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Posted on May 2, 2015 by JayWill7497

“Oh, what a tangled web we weave…when first we practice to deceive.”
― Walter Scott

 

 

The unfortunate death of Freddie Gray, a Baltimore citizen who past away while in police custody, has been determined a homicide. State’s Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby has accused all 6 officers included in the occurrence and stated Gray’s public arrest was criminal.

 

 

Lies, disinformation, outrageous claims, and propaganda about this case have been growing like wildfire, and quite often it is hard to determine who to believe.

 

 

Here’s a roundup of statements, rebuttals, and facts.

 

 

1) Claim: The police vehicle transporting Freddie Gray stopped 3 times.

 

 

Last week, Deputy Commissioner Kevin Davis stated the vehicle made 3 stops: 1 to place leg irons on Gray, the 2nd “to deal with Mr. Gray” for a mysterious cause, and the 3rd to pick up another prisoner.

 

 

Truth: the vehicle transporting Gray stopped not 3 times, but 4 times: proof of the earlier undisclosed stop “was discovered from a privately owned camera,” Davis stated during a news interview Thursday, and came between the 1st and 2nd stops. Grocery store proprietor Jung Hyun Hwang shared with the Associated Press that law enforcement came in to get a duplicate of the footage his security camera documented.

 

 

What happened in the course of that mystery stop has not been disclosed to the public nonetheless.

 

 

2) Claim: Police stated another prisoner in the vehicle stated Gray was bashing around and appeared to be attempting to injure himself.

 

 

Donta Allen, questioned by two TV channels on Thursday, stated he was the 2nd prisoner authorities stated was within the vehicle with Gray. Based on a police chronology, the 2nd prisoner was put in the vehicle about 20 minutes following the Gray arrest.

 

 

On Thursday, a leaked law enforcement record, claimed by the Washington Post, mentioned that the 2nd prisoner thought Gray “was intentionally trying to injure himself” by “banging against the walls.”

 

 

Rebuttal: Allen dismissed stating this:

 

 

“And they’re trying to make it seem like I told them that, I made it like Freddie Gray did that to himself,” Allen said. “Why the f*** would he do that to himself ?”

 

 

Allen additionally stated:

 

 

“When I was in the back of that van it did not stop or nothing. All it did was go straight to the station, but I heard a little banging, like he was banging his head,” Allen said. ” I didn’t even know he was in the van until we got to the station.”

 

 

Saying his words have been distorted by recent reports and that he doesn’t think Gray hurt himself intentionally, Allen also told a WJZ reporter, “The only reason I’m doing this is because they put my name in a bad state.”

 

 

3) Claim: Freddie Gray cut his own spine while deliberately attempting to injure himself in the course of his trip in the police vehicle.

 

 

This claim is associated to Claim #2. A record authored by a Baltimore police investigator, allegedly based on Allen’s supposed claims about Gray trying to harm himself in the police vehicle (which Allen says is a lie), implies that Gray may have severed his own spine.

 

 

Rebuttal: Jason Downs, the Gray family lawyer, stated, “We disagree with any implication that Freddie Gray severed his own spinal cord. We question the accuracy of the police reports we’ve seen thus far, including the police report that says Mr. Gray was arrested without force or incident.”

 

 

Can a person really separate their own spine and smash their own voice box? Specialists state it is extremely improbable.

 

 

In a post for the Daily News, Dr. David Samadi stated the following:

 

 

From a medical standpoint, it is unlikely that the 25-year-old Baltimore man injured himself in the back of that van. The severity of his injuries seem too grave for him to have done that to himself simply by thrashing around or banging his head on something.

It is more likely that there was some type of direct blow to either the front or back of his neck, or somewhere along the spinal cord along his back.

As seen in a video taken by a witness who saw Gray being put into the back of the van, Gray was being dragged by the cops into the van, and it seems as though he was unable to walk.

The ability to control your limbs after a spinal cord injury depends on where along the spinal cord the injury took place, and how severe the injury is. If Gray was showing signs of loss of function in his legs before being put in the van, how could the injury have taken place in the van?

