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difficult to understand why officers arrested Gray in the first place. But with protesters taking to the streets of Baltimore since Gray's death on Sunday, the incident falls into a line of highly publicized, fatal encounters between black men and the police. Meanwhile, on Tuesday, a reserve sheriff's deputy in Tulsa, Oklahoma, pleaded not guilty to a second-degree manslaughter charge in the death of a man he shot. The deputy says the shooting happened while he was trying to tase the man. Black men dying at the hands of the police is of course nothing new, but the nation is now paying attention and getting outraged.

Authorities can't say if there was a particularly good reason why police arrested Gray. According to the city, an officer made eye contact with Gray, and he took off running, so they pursued him. Though he'd had scrapes with the law before, there's no indication he was wanted at the time. And though he was found with a switchblade, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said, “We know that having a knife is not necessarily a crime.”

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his leg seems injured as officers drag him to a police van. (Someone off camera shouts, "His leg broke and y'all dragging him like that!") Gray also had asthma and requested his inhaler, but didn't get it. Yet it's not the leg or the asthma that killed him. Instead, it was a grave injury to his spinal cord. Gray's family said he was treated for three fractured vertebrae and a crushed voice box, the sorts of injuries that doctors say are usually caused by serious car accidents. The van made at least two stops before reaching the police station, but there's no footage to say what happened during the journey or at those stops.

It's a baffling conundrum. "None of the officers describe any use of force," Deputy Police Commissioner Jerry Rodriguez said. "None of the officers describe using any force against Mr. Gray." And yet somehow Gray was fatally hurt while in police custody.

Sousen Ichimonji

Apr 29 2015, 02:25 PM

I'm going to say it and hey, it's just an opinion. Loads of unvalidated opinions being thrown out here so I'll join in.

Anyone who would sooner assume that the media are more to blame than the police and the justice system is a scumbag and probably a racist, unconsciously or otherwise.

Mitas

Apr 29 2015, 07:03 PM

I do agree that the biggest factor is definitely the attitudes of the police and the justice system, but it is definitely not the sole issue here, and bringing up other contributing factors does not mean you are a scumbag or a racist.

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Gray had a criminal record, mainly for drug-related offenses, but also including destruction of property and second-degree assault. Gray has been involved in 20 criminal court cases—five of which were still active as of his death

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Freddie Gray was a scumbag look at his f***ing record.

Sousen Ichimonji

Apr 29 2015, 08:01 PM

What I will suggest is that you consider that maybe the media are picking up more and more on a situation that needs to change. The angle that you present is that of dismissal: victim blaming and ally shaming. Maybe a lot of reporters do just want a story that sells. But that doesn't mean it's not a story worth telling. I've yet to see any real evidence of that idea going through your head, and that's properly worrying to me.

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Steve Baltimore does NOT believe in constant police brutality. So I'll appreciate if you didn't use the excuse for this issue since we're actually a PRO police state. The riot had nothing to do with the police or Freddie Gray.

Mitas

Apr 29 2015, 08:18 PM

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Freddie Gray was a scumbag look at his f***ing record.

And this means he deserved to die?

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But Baltimore does have the internet doesn't it? Doesn't matter how pro police your state is, not everyone is going to get their information from positive sources.

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However we don't know the whole story yet do we?