The US Department of Justice has opened a civil rights inquiry into the death of a man whose neck was broken when he was arrested in Baltimore, Maryland.



Federal investigators will look into the death of Freddie Gray, who died on Sunday, a week after being arrested and lapsing into a coma. An attorney for his family said his spine was “80% severed” at the neck and his voice box was crushed.

“The Department of Justice has been monitoring the developments in Baltimore, MD, regarding the death of Freddie Gray,” a spokesperson said in an email.

Freddie Gray. Photograph: Murphy, Falcon & Murphy

“Based on preliminary information, the Department of Justice has officially opened this matter and is gathering information to determine whether any prosecutable civil rights violation occurred.”

The announcement followed members of Gray’s family telling the Guardian that Baltimore authorities could not be trusted to investigate the death of a prisoner in the custody of their own police officers, and that a federal inquiry should be opened.

Six Baltimore police officers have been suspended over Gray’s death. The 25-year-old black man was arrested on 12 April after making eye contact with a senior officer and running away unprovoked, according to police chiefs, who say a switchblade knife was subsequently found in his pocket. He was charged with illegally carrying the knife.

The officers were named on Tuesday by a department spokesman as lieutenant Brian Rice, 41, sergeant Alicia White, 30, and police officers William Porter, 25, Garrett Miller, 26, Edward Nero, 29, and Caesar Goodson, 45.

Cellphone video of the arrest released last week showed Gray being dragged into a police van by officers. While he was shouting in apparent pain and moving his head, at least one of his legs appeared limp. The video did not show his initial treatment by police.

However, Miller stated in a report filed to court that Gray was arrested “without force or incident” and had suffered a “medical emergency” during his transportation in the police vehicle. Senior officials echoed this claim and said all the officers deny using force.

“It’s clear that what happened happened inside the van,” Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake told a press conference on Monday. “When Mr Gray was put in that van, he could talk, he was upset. And when he was taken out of that van, he could not talk and he could not breathe,” said deputy police commissioner Jerry Rodriguez.

On Tuesday, the mayor said she “welcomed” the federal inquiry.

“Whenever a police force conducts an internal investigation, there are always appropriate questions of transparency and impartiality,” she said in a statement. “This outside review will assist us in getting to the bottom of what happened to Mr Gray in the most objective and transparent way possible.”

‘They’re going to beat me’

At the Gilmor public housing projects in West Baltimore, 53-year-old James Brown told the Guardian he witnessed Gray’s arrest last Sunday as he returned to his unit after buying cigarettes.

“I heard him howling, I heard him screaming ‘my leg, my leg’,” said Brown, a self-employed roofer. “I saw them dragging him towards the van. They shoved him in head-first.”

Another Gilmor projects resident, who identified herself only as 60-year-old Rosa, said she saw the incident take place from her window, which overlooks the 1700 Presbury Street address where Gray was arrested.

She said she screamed at officers to release Gray after noticing his leg was limp.

“He was just a young boy, nothing good or bad about him,” Rosa said, adding that she had often seen Gray in the neighbourhood.

The Guardian had been at the site of Gray’s arrest for less than five minutes before a swarm of police cars arrived. A young suspect ran past shouting “They’re going to beat me” before he was arrested and placed in the back of a patrol car. A Baltimore police officer said he was “unable to divulge details” on the arrest.

As the patrol car drove off, a passer-by in another vehicle yelled, “Fuck the police, we deal with this shit every day.”

Another Gilmor projects resident, who identified himself as John Wick, 20, said he was a friend of Gray’s and described him as a “nice, funny guy”.

With reference to the arrest that had just taken place, Wick said: “That guy probably getting his ass whipped. You think I want to be in the back of someone’s paddy wagon? I hope he comes back.”

A high bar for federal charges

Evidence that officers intentionally victimised Gray because of his race is likely to be needed for civil rights officials at the Justice Department to bring any prosecution.

They may use a 19th century federal law – known technically as Section 242 of Title 18 – that makes it a crime for anyone acting with government authority to “wilfully deprive a person of a right or privilege protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States.”

That high bar was also in place for civil rights investigations into the 2012 killing in Florida of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager, by George Zimmerman, and the fatal police shooting last year of Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old in Ferguson, Missouri.

It emerged on Monday that officers had delayed providing Gray with medical attention despite his requests.

He asked officers for an asthma inhaler two minutes after he was apprehended, before he was placed inside the police van, according to senior city officials. Yet the van made two stops before medics were radioed for. During the second stop, another prisoner from a separate incident was placed inside the van in a compartment walled off from Gray.

A criminal inquiry has been opened into Gray’s death by city authorities. Officials said on Monday the investigation would be completed by Friday 1 May and then handed to state prosecutors, who would decide whether or not to bring state criminal charges.