They Killed Freddie Gray: The Anatomy of a Police Brutality Cover-Up

by Justine Barron, Rabia Chaudry (Foreword by)

Overview

Based on new evidence and deep reporting, the riveting truth about a case that has become a touchstone in the struggle for racial justice and Black lives.

They Killed Freddie Gray exposes a conspiracy among Baltimore leaders to cover up what actually happened to Freddie Gray, who was fatally injured in police custody in April 2015. After Gray’s death, Baltimore became ground zero for Black Lives Matter and racial justice protests that exploded across the country. State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby became a hero when she charged six officers in Gray’s death, and the trials of the officers generated national headlines for two years.

Yet the cause of Gray’s death has remained a mystery. A viral video showed an officer leaning on Gray’s back while he cried out in pain. But the autopsy concluded he was fatally injured later that morning while the van was in motion—during a multi-stop “rough ride”—from sudden impact to his head. None of the officers were convicted of any crimes based on this theory.

They Killed Freddie Gray solves the mystery of Gray’s death by uncovering new evidence of how he was killed by police and how his cause of death was covered up. In coordination with a documentary film now being produced, this book revisits a pivotal moment in US criminal justice history, providing new insight into what happened, the historical structures of power that allowed it to happen, and the personalities and dynamics involved—a story never told by the mainstream media. It includes a detailed map with annotations by the author, photographs, and a foreword by Rabia Chaudry.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781950994250
Publisher:	Arcade
Publication date:	08/15/2023
Pages:	368
Sales rank:	369,033
Product dimensions:	9.10(w) x 6.20(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Justine Barron is an investigative journalist whose work focuses on crime, corruption, and media criticism, with a special emphasis on Baltimore. She is also an acclaimed storyteller and four-time winner of the Moth storytelling competition. Her work has appeared in the Appeal, Rolling Stone, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, the Real News, Rolling Stone, Jewish Journal, NPR-WLRN, Miami Herald, and numerous local independent outlets in Baltimore. In 2017, she co-investigated and co-hosted Undisclosed: The Killing of Freddie Gray. Justine grew up in Maryland and attended Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in English. She holds a master’s degree in English Literature from Duke University. She now lives in Miami, Florida.

Editorial Reviews

06/05/2023

Journalist Barron debuts with an impassioned account of the circumstances behind 25-year-old Freddie Gray’s death while in the custody of Baltimore police in 2015. Barron argues that Gray’s death was the result of the violent assault by arresting officers and not, as the police claim, due to self-inflicted injuries or the failure to secure him during his transport to the police station. A relentless researcher, Barron draws on interviews with Gray’s neighbors and witnesses to his initial arrest, as well the state’s attorney office’s investigative file, forensic evidence reports, and law enforcement personnel records. She debunks the Baltimore police department’s account in meticulous, point-by-point detail, alleging that a cover-up orchestrated by political leaders, police administrators, and the federal Department of Justice protected the wrongdoers. Six officers were arrested, facing charges ranging from assault to second-degree murder; none were found guilty. Barron uncovers suppressed evidence, such as video recordings and witness testimony, that she asserts would have made convictions more likely if it had been shown to the public or at the trials. Barron’s writing is powered by outrage over Gray’s death and the failure to hold anyone accountable. Readers will be troubled. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

An impassioned account of the circumstances behind 25-year-old Freddie Gray’s death while in the custody of Baltimore police in 2015. . . . Barron uncovers suppressed evidence, such as video recordings and witness testimony, that she asserts would have made convictions more likely if it had been shown to the public or at the trials. Barron’s writing is powered by outrage over Gray’s death and the failure to hold anyone accountable. Readers will be troubled.”—Publishers Weekly

"Complex, dense in detail, and sharply argued: a firm indictment of injustice committed on the street and in the courtroom."—Kirkus Reviews

""In over 300 meticulously reported pages, Barron presents the fullest story to date of Gray’s death and the failure to hold the BPD accountable."—Ron Cassie, Baltimore Magazine

"Justine Barron untangles the mess of fact and false information that circulated about the Gray case, helping to paint the most accurate picture we have of what happened that day in April 2015."—Elizabeth Hazen, author of Girls Like Us, in Baltimore Fishbowl

"If there is to be a seminal text investigating the truth about the killing of Gray and the ensuing cover-up, this book will be it."—from the preface by Rabia Chaudry, author of Adnan's Story and Fatty Fatty, Boom Boom

“They Killed Freddie Gray is a fascinating look at police and political abuse of those caught up in the criminal justice system. The egregious 2015 arrest and in-custody death of Baltimore resident Freddie Gray is an alarming wake-up call to the abuse of power by those tasked to protect and serve the people under the Constitution. This ‘you are there’ format gives insight into the final moments of Freddie Gray’s life and allows the reader to experience the constitutional abuse of power firsthand. I wholeheartedly endorse this book.”—Sgt. Ron Stallworth (Ret.), author of Black Klansman

"Required reading for anyone who thinks policing will be fixed or justice achieved by civilian review boards, progressive prosecutors, blue-ribbon panels, or high-paid 'police reformers.' Barron makes clear that abusive policing is business as usual for Baltimore's political class."—Alex Vitale, author of The End of Policing

"Meticulous and engrossing, They Killed Freddie Gray provides a multifaceted analysis of the investigative, prosecutorial, and journalistic shortcomings that characterized the aftermath of Freddie Gray's arrest. Unearthing new details, it reveals the cover-up that has kept the full story from us until now. ‘No Justice, No Peace’ was the rallying cry on Baltimore's streets soon after Gray's death. This book explains why and how justice was not done, and why the city, and the country, should still feel no peace."—Stuart Schrader, author of Badges Without Borders: How Global Counterinsurgency Transformed American Policing

"Justine Barron reveals that much of what the public has believed about Gray’s 2015 death at the hands of the Baltimore Police Department is incorrect."—The Appeal

From the Publisher

2023-06-28
An examination of a system that allowed malign police officers to walk free after murdering a suspect.

As with the case of George Floyd five years later, Freddie Carlos Gray Jr. was the victim of a judicial killing. Arrested by Baltimore police officers for possessing what they called an illegal weapon, he died of injuries after being in custody for less than an hour. According to investigative reporter Barron, Baltimore city authorities conspired to cover up the facts of the case, which included Gray’s being shackled and handcuffed and then bounced around unrestrained on a “rough ride” in the back of a police van, which may have resulted in the spinal injury that led to his death. Working through the discovery file, Barron flags numerous instances of misconduct coupled with ineptitude, willful obfuscation, and sometimes-inexplicable decisions. Maryland State Attorney Marilyn Mosby, for example, initially filed charges against six Baltimore officers that specified that the supposedly illegal knife was actually legal—therefore, “the arrest wasn’t legal and so constituted assault.” Yet as the proceedings moved forward, she dropped the charge, apparently acceding to an opposing attorney’s demand that the legality of the knife be excluded. Media reports, Barron adds, tended to uncritically repeat the police account of the incident, by which “Gray caused his own death by banging his head” repeatedly against the door and walls of the van. The Baltimore Sun, “the paper of record in the Gray case,” was particularly loyal to the police account. Meanwhile, notes the author, the U.S. Department of Justice appears to have suppressed or at least not presented eyewitness accounts that indicated that excessive force before the ride began may have been the true cause of death. In the end, whether by design or indifference, Barron ably demonstrates, the system definitively failed Freddie Gray. Rabia Chaudry provides the foreword.

Complex, dense in detail, and sharply argued: a firm indictment of injustice committed on the street and in the courtroom.

Kirkus Reviews