Video Spotlights Freddie Gray at Baker and Mount Streets

(THE SUN) On the morning of April 12, Michelle Gross woke up to screaming. Gross, known as "Mom" in West Baltimore's Gilmor Homes area, left her home and saw Freddie Gray — someone she called "son" — being dragged into a police van.

As police drove away with Gray, she gave her phone to a neighbor who wanted to call 911 and report the incident. But soon, Gross and the neighbor were headed to the corner of Mount and Baker streets, where the van had stopped.

There, the neighbor shot cellphone video that provides a close look at Gray and police actions that have been criticized by Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby. That video, combined with the account of Gross and her neighbor, provide the most detailed public account of the van stop — a key moment in Gray's fatal encounter with police.

The video shows Gray halfway out of the van, his stomach flat on the floor and his legs hanging off the back. He does not move as four officers stand over him and place shackles around his ankles.

In her first interview about the incident, Gross, 58, said she was shocked at the turn of events that led to Gray's death from a spinal injury. "I thought his leg was just broke and that he was just going to the police station and we would hear him that afternoon," she said recently, as tears streamed down her cheeks.

Most of the video of Gray was taken of the arrest at Mount and Presbury Streets. Less is known about what happened a block away, when the van stopped at Baker Street and he was shackled.

That was a key moment, according to Mosby. Charging documents filed against six officers involved in Gray's arrest and transport state: "Following transport from Baker Street, Mr. Gray suffered a severe and critical neck injury as a result of being handcuffed, shackled by his feet and unrestrained inside of the [Baltimore Police Department] wagon."


According to Mosby, Lt. Brian Rice directed the police van to stop at Mount and Baker.

Police said Gray was acting "irate." Rice and two other officers took him out of the van and placed flex-cuffs on his wrists and metal shackles on his ankles.

Cellphone video and surveillance footage reviewed by The Baltimore Sun shed more light on what took place during the stop.

Video from city surveillance camera No. 2108, mounted on top of Gilmore House, recorded part of the scene. That was one of 16 surveillance videos relating to the arrest and van trip that the Baltimore Police Department released in April.