Police Drop Bombshell About Freddie Gray Arrest

Police reveal officers' statements to the Baltimore Sun
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 27, 2015 2:35 PM CDT
Police Drop Bombshell About Freddie Gray Arrest
Top row from left, Caesar R. Goodson Jr., Garrett E. Miller and Edward M. Nero, and bottom row from left, William G. Porter, Brian W. Rice and Alicia D. White.   (Baltimore Police Department via AP, File)

An officer involved in the infamous Freddie Gray arrest—which sparked rioting and political upheaval in Baltimore after Gray died a week later—conceded that the man appeared to need medical help while in police custody, the Baltimore Sun reports. According to officer William Porter, Gray asked for help while cuffed in the back of a police van on April 12. "Help me," Gray reportedly said. "Help me up." Porter asked whether Gray needed "a medic or something," and Gray indicated yes, so Porter says he told the van's driver, officer Caesar Goodson, Jr., and Sgt. Alicia White, though he wasn't sure whether Gray was faking to avoid jail time. White checked on Gray herself, Porter says, and ordered the other officers to get the man some medical help.

But they stopped to drop off another detainee at the station, where Gray was found unresponsive and taken to a hospital; there, doctors found him in cardiac arrest, perhaps with a nearly severed spine. Police provided the Sun with statements by Porter and the other officers, which sometimes contradict each other, triggering an angry response from an attorney speaking for all of the accused officers: The statements are "being disclosed at a time and in a manner which is both unfair and unconstitutional," he says. "We look forward to the opportunity for a complete and thorough review of all of the evidence and information that will be presented at trial." All of the officers have pleaded not guilty to charges including second-degree murder and manslaughter. The first of their separate trials is scheduled to start Oct. 13, the AP reports. (More arrest stories.)

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