James West/Mother Jones
A leaked autopsy report shows that Freddie Gray suffered a fatal “high-energy” blow to the neck, the Baltimore Sun reported late Tuesday.
From the Sun:
The state medical examiner’s office concluded that Gray’s death could not be ruled an accident, and was instead a homicide, because officers failed to follow safety procedures “through acts of omission.”
Though Gray was loaded into the van on his belly, the medical examiner surmised that he may have gotten to his feet and was thrown into the wall during an abrupt change in direction. He was not belted in, but his wrists and ankles were shackled, making him “at risk for an unsupported fall during acceleration or deceleration of the van.” The medical examiner compared Gray’s injury to those seen in shallow-water diving incidents.
Gray’s death in police custody in April sparked protests in Baltimore and throughout the country. Baltimore State Attorney Marilyn Mosby decried the leak of the report on Tuesday, saying in a statement, “I strongly condemn anyone with access to trial evidence who has leaked information prior to the resolution of this case.” In May, a grand jury indicted the six officers involved in Gray’s arrest. Though a sealed court document at one time suggested a prisoner in the van heard Gray “banging against the walls,” assistant medical examiner Carol Allan cast doubt on that possibility in the autopsy report, noting that Gray “may have been suffering a seizure at the time,” according to the Sun.
After Gray’s death, several former victims came forward to speak out against “rough rides,” a practice in which police allegedly drive erratically with an unrestrained, cuffed prisoner so as to cause injury or pain.
