynx and several fractured cervical vertebrae which resulted in his spinal column being almost completely severed.

We don't know whether he suffered the fatal injuries before being loaded in the van, after being loaded or both. The citizen video doesn't show anything before Gray was lifted from the ground and dragged to the van and there is no video of his trip inside the van.

This is purely conjecture but I think the injuries to his larynx and vertebrae were inflicted by a cop who dropped his knee on the back of Gray's neck. Gray's neck may been resting on the curb at that time. The fact that Gray was screaming in pain and had no control over his legs as he was dragged to the van supports this.

Also supporting this are Gray's pleas, while in the van, for an inhaler. Gray was asthmatic and was having trouble breathing. It's possible that the injury to his spinal column had begun to manifest itself as difficulty in breathing and that it wasn't an asthma attack at all. In response to Gray's pleas, the cops stopped the van, went into the back and put Gray in leg irons.

The next phase would be the "nickel ride", a.k.a. "rattling the can", a.k.a. "screen test", the practice of bouncing a restrained suspect off the inside walls of the van by erratic and violent driving. If this were done, it's easy to understand how Gray went from having difficulty in breathing during his ride to being unresponsive and not breathing at all when he was unloaded.

As an expert in x-raying necks in Emergency Rooms for the last 20 years my gut tells me that he was not severely injured before the van although it is a possiblility. He most assuredly was not given the proper standard of care for those with suspected spinal cord/neck injury: a trip to the ER in an ambulance with full c-spine precautions i.e. neck brace and and strapped to a spine board.

Maybe the police were more focused on the nickel ride that calling 911 for an ambulance. Has their internal investigation given a sequence of events?