Now, let’s talk about the crushed larynx. Also known as a laryngotracheal injury, a crushed larynx is pretty rare in adults, except when there is blunt force trauma to the front of the neck, such as strangulation, or blows to the trachea from fists or feet.

This is usually caused by a car accident when the passenger does not have a seatbelt on, in the front seat, or driving, and there are no protective airbags.

In this case, the person in the front seat or driver is thrown forward and the front of the neck either hits the dashboard or steering wheel.

Is it possible that Gray’s larynx was crushed first, causing the spinal cord injury? Maybe that caused the spinal cord injury. In order for this to happen, there would have to have been a direct blow to the front of his neck, which is unlikely to have been a self-imposed injury in the back of the van.

It is unclear which injury happened first, or whether one caused the other, but it seems clear that there was nearly no way he caused the fatal injuries himself.

 

 

Dr. Anand Veeravagu, Chief Neurosurgery Resident at Stanford University Medical Center who is an expert in traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries, explained to The Daily Beast:

 

 

“I have never seen it before. I’ve never seen somebody self-inflict a spinal cord injury in that way. It’s hard for me to understand that, unless those terms [like ‘intentional’ and ‘injure himself’] are being used incorrectly. It’s hard for me to envision how a person could try to do that. It would require them to basically hang themselves in a car where there isn’t anything to hang yourself with.”

 

 

Dr. Veeravagu continued to clarify that there are only a few meansby which a person’s spine can end up seriously injured like Gray’s was: a direct, penetrating injury (via knife or gunshot), fractured bones, that tear ligaments (via considerable force or impact), or by hanging.

 

 

He also stated most people do not perish of spinal cord injuries – if they are provided quick medical care.

 

 

Veeravagu also stated it is feasible Gray’s spinal fracture could have happened prior to him being placed in the vehicle, and that symptoms of his broken vertebrae might have been postponed until he was placed in the vehicle:

 

 

“That is possible: It’s possible to have an injury to your spinal cord that gets worse over time and eventually progresses to complete paralysis,” he says. “Did he have an expanding blood clot in his spine? Did he have an exact fracture to his spine? Both are important to understand.”

 

 

An additional trauma surgeon, who wanted to stay anonymous due to the political characteristics of the case and for the reason that he is “surprised time and again by what I previously believed to be impossible,” believes that it is “highly abnormal [if not impossible] to intentionally make yourself a quadriplegic when shackled in the back of a police vehicle.”

 

 

information shared with ABC7 News that “…the medical examiner found Gray’s catastrophic injury was caused when he slammed into the back of the police transport van, apparently breaking his neck; a head injury he sustained matches a bolt in the back of the van. Details surrounding exactly what caused Gray to slam into the back of the van were unclear. The officer driving the van has yet to give a statement to authorities.”

 

 

4) Claim: Opponent street gangs identified as the Crips and the Bloods developed a truce and plan to hurt law enforcement officers.

 

 

Recently, the Baltimore authorities released the following 7 Comments:

 

 

The Baltimore Police Department/Criminal Intelligence Unit has received credible information that members of various gangs including the Black Guerilla Family, Bloods, and Crips, have entered into a partnership to “take out” law enforcement officers.

This is a credible threat. Law enforcement agencies should take appropriate precautions to ensure the safety of their officers. Notifications will be sent via NLETS. Further information will be sent through appropriate channels.

 

 

Rebuttal: Individuals of the Black Guerrilla Family, the Bloods and the Crips spoke to 11 News and stated they did not make a truce to hurt law enforcement officers:

 

 

 

 

As well as, the following:

 

 

 

 

At this point, this is clearly a situation of “they said” vs. “they said,” but right now, nothing has confirmed that gang members have really gone after law enforcement. Currently, there have not been any shootings or assaults.

 

 

On Thursday, the Baltimore Sun noted the following:

 

 

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake’s spokesman said Thursday that city officials should engage gang members if they are offering “a genuine effort to make peace.”

