Protest turns violent in Baltimore

Sister of man who died in police custody appeals for calm

Marchers pass in front of the Baltimore Convention Center during a march to City Hall for Freddie Gray, Saturday, April 25, 2015 in Baltimore. Gray died from spinal injuries about a week after he was arrested and transported in a police van. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Marchers pass in front of the Baltimore Convention Center during a march to City Hall for Freddie Gray, Saturday, April 25, 2015 in Baltimore. Gray died from spinal injuries about a week after he was arrested and transported in a police van. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

BALTIMORE -- A largely peaceful protest over the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who suffered a spinal cord injury in police custody, gave way to scattered scenes of chaos in Baltimore Saturday night, as demonstrators smashed downtown storefront windows and damaged police cruisers, while officers broke up skirmishes and made arrests near Camden Yards.

Hours earlier, a mostly calm crowd of demonstrators marched through the streets, clogging intersections, carrying signs and shouting, "All night, all day, we're gonna fight for Freddie Gray!" Some had come from New York and Ferguson, Mo., and authorities in Baltimore here had warned against "outside agitators" coming to stir up trouble.

The demonstrators made their way from West Baltimore, from the public housing development where Gray was arrested April 12, through the downtown harbor, before massing on a plaza at City Hall, where one of the speakers told the crowd: "Shut it down if you want to! Shut it down!"

"The voice of pain and suffering in Baltimore will be heard today," Malik Shabazz, a founder and the president of Black Lawyers for Justice, said in an interview Saturday. "The focus will be on Freddie Gray and how his back and spine were broken, and how the cover-up must end today."

The trouble began when a group of protesters, as many as 100 by some accounts, split from the main group near the end of the protest and went on a rampage -- throwing cans, bottles and trash cans at police officers and breaking windows in some businesses. As the breakaway group reached Camden Yards, where the Baltimore Orioles were scheduled to play the Boston Red Sox on Saturday night, they were met by police officers in riot gear.

Two people were hurt in the mayhem and at least a dozen were arrested. Police Commissioner Anthony Batts said crimes include two armed robberies, several assaults and looting of a convenience store.

Before the game, demonstrators fought with fans at a bar.

There were reports of damage to some cars parked at the baseball stadium.

In her first public comments since Gray's death, his twin sister, Fredricka Gray, appealed for calm as she appeared with the mayor at a news conference.

"My family wants to say, can you all please, please stop the violence? ... Violence does not get justice."

The main protest drew a racially diverse crowd. Organizers included the New Black Panther Party, the World Socialist Party and the Peoples Power Assemblies.

Funeral services for Gray, 25, are scheduled for Monday at New Shiloh Baptist Church in West Baltimore.

On Friday, the Baltimore police commissioner said his officers should have sought medical attention for Gray much sooner than they did, but that admission, the first from police officials, was not enough to satisfy the protesters. They continued their demands for the firing of six officers involved in Gray's arrest and the resignation of Batts.

The six officers were suspended with pay while the Baltimore Police Department carries out a criminal investigation. The Justice Department also is reviewing the case for possible civil-rights violations. Gray's family has hired a third party to conduct an independent investigation.

Batts said Friday that officers should have called for an ambulance when Gray was first arrested instead of waiting until he arrived at the police station 50 minutes later. The police commissioner also said it was unacceptable that the officers had not put Gray in a seat belt for the ride.

Gray was arrested after making eye contact with a police lieutenant and then fleeing, according to the police account. He was tackled by police officers, who held him down and handcuffed him before dragging him to a police van. A bystander recorded the arrest on video using his cellphone.

Until Friday, efforts to pinpoint how and when Gray was injured had focused on what happened inside the van, with a lawyer for the officers involved playing down the suggestion, based on the cellphone video, that Gray had been hurt before he was placed inside. In the video, Gray can be heard asking for assistance while on the ground and screaming while being dragged to the police van.

The police acknowledged gaps in the timeline involving three stops made by the van. According to Police Department accounts, at the first stop, officers placed leg bars on Gray, who they said had become irate; the second stop was made to pick up another arrestee. At the third, Gray had to be picked up off the floor.

Gray's family said his spinal cord had been 80 percent severed, and that his voice box had been crushed. He died at a hospital last Sunday, a week after his arrest.

Information for this article was contributed by Stephen Babcock of The New York Times and by Skip Foreman, Meredith Somers, Juliet Linderman and staff members of The Associated Press.

A Section on 04/26/2015

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