Quote Originally Posted by Irving View Post
Just to be clear on this, does anyone really think that a guy in handcuffs broke his own neck?

I know all matter of things are possible, but it just seems ridiculous to me that a guy dies in police custody, and the knee jerk reaction of people is, "Well, clearly he broke his own neck!" I get that people here will tend to lean in the opposite direction of whatever the perceived stance of the public is, and that emotions are raw because of the rioting; but it is insane to automatically assume that someone broke his own neck. Even if he just wasn't not properly secured in the vehicle and was injured from sliding around the vehicle, there is still police culpability here.
You are responsible for providing reasonable care for anyone in your custody. You can't let the victims of the suspect's crime come beat the tar out of him while he is in your custody. That doesn't mean the Dallas police officer transporting Lee Harvey Oswald should be sued or prosecuted for what Jack Ruby did. You should not drop them on their face while they are cuffed. That doesn't mean you have to wrench your back out while the subject intentionally kicks at you or picks up their legs as you walk them down stairs.

If someone has a medical event and it is unknown to the officers then it would be unreasonable to hold them responsible for damage as a result of the medical event. Example: Subject has just ingested a large quantity of drugs before the officers encounter and arrest the subject. Subject has just been placed in custody after a lengthy foot chase and appears to be flush and breathing heavily. Subject asks for an inhaler. Officers should ask dispatch to have EMS respond to evaluate subject before transport. While waiting for EMS, subject goes into cardiac arrest. Officers provide first aid to the level of their training and update dispatch so they can update EMS. If the subject dies before or after EMS arrives due to the cardiac arrest, then the officers should not be held accountable, either civilly or criminally for the death.

The purpose of the investigation and the trial will be to determine what the circumstances were with Gray and what the officers knew at the time. Did the officers break his neck? I don't know. Did Gray break his own neck? It doesn't seem likely but again, I don't know. Did Gray do something to make a previous spinal injury worse? I don't know. Did the wagon driver or arresting officers do something to break Gray's neck or make a previous spinal injury worse? I don't know. These are questions that will need to be answered by the prosecutor and proven to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt.

If anyone here knows the answers to these questions, I am reasonably certain that there are prosecutors and defense attorneys in Baltimore who would very much like to talk to you.