3rd LD Writethru: Baltimore probe report finds no evidence Gray fatally injured during arrest: media report

A preliminary probe into the death of the 25-year-old black man Freddie Gray indicated that Gray sustained the spinal cord injury that later led to his death not during the police arrest but during his riding in the police van, U.S. media reported Thursday.

According to a Baltimore local TV station affiliated with the U. S. TV network ABC News, law enforcement sources familiar with the preliminary report, which was handed over to the State attorneys Thursday morning, said medical examiner found Gray's deadly injury was caused when he slammed into the back of the police van during transportation.

The ABC affiliate also reported that medical examiners said Gray sustained a head injury that matched a bolt in the back of the van.

Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts announced earlier Thursday that Baltimore Police Department had already turned over an investigation report Thursday morning on the death of Gray to state prosecutor. The report was previously expected on Friday.

The city of Baltimore has witnessed a widespread of protests, sometimes uncontrolled ones, in the past 10 days due to the death of Gray, who appeared to die of a spinal cord injury sustained either during or after police arrest while in police custody.

Speaking at a press conference, Batts stressed that the investigation was not over, adding that 30 detectives were assigned to investigate the death of Gray.

In a statement issued late Thursday, the Maryland State's Attorney's Office said nothing new was included in the Baltimore probe report and called for patience.

"...the results of their investigation is not new to us. We have been briefed regularly throughout their process," said the statement, adding that it was simultaneously conducting its own independent probe into Gray's death.

As the Baltimore Police Department completed its initial probe into Gray's death, new discovery was disclosed as a "privately owned camera" recorded a previously undisclosed stop by the van which transported Gray on April 12 en route to a police station.

Baltimore deputy police commissioner Kevin Davis told reporters Thursday that the stop was "previously unknown to us", an indication that the six police officers involved in Gray's death had not told investigators before about the stop.

Other independent investigations into Baltimore law enforcement by the U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation were also underway.

According to an investigation report by the local news daily Baltimore Sun in last September, the city of Baltimore shelled out about 5.7 million U.S. dollars since 2011 over lawsuits claiming that police officers "brazenly beat up alleged suspects."

"Victims include a 15-year-old boy riding a dirt bike, a 26- year-old pregnant accountant who had witnessed a beating, a 50- year-old woman selling church raffle tickets, a 65-year-old church deacon rolling a cigarette and an 87-year-old grandmother aiding her wounded grandson," the newspaper reported.

Meanwhile, according to U.S. news daily The Washington Post that claimed to have obtained the police report, a prisoner riding in the same transport van with Gray after Gray's arrest on April 12 allegedly stated that he could hear Gray "banging against the walls" of the van as though he "was intentionally trying to injure himself."

The prisoner was separated from Gray by a metal partition and could not see him at that time.

However, Batts had previously acknowledged in a press conference that Gray was not buckled in the van "as he should have been."

"We know our police employees failed to get him medical attention in a timely manner multiple times," he said, adding that the police department was investigating whether Gray's spinal injury was inflicted during his arrest or a "rough ride".

Gray was found unconscious in the police van when arriving at a police station and died a week later of a spinal injury.

According to Baltimore police, the six officers encountered Gray on April 12 said Gray "fled unprovoked." Endite