Freddie's Last Ride: "What Really Happened to Freddie Gray?

This book is about Freddie Gray, a young black man who died in police custody in Baltimore as a result of a broken neck. Six officers were subsequently tried, but the trials of three were dismissed and the others were found not guilty on various charges. The charges were incorrectly placed by Attorney General of Baltimore City Marilyn Mosby. Mosby relied on the Autopsy Report which, in turn, took its opinion of the timing of Gray's death from the self-invested Baltimore Police. It didn't happen in the van: the arresting officers broke his neck. The media perpetuated Mosby's misreading of the report which confused Opinion with formal, medical, forensic evidence, thereby reinforcing both the misplaced charges and public misunderstanding, and facilitating the consequent injustice that set Baltimore on fire.

This book takes apart the process and testimony of the trial from an informed medical point of view. It critiques the prosecution, the autopsy report, and the testimony of the expert witnesses. It reviews the important medical concepts necessary to evaluating what happened, and the medical ethics which should (but did not) prevail in such cases.

This book should be of broad interest: to those concerned with the processes of racial injustice in America generally; to those concerned with medico-legal ethics; to medical and legal educators and their students. The message is both topical and enduring, and the book is unique because of its authoritative medical perspective.

The author wants readers to take away an appropriate understanding not only of what happened in this case, but of the necessary changes in the approach to such situations. And I want them to understand that this is not just a problem for the Black community, but for all of us.