Civil rights group probes the death of Freddie Gray

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

Demonstrations and protests continue in the city of Baltimore. Meanwhile, family and concerned citizens demand answers into Gray’s death.

Civil Rights Group Gets Involved

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

Gray was arrested April 12 and put into a paddy wagon reportedly without a seat belt. He died a week later from injuries sustained from the incident.

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.

Freddie Gray Protest at the Baltimore Police Department Western District building at N. Mount St. and Riggs Ave.(Photo by Veggies on Wikimedia https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FreddieGrayPrecinctProtest.jpg)

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. Furthermore, that no investigators 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.