Thousands Expected At Baltimore Rally Saturday After Death In Police Custody

Thousands of people from Baltimore and beyond are expected to rally in the city Saturday as public demand builds for answers to the broken spine and subsequent death of a black man in police custody.

City officials anticipate the crowd of protesters will be significantly larger than the groups demonstrating daily over the past week.

Tension in the city has been palpable since Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old Baltimore man, was taken into police custody April 12 and died a week later.

Police said a spinal cord injury was preliminarily ruled the cause of death, and the circumstances surrounding Gray’s death are currently under investigation by Baltimore Police and the U.S. Department of Justice.

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Officials Probe Arrest, Death

Police said that Gray was taken into custody after he made eye contact with officers April 12 in an area known for drug activity, then ran. He was caught two blocks away, where police said they found a switchblade in his pocket.

Despite repeated requests for medical attention after he was taken into custody, the van he was in made multiple stops, including one to put him in leg irons and another to pick up a second detainee.

By the time an ambulance was called, nearly an hour after his arrest, Gray could neither talk nor breathe, police said.

Six officers were suspended after he died April 19.

Mayor: Death of Gray ‘Unacceptable’

Approximately 80 percent of Gray’s spine was severed and he “clung to life” in a coma for one week at the hospital, where died, was resuscitated and went through surgery before passing away April 19, according to his family’s lawyer.

“This is unacceptable,” Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said during a press conference Friday, April 24. “A mother has to bury her child, and she doesn’t even know exactly how or why this tragedy occurred, only that this occurred while her child was in our custody, in police custody, and this is unacceptable.”

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Police Commissioner Anthony Batts said Friday that the police investigation was providing insight into what happened but there were still areas that were unclear.

“We know he was not buckled in” to the police van, and there are “no excuses for that, period,” Batts said.

In addition, he said that “our police employees failed to give him medical attention in a timely manner multiple times.”

The investigation is ongoing and preliminary findings will be submitted to the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office on May 1. “We will continue to find more information as we go,” Batts said.

In the meantime, citizens are demonstrating, chanting, among other slogans: “All night, all day we will fight for Freddie Gray” to keep the spotlight on the issue.

Protest Location, Times

Starting at 3 p.m. on Saturday, participants will gather at the site where Gray was arrested nearly two weeks ago in west Baltimore.

At 4 p.m., demonstrators will march to to City Hall downtown (see map for locations), where they plan to gather for a national rally at 5 p.m.

The Black Lawyers for Justice, an organization which has participated in demonstrations against police brutality in North Charleston, S.C., and Ferguson, Mo., is helping to organize the event.

There will be support vehicles for those who cannot walk the whole distance, according to the Baltimore People’s Power Assembly, another one of the organizers, which reports that there will be “no business as usual” in Baltimore City on Saturday.

“We expect traffic delays throughout the city,” Baltimore Police said during a press conference Friday.

Police will be out in force with additional resources, some that will be seen and others that will not, officials said.

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Baltimore Police said officers would protect the constitutional rights of demonstrators and emphasized “the need for peaceful demonstrations.”

Screenshot of Freddie Gray demonstration from Reuters/YouTube.

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