The recent arrest and subsequent death of Freddie Gray has raised several questions, all pointing at the way the Baltimore Police handled the case of Freddie Gray (27) who was apprehended on a weapon charge last Sunday, 12 April, and died in Police custody a week later after being in a coma.

Gray gave himself up without resistance to the six arresting police officers who then put him into a police van. One officer had a Taser ready, but did not need to use it. Remote camera footage reveals that Gray was in perfect health at before he was put into the police van. He emerged minutes later with excessive trauma and 80% injuries to his spine, which is believed to be the cause of his coma and eventual death. What remains a mystery is as to what actually happened inside the van.

Grey was stopped when police officers found that he was carrying a knife, which according to Gray’s family attorney was a “pocket knife of legal size”. Although it is illegal to wear or carry any kind of concealed dangerous weapon in Maryland, according to Baltimore’s mayor Stephanie Rawlings, to just possess a knife is not a crime.

Baltimore Deputy Police Commissioner Jerry Rodriguez’s commented to reporters, “I’ll tell you what I do know, and right now there’s still a lot of questions I don’t know. I know that when Mr. Gray was placed inside that van, he was able to talk. He was upset. And when Mr. Gray was taken out of that van, he could not talk, and he could not breathe.”

Even as Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake expressed his frustration over the incident, dozens of protesters have come together to protest Gray’s untimely death. The six police officers who made the arrest have been suspended pending investigation.