A man who died with a broken neck following his arrest in Baltimore “suffered a medical emergency” inside a police van after being detained without a notable struggle, according to court documents.
Freddie Gray was “arrested without force or incident” after a knife was found in one of his pockets and only required hospitalisation due to something that happened while he was being transported in a wagon to a nearby police station, according to an account by officer G Miller.
Gray, 25, died on Sunday, a week after being chased and arrested by four officers. His family said he lapsed into a coma after suffering three broken vertebrae and an injured voice box. A criminal inquiry into his death has been opened by Baltimore authorities.
Cellphone video of Gray’s arrest showed him being dragged into the police van by officers. While he was shouting in apparent pain and moving his head, at least one of his legs appeared limp. The video did not show his initial treatment by police.
Billy Murphy Jr, an attorney for Gray’s family, said the charge for possessing a hidden knife did not explain why Gray was chased and searched in the first place. The charge was first reported earlier on Monday by the Guardian.
“How did they have x-ray vision or any knowledge of that?” Murphy said. “If you arrest a man illegally the evidence you find afterwards is not admissible. There’s always the temptation – because you’re dealing with human beings – that they’re going to cover this up in a way that makes them look faultless.”
Murphy said it remained unclear how and when Gray’s injuries were inflicted.
“If in fact the injury did not happen during the arrest, when did it happen?,” said Murphy. “We know it was serious. Something really devastating happened to him.”
Murphy said Gray would have been paralysed from the neck down if he had survived.
Miller’s narrative of the incident said Gray “fled unprovoked upon noticing police presence” and was apprehended “after a brief foot chase”.
“This officer noticed a knife clipped to the inside of his front right pants pocket,” Miller wrote. “The defendant was arrested without force or incident. The knife was recovered by this officer and found to be a “spring assisted, one hand operated knife.”
“During transport to western district via wagon transport the defendant suffered a medical emergency and was immediately transported to shock trauma via medic.”
Gray’s family allege that he died as a result of a beating by police.
A timeline of the arrest released by the police last week showed a half-hour gap between police departing a spot near the scene of the arrest with Gray in a prisoner van at 8.54am on 12 April, and paramedics being called to the western district police headquarters just three blocks away at 9.24am.
Murphy said Gray’s arrest ought to have been captured by two overhead city surveillance cameras.
“I want to see that tape,” he said. “Because a picture is worth a thousand words, and a video is worth 10,000 words.”
Relatives of Gray told the Guardian on Sunday they wanted the US Department of Justice and FBI to take control of the investigation into how he was injured.
