Amid the public outcry over the death of Freddie Gray in police custody, the US Department of Justice is opening an investigation into the incident.
“The Department of Justice has been monitoring the developments in Baltimore, MD, regarding the death of Freddie Gray,” spokeswoman Dena Iverson said in a statement. “Based on preliminary information, the Department of Justice has officially opened this matter and is gathering information to determine whether any prosecutable civil rights violation occurred.”
The announcement came minutes after several members of Maryland’s congressional delegation asked the Justice Department to open a criminal and civil rights investigation into the death.
Their request Tuesday comes amid growing public protests in Baltimore over Gray’s death, apparently from injuries he suffered while in police custody.
His death Sunday, and the local demonstrations, have brought international attention to Baltimore at a time of increasing outrage about how police in the United States treat African-American men.
“Freddie Gray’s family and the residents of the city of Baltimore deserve to know what happened to him while he was in police custody. We need answers,” Sens. Barbara A. Mikulski and Ben Cardin and Reps. Elijah Cummings, C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger and John Sarbanes wrote in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder.
“While we support the efforts of the ongoing review into the policies and procedures of the Baltimore Police Department by the Community Oriented Policing Services Office, we request that the Department of Justice open a federal criminal and civil rights investigation into the death of Baltimore resident Freddie Gray.”
Gray, 25, suffered a broken vertebra after he was arrested April 12 near Gilmor Homes in the Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood of Baltimore.
Police said Monday that Gray was injured while he was being transported by van to a district station. They said the injuries were not consistent with the use of force.
“While the vast majority of police officers act within the law to serve and protect their communities, incidents like this degrade the trust necessary to maintain the relationship between law enforcement and communities,” the lawmakers wrote. “We urge the Department of Justice to swiftly conduct all necessary investigations. We need the facts to restore the public confidence in the Baltimore Police Department.”
File photo: Edward Brown speaks at a protest outside City Hall about Freddie Gray in Baltimore, Monday, April 20, 2015 Source: AAP
A civil rights investigation
As details of Gray’s death emerged, community leaders and lawmakers called on the Department of Justice this week to open a civil rights investigation in addition to the ongoing review the department is conducting of the police department.
Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts asked the Justice Department in October to conduct a “collaborative review” of the city police department. The request came after The Baltimore Sun reported that the city had paid $5.7 million in court judgments and settlements in 102 civil suits alleging police brutality since 2011.
Nearly all of the victims in the incidents that sparked the lawsuits were cleared of criminal charges. The Sun found that some city officers were involved in multiple lawsuits, and there were significant gaps in the systems used to monitor police misconduct.
The collaborative review is being conducted by Hillard Heintze, a Chicago-based consulting firm that is examining the Police Department’s use-of-force reports and investigations, training procedures and policies.
At a recent public hearing, hundreds of city residents, most of them black, complained to the consultants about harassment, beatings and other mistreatment by city police.
Several officials have called for closer Justice Department involvement.
“I think there should be a civil rights investigation” of the police, state Sen. Joan Carter Conway said Monday. “There’s just too many deaths and too many violent incidents during arrests. Something is wrong. The police officers need more than sensitivity training.”
Mark Washington, executive director of the Coldstream-Homestead-Montebello Community Corp., said Gray’s death should give the Justice Department enough evidence to broaden its probe.
“I think a full-fledged (investigation) would be in order already,” Washington said. “I’m certain that the facts will lead them in that direction.”
City Council President Bernard C. Jack Young said he continues to support a broad civil rights probe into the department — a step he requested in October, before the mayor and Batts called for the collaborative review.
Young and others have said that a civil rights probe would yield stronger results than the collaborative review because its recommendations would be binding. Although Gray’s death is still being investigated, Young said, the circumstances of his injuries fit a pattern of police conduct that warrants such a probe.
He said the Baltimore police should not be the agency investigating those questions.
“It would be both fair to the police and to the family of the deceased that an outside, independent agency conduct the investigation,” Young said. On Tuesday, Young asked Gov. Larry Hogan to direct the Maryland Attorney General to conduct an independent investigation into Gray’s death.
The Rev. Cortly “C.D.” Witherspoon, president of the Baltimore chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, said he was drafting a letter to call for a civil rights investigation.
Rev. Cortly "C.D." Witherspoon, front left, speaks at a protest outside City Hall about Freddie Gray in Baltimore, April 20, 2015. (Amy Davis/The Baltimore Sun via AP)
Delegate Curt Anderson, chairman of Baltimore’s House delegation, said there are too many questions about what happened to Gray to call for any specific additional action now.
But he added he would question an investigation by the Baltimore state’s attorney’s office because its investigators are city police officers. He said the Maryland attorney general’s office could investigate Gray’s death.
“No part of the process has been completed,” Anderson said. “But a man is dead who was not dead an hour prior to being encountered by the police.”
Baltimore police said Gray was stopped because he “fled unprovoked upon noticing police presence.”
Witherspoon said Gray might have run because the relationship between police and African-American men in Baltimore is troubled.
“I think that African-American men are nervous and scared with encounters with police because too frequently they end up being deadly encounters,” he said. “He could have been fearful. Whether or not he did the right thing is up to debate.
“Walking while black is not a crime.”
State Sen. Lisa Gladden said civil rights investigations trigger the sort of systemic changes that are badly needed in Baltimore. She said community meetings that allow residents to vent during the collaborative review process are not enough.
“We need something more than this,” Gladden said. “We need real change in the city of Baltimore and the way in which police officers engage with the community.”
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