Cell Phone Video Captures Police Incident Now Under Investigation
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A man is in critical condition following a videotaped encounter with city police. But questions still remain about what happened in the moments after the arrest that put him in the hospital.
Christie Ileto spoke with witnesses about the incident.
Witnesses describe the arrest as brutal. His family tells WJZ Freddie Gray now has spinal injuries. But police say when they saw the video, there was no use of excessive force.
Witnesses capture the final moments of an arrest that sends a man to Shock Trauma.
"At no time, and I've seen the video a number of times, did I see a use of force at that moment," said Deputy Commissioner Jerry Rodriguez, Baltimore City Police Department.
Click here for the latest on the investigation into Freddie Gray's death.
Baltimore police won't reveal the reason why bike cops stopped the fleeing individual family members have identified as 26-year-old Freddie Gray, but Gray's stepfather spoke to WJZ by phone, saying he's barely alive.
"His face is swollen. He just looks really horrible. Like I said, he's in an induced coma. We're all praying," he said.
"I seen police, him handcuffed, him tased while he was handcuffed," said Gray's godbrother.
Police say right now there is no evidence Gray was tased. His godbrother just left the ICU and didn't want his face on camera.
"I seen the police officer bending his leg to the point where it looked like he broke it," he said.
Police say the video doesn't show officers using excessive force, but they do suspect the suspect was brought to Maryland Shock Trauma with injuries. So, what happened from the time Gray was arrested to the point when he was brought to the hospital?
"He was completely healthy, fine being carted off aside from his leg," his godbrother said. "It's nowhere near how he's sitting in the ICU right now."
A gap in time police are working to close, uncovering what happened in the moments that weren't recorded and how Gray ended up critically injured.
Police say the officers that were involved are on administrative assignment.
Anyone else who witnessed the arrest or has video is being asked to contact police.
