A somewhat common practice conducted by Philadelphia police was the 'nickle ride', placing a prisoner in the back of a 'paddy' wagon, then accelerating hard, decelerating hard, taking corners sharply, etc. The goal was to tumble the suspect about the vehicle. I've embedded an image of a wagon similar to what is in use in Philadelphia and likely in Baltimore.
After several high profile and expensive cases of broken necks, the city managed to halt the practice.
Mister James McKenna suffered from three broken vertebra in his neck from such a practice and the case cost Philadelphia nearly half a million dollars.
http://thefreethoughtproject.com/...
Does this sound somewhat familiar? It sounds suspiciously like what happened to Mister Freddie Gray.
Disturbingly familiar. Follow me below the break for more.
In medicine, there is an injury known as the 'hangman's fracture', it is the fracture of the Axis, aka the C2 vertebra. For a bit of trivia, the Atlas is the C1 vertebra.
Wikipedia has a rather nice article on this injury, which begins with "A hangman's fracture is the colloquial name given to a fracture of both pedicles or pars interarticularis of the axis vertebra (C2) (or epistropheus)."
There are wikilinks and imagery describing the parts that are associated with this fracture. https://en.wikipedia.org/...
Such a fracture requires a significant amount of energy delivered to a hyperextended neck, such as when one's lower jaw strikes the dashboard, windshