by now, everybody knows the injuries that contributed to freddie gray's death. baltimore authorities and representatives for gray<u+2019>s family agree that the 25-year-old sustained fatal trauma to his neck and spine at some point while in police custody following his arrest on april 12. although a full autopsy hasn't yet been released, the family has said that gray<u+2019>s spine was nearly severed, and that his doctors had attempted to repair three fractured neck vertebrae and a crushed voice box. last week, the baltimore sun spoke to medical experts who said that gray's injuries were, in the paper's words, comparable to those seen in <u+201c>victims of high-speed crashes.<u+201d>









while this may end up being a significant detail of the investigation, much is still unclear about the circumstances of gray's death, including how gray's head might have hit the wall of the van hard enough to kill him. over the past few weeks, baltimore police have provided few answers about how gray went from seemingly healthy enough to flee police on the morning of april 12 to dead on april 19 after a week in a coma. on wednesday, april 29, hours after stating that they would not give the public their forthcoming internal report on gray's death, police leaked a different document to the washington post. it was the first new piece of information from police in nearly a week. but instead of clarity, it offered more confusion.









in its reporting of the incident, the baltimore sun found witnesses who refuted miller's account to the court. in an april 25 article, sun reporter kevin rector wrote: <u+201c>kevin moore, a 28-year-old friend of gray's from gilmor homes, said he rushed outside when he heard gray was being arrested and saw him <u+2018>screaming for his life<u+2019> with his face planted on the ground. one officer had his knee on gray's neck, moore said, and another was bending his legs backward. <u+2018>they had him folded up like he was a crab or a piece of origami,<u+2019> moore said. <u+2018>he was all bent up.<u+2019>" others claimed to have seen officers beating gray with batons.









at one point during the arrest, according to the police commissioner, an officer pulled out a stun gun. moore claimed to have seen this as well. according to the sun, police investigators failed to obtain footage from a convenience store surveillance camera that may have captured the incident more clearly. instead, the officers found that the moment in question had been taped over by the time they got there. this was a common theme throughout the investigation, as officers reportedly failed to obtain footage from other cameras that may have recorded key moments in gray's subsequent ride to the police station.









a third perspective on gray's arrest was added to the mix on wednesday, when cnn interviewed an anonymous relative of one of the arresting officers. the woman said the officer believes gray "was injured outside the paddy wagon," though she expressed personal concern that "six officers are going to be punished behind something that maybe one or two or even three officers may have done to freddie gray."









this is the critical question, and there is still no clear answer. witness video shows gray screaming at the time he was loaded into the vehicle. according to the official police timeline, the van made its first stop four minutes later so that officers could shackle an "irate" gray. he was removed from the van and was placed in leg irons.









police and witnesses then agree that gray was returned to the van in both hand and leg restraints. officers have admitted they didn't buckle gray's seat belt, a violation of police department policy that has led to suggestions that gray may have been the victim of a "rough ride" -- an illegal but not uncommon technique in which officers drive vans in such a way as to cause injury to detained passengers.









at 8:59 a.m., about 15 minutes after gray was first put in the van, the vehicle stopped for a third time after the driver asked an officer to perform a check on gray. this had previously been explained as the second stop, and exactly what happened there was reportedly a key part of the investigation. batts has said that responding officers had to "pick [gray] up off the floor and place him on the seat," and that gray requested a medic at this time. he was ignored again.









the fourth and final stop was made minutes later to pick up another prisoner. at this point, it's unclear what state gray was in. davis has suggested that gray was again found on the floor, but responsive enough to make another request for a medic. if this request was indeed made, it was evidently denied. other reports suggest that gray may have already lost consciousness when this second person was picked up.









details of allen's account conflict with earlier reports on gray's time in the van, including reports from police officials themselves. according to the post, allen told investigators that gray was <u+201c>banging against the walls<u+201d> and "intentionally trying to injure himself.<u+201d> but allen later told wbal: "when i got in the van, i didn't hear nothing. it was a smooth ride. we went straight to the police station. all i heard was a little banging for about four seconds. i just heard little banging, just little banging."
someone isn't telling the truth about freddie gray's death
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