The mayor would examine information they claim to possess that discredits what police described as a “credible threat” that gangs were unifying to target officers, spokesman Kevin Harris added.

Local ministers and City Council members have praised gang members for helping to quell unrest in neighborhoods hit with protests.

 

 

That record also says that some gang specialists doubted the police department’s claim that the gangs were uniting to injure authorities. It also says that the mayor’s office would look into the police department’s claim, if the police force would in fact talk about that information with them.

 

 

Information express gang associates functioned to direct traffic, talked rioters out of destroying property, and rescued journalists who were trapped in the middle of violent crowds:

 

 

 

 

Any time I am likely to trust gang members over police officers, there are significant issues with the world.

 

 

5) Claim: Freddie Gray had spinal surgery right before he passed away in law enforcement custody, and he got a vehicle crash pay out:

 

 

The Fourth Estate has contacted sources who allege that Freddie Gray received spinal and neck surgery a week before we was arrested, and was allegedly receiving a large structured settlement from Allstate Insurance.  The surgery is allegedly related to a car accident in which Gray was involved.

 

 

Truth: court documents reviewed Wednesday by The Baltimore Sun demonstrate the case had not a thing to do with a vehicle incident or a spine injury:

 

 

Instead, they are connected to a lawsuit alleging that Gray and his sister were injured by exposure to lead paint.

Paperwork was filed in December allowing Gray and his sister, Fredericka to each collect an $18,000 payment from Peachtree Settlement Funding, records show. In exchange, Peachtree would have received a $108,439 annuity that was scheduled to be paid in $602 monthly installments between 2024 and 2039.

 

 

Jason Downs, the Gray family’s lawyer, stated, “We have no information or evidence at this point to indicate that there is a prior pre-existing spinal injury. It’s a rumor.”

 

 

It appears more probable that Gray’s injuries started before he was even crammed into the police vehicle, and were additionally made worse at the time of the “rough ride” to the police station.

 

 

 

 

6) Claim: School-aged children in Baltimore organized a “purge” via social media accounts and were anxious for a battle.

 

 

After Baltimore law enforcement and a group of teens conflicted near the Mondawmin Mall in northwest Baltimore on Monday afternoon, news accounts detailed the violence as a riot induced by youngsters who could not wait to get out of school and start battling.

 

 

Rebuttal: Parents and teachers state the authorities are the ones who induced tense but stable circumstances to erupt into violence.

 

 

When school let out that afternoon, police were in the area equipped with full riot gear. According to eyewitnesses in the Mondawmin neighborhood, the police were stopping buses and forcing riders, including many students who were trying to get home, to disembark. Cops shut down the local subway stop. They also blockaded roads near the Mondawmin Mall and Frederick Douglass High School, which is across the street from the mall, and essentially corralled young people in the area. That is, they did not allow the after-school crowd to disperse.

Meghann Harris, a teacher at a nearby school, described on Facebook what happened:

Police were forcing buses to stop and unload all their passengers. Then, [Frederick Douglass High School] students, in huge herds, were trying to leave on various buses but couldn’t catch any because they were all shut down. No kids were yet around except about 20, who looked like they were waiting for police to do something. The cops, on the other hand, were in full riot gear, marching toward any small social clique of students…It looked as if there were hundreds of cops.

The kids were “standing around in groups of 3-4,” Harris said in a Facebook message toMother Jones. “They weren’t doing anything. No rock throwing, nothing…The cops started marching toward groups of kids who were just milling about.” (source)

 

 

Exactly who was really associated with that social media “purge” plan, anyway? Information states many of the accounts (20 to 50 of them) are associated to those utilized to ignite violence in Ferguson.

 

 

As of yesterday, prosecutor Mosby declared that the 6 police officers included in Gray’s death have been accused criminally:

 

 

 

 

Something stinks in Baltimore, and maybe the air will be cleared quickly.

 

 

The Rabbit Hole Goes Real Deep, Find Out How Deep… HERE