10 Years Before Freddie Gray, Baltimore Police ‘Accidentally’ Snapped a Perp’s Spine
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/04/23/baltimore-has-a-history-of-accidentally-killing-its-perps.html
In the earlier spinal injury death, 42-year-old Dondi Johnson was arrested for public urination and loaded into a police van similar to the one that would later be used to transport Gray.
“Mr. Johnson got into the back of the van without assistance,” court papers say. “He obeyed the officers’ commands and did not threaten any of the officers or act violently.”
Johnson gave no sign that he was in physical distress when he was locked in the van with his hands cuffed behind his back. Police Officer Nicole Leake would later testify that she failed to put him in a seatbelt as required by Department General Order K-14 because the nature of the charge against him suggested he had a full bladder.
Leake would deny that she gave him what is known in Baltimore as a “rough ride,” where the van is driven in such a fashion as to jounce and jangle the prisoners. She did estimate that she reached a nearby police station in less than half the time it would have taken at the speed limit.
I'm surprised the mayor didn't intervene. Hint: It was Martin O'Malley.
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