But, the Baltimore Mayor's Office and City Website (LINK at top level) will cooperate with the Department of Justice investigation of Freddie Gray's death. As Zela would say, whoo-pee. It has been weeks since an unarmed, uncharged young black man was killed in police custody. They won't say why or how or what's next, but they publicize that they will let the Department of Justice review it. Gee thanks.
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Freddie Gray's actual death, by the way, is not noted anywhere on the web site as to what Baltimore (the City or the Police or, you know, anyone) is doing to find out what happened.
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The Baltimore Police Website doesn't have any news on their website from earlier than 2014. There is a link to the committee report on the death of a suspect. It was released in March of 2014 for a death that occurred in September of 2012. I will type the exact words of the summary here, because it is appalling.
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The Incident: On September 21, 2012 Mr. Anthony Anderson was approached by three (3) Detectives from the Baltimore Police Department's Violent Crime Impact Section (VCIS) (which was dismantled and re-tooled into the Special Enforcement Section) after Detective #1 believed he observed Mr. Anderson engage in a hand-to-hand drug transactions. Detective #1 approached Mr. Anderson from behind, announced himself as being the Police and observed Mr. Anderson quicken pace and place drugs in his mouth as Detective #1 got closer. Detective #1 believing Mr. Anderson was destroying evidence and recognizing that Mr. Anderson was not obeying his commands, grabbed Mr. Anderson in a "bear hug" in an attempt to prevent Mr. Anderson from destroying more evidence or possibly reaching for a weapon. Upon being grabbed, Mr. Anderson tensed up and Detective #1, using a Police defensive technique called an Apex takedown, lifted Mr. Anderson up off balance which resulted in them both falling onto the ground. Mr. Anderson was initially alert and talking but began to appear weakened and several minutes after the arrest lost consciousness. Detective #2 tapped/kicked mr. Anderson with his foot to see if he was conscious. Mr. Anderson suffered fractured ribs, a punctured spleen; injuries from which subsequently succumbed to and died.
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To which one can only say, What The Hell?
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By the way, the Police first reported that the suspect died after choking on drugs (he did not). The committee asked Police Chief Mitchell if it would have been beneficial to release the information that the recovered CDS (Scott: Controlled Dangerous Substance) have Mr. Anderson's DNA on it. "Chief Mitchell opined that from his experiences, the public will perceive the information however they choose, regardless of what the Department says."
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The State's Medical Examiner's Report was that the death was a homicide and the cause of death was blunt force injury to the torso.
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So maybe in 18 months we can see how the Department explains what happened to Freddie Gray. And, from the Police Chief's own on-record report, they don't feel the need to say anything.