Social Justice

Civil rights group probes the death of Freddie Gray

Demonstrations continue in the city of Baltimore as family and concerned citizens demand answers into the death of Freddie Gray while in police custody

Published

10 years ago

April 24, 2015

Unheard Voices Staff

Freddie Gray

A civil rights group has stepped into the chaotic situation of the death of Freddie Gray while in Baltimore police custody.

Demonstrations and protests continue in the city of Baltimore as family and concerned citizens demand answers into the death of Freddie Gray while in police custody.

Civil Rights Group Gets Involved

The U.S. Southern Christian Leadership Conference will independently investigate the death Gray, with the local head of the civil rights group saying it lacked confidence in a police probe into the death, reports Reuters.

Freddie Gray was arrested April 12 and died a week later.

A preliminary autopsy showed he died of a spinal cord injury. His death has sparked outrage and days of protests in this largely black city of about 620,000 people.

Protest at the Baltimore Police Department Western District building at N. Mount St. and Riggs Ave. Photo by Veggies on Wikimedia

Cortly Witherspoon, head of the Baltimore chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, told Reuters the SCLC had hired Cherry Hill, New Jersey, investigator Terence Jones to look into Gray’s death.

“We’re here to fight for justice for Freddie Gray,” Witherspoon said on the street corner where Gray was arrested.

He said Baltimore residents had no faith the system and that no invegistations asked local residents about Gray’s death.

Police said Gray fled when officers approached him in a high-crime area, and they found a switchblade knife in his pocket. He was put in a police van to be taken to a station.

When Gray was taken out he was unresponsive and transported to a hospital. Six officers have been suspended with pay.