The mystery into the death of Freddie Gray grew more complex Thursday as several new reports put the focus on what might have happened during a roughly 40-minute ride in the back of a police transport van.
Among the revelations:
• Investigators found that Gray was mortally injured in the van and not during his arrest, a Washington television station reported, citing multiple law enforcement sources.
• Police told reporters they have learned of an additional stop the van made as it was traveling to a police precinct.
• An officer involved in the arrest believes Gray was injured before being put into the vehicle, according to a relative who gave the officer’s account to CNN.
• A second prisoner, who was picked up after Gray, told investigators that he thought Gray “was intentionally trying to injure himself, according to The Washington Post.
What happened to Gray, the 25-year-old Baltimore man who suffered a severe spine injury and died one week after his arrest, has led to angry debate and protests nationwide. For the first time Thursday, Baltimore police walked with marchers and stopped traffic for them at intersections.
When the 10 p.m. curfew went into effect for the third night, there were still many protesters on the streets. Activists and local leaders were telling people to go home.
A body was found a block away from a CVS pharmacy that had been looted and set on fire during Monday’s rioting. CNN’s Ryan Young saw authorities tending to it.
It was discovered in a parked semi truck. Investigators did not say if the body was that of a man or a woman or if there was any connection to the riots.
But a dispatcher from an Illinois-based trucking company that commissions the truck said Baltimore police called to ask about one of its drivers hailing from Baltimore. His family had reported him missing for two to three days during a trip home, said dispatcher Brad Rhodes from Henderson Trucking Company.
The driver was supposed to return to work Wednesday, but did not show up. Rhodes did not confirm if the driver of that vehicle was the missing man and did not know the missing driver’s fate.
On Thursday, a Baltimore police investigation into Gray’s death found no evidence he died as the result of injuries caused during his arrest, according to CNN affiliate WJLA, citing “multiple law enforcement sources briefed on the police findings.”
The sources quoted by the Washington-based station said the medical examiner had determined Gray’s death was caused by a catastrophic injury after he slammed into the back of the police transport van while inside it, “apparently breaking his neck; a head injury he sustained matches a bolt in the back of the van.”
The station said it was unclear what caused Gray to slam into the back of the van and whether Gray caused the injury.
An official in the state’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner wouldn’t comment to CNN on the report, citing an ongoing investigation. The official said the autopsy report on Gray could be delivered to the State’s Attorney Office “as soon as tomorrow or early next week.”
Staff members were still doing examinations Thursday, the official said. The completion and delivery of the final report will depend on how quickly that evaluation is completed and compiled. While it could be sent Friday, there is still the possibility it won’t be ready until early next week, the official said.
How Gray was injured and whether police are liable for his death are questions now in the hands of the state’s attorney for Baltimore City.
Another probe revealed
Police led a news conference by announcing they handed their investigative files over to prosecutors a day earlier than planned.
The state’s attorney for Baltimore City confirmed she had received the report and said that while police have regularly briefed her office on their findings, her team has been conducting its own independent investigation.
“While we have and will continue to leverage the information received by the department, we are not relying solely on their findings but rather the facts that we have gathered and verified,” prosecutor Marilyn Mosby said. “We ask for the public to remain patient and peaceful and to trust the process of the justice system.”
Mosby will ultimately decide whether to file charges against any of the officers.
Investigators delivered their report early because “I understand the frustration. I understand the urgency,” police Commissioner Anthony Batts said.
“This does not mean that the investigation is over. If new evidence is found, we will follow it,” he added. “Getting to the right answer is more important than speed.”
The announcement of the additional stop by the police van was treated almost as a footnote in the police news conference.
“This new stop was discovered from a privately owned camera,” Deputy Commissioner Kevin Davis said without elaborating.
Many observers, though, say that revelation and other reports makes the Gray case even more suspicious — and there has been no shortage of protesters taking to the city’s streets to express their doubts about police accounts of what happened between Gray’s April 12 arrest and his death.
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