Frustration over death probe of Freddie Gray at Baltimore

Authorities in Baltimore yesterday refused to provide more than a few sketchy details about the investigation into the death of Freddie Gray, a black man who suffered a fatal injury while in police custody.
The decision may be legally appropriate, but many people in the city were finding it hard to be patient when police revealed next to nothing about the criminal investigation they turned over to the state attorney's office.
Nearly two weeks after Gray's death, the public still doesn't know much more than it did on Day One.

Nearly two weeks after Gray's death, the public still doesn't know much more than it did on Day One. Photo / Supplied
The central question - what caused his fatal spinal cord injury - remains a mystery. The death, which provoked riots earlier in the week, is the latest case of an African-American man to die at the hands of police, which has triggered an intense debate about how United States law enforcement treats minorities.

Baltimore police have been less forthcoming than police in Ferguson, Missouri, after white officer Darren Wilson fatally shot a black man, 18-year-old Michael Brown, last year in an incident officially deemed self-defence. For example, Baltimore police haven't publicly revealed the suspended officers' races or disciplinary histories.
Meanwhile, protests over Gray's death are spreading. Crowds gathered yesterday in Philadelphia and Baltimore, where a curfew went into effect for the third night without any major problems. Other protests led to arrests in New York and elsewhere.
Police Commissioner Anthony Batts refused to answer any questions yesterday. Batts said his department's report was delivered a day ahead of time to State Attorney Marilyn Mosby, and that from now on, any questions should go to her.
Mosby issued a statement asking "for the public to remain patient and peaceful and to trust the process of the justice system".
Beyond the slim chronology, authorities have refused to discuss evidence, such as the details of his handling to statements from any of the six suspended officers. Their names are known only because news organisations filed public records requests for the documents police filed seeking to have Gray charged with carrying a switchblade.
With rumours flying about how Gray's spine was "80 per cent severed", as his family's lawyer Billy Murphy put it, police did release a new piece of information yesterday, but it served mostly to raise more questions about how truthful the six suspended officers have been with investigators.
Deputy Commissioner Kevin Davis said investigators discovered a security camera recording showing that the police van carrying Gray had made a previously undisclosed, second stop, after the 25-year-old black man was put in leg irons and before the van driver made a third stop and called for help to check on his condition.
The van then made a fourth stop, to pick up another passenger, before Gray arrived at the police station with the fatal spinal-cord injury that left him unresponsive.
The Associated Press talked later yesterday to grocery store owner Jung Hyun Hwang, who said officers came in last week to make a copy of the camera recording. Speaking in Korean, he said the only other copy had been stolen, with his video equipment, when looters destroyed his store on Tuesday.
Police had said Gray was obviously injured and asking for medical help when he was hoisted into the van on April 12, and unresponsive on arrival at the station. He died in hospital after a week in a coma.