Police lieutenant Brian Rice, who has been charged with manslaughter, shown on video taken by witness to crucial first stop made by the police van carrying Gray

The Baltimore police lieutenant charged with manslaughter over the death of Freddie Gray threatened to use his Taser on an eyewitness who filmed part of the crucial first stop made by a police van carrying the 25-year-old after he was arrested, according an investigation by the Baltimore Sun.



Footage filmed by a witness to the stop on the corner of Mount and Baker Street, where Gray was placed in leg shackles after “acting irate” in the back of a police van, shows Gray lying halfway out of the van. In the short clip, first reported by CNN and uploaded to YouTube in April, Gray does not appear to be moving.

This first stop occurred four minutes after Gray was initially placed inside the van. Officers completed paperwork over Gray’s arrest, placed him in leg shackles, and according to charges laid against all six officers involved in the incident, placed Gray “on his stomach, headfirst on to the floor” back into the van without a seatbelt.

The van went on to make three further stops with no medical assistance being rendered to Gray at any point, despite his distress and requests for assistance.

Gray suffered a severe spinal injury in custody and died a week later. Some have speculated that Gray was subjected to a “rough ride”, whereby a vehicle is deliberately driven erratically.

On Wednesday the Baltimore Sun interviewed the male eyewitness who filmed the video of the first stop, who did not want to be named, along with another eyewitness, 58-year-old Michelle Gross, and quoted from further extracts of the video that have not been broadcast.

According to this account of the first stop, Gross at some point shouted to Gray asking him if he was OK, but received no response. The anonymous eyewitness then called out to one of the officers, William Porter, to ask for a police supervisor to assist with the unfolding incident.

The anonymous witness said Porter gestured towards Lieutenant Brian Rice, the senior officer involved in the arrest, who then moved towards him with other officers.

The officers did not tell the man to stop filming, but Rice allegedly took out his Taser and threatened to use it if the witnesses did not disperse.

On 25 April, the Baltimore city police publicly released 16 surveillance camera videos related to the Gray incident, but the department’s YouTube channel now only features 15.

According to the Baltimore Sun, the video removed was from surveillance camera 2108, which captured parts of the van’s first stop.

Baltimore city police did not respond to a request for comment on why the footage had been removed and on the allegations Rice had threatened to use his Taser against an eyewitness.

Gray was arrested after making eye contact with Rice, who chased the 25-year-old and later apprehended him along with other officers. The arrest was described as unlawful by the state’s attorney, Marilyn Mosby.

The Guardian has documented a series of erratic and violent episodes involving Rice, where it is alleged he engaged in a “pattern of intimidation and violence” against a former romantic partner and her new husband between 2012 and 2013. Rice is also alleged to have threatened to kill another previous girlfriend in 2008.

A number of policing experts have since questioned whether Rice was fit for service.