Freddie Gray Jr was a funny guy. He and his twin sister were born seven months premature, spending their first few months of life in a Baltimore hospital. They grew up in a poor neighborhood of peeling lead paint and drug violence. By the time they were 2, they tested positive for toxic lead concentrations seven times the safe level, which contributed to their ADD and difficulties in school. As a boy, he moved in and out of Child Protective Services; as an man, in and out of jail over drug arrests. And yet the funny and friendly 25-year-old never let it get him down. He was the neighborhood comedian, always there to help his friends and family laugh.
Freddie Gray Jr was murdered by police for possession of a switchblade. Fleeing from the sight of two cops on patrol on April 12, 2015, they gave chase and quickly pinned him on the sidewalk. When a police van arrived, cops handcuffed Freddie and loaded him into it, but did not seatbelt him in. Though the police station was only down the street four blocks, the police spent forty minutes zig-zagging the van through West Baltimore, making multiple stops. At one stop, they removed Freddie from the van, shackled his legs, and threw him back into the van head first. When the police van finally arrived at the station, Freddie had sustained three fractured vertebrae, an injured voice box, and had his spine 80% severed at the neck. He died from these injuries a week later. Though a grand jury indicted the cops involved for manslaughter or depraved indifference, all had the charges against them dropped.
Black lives matter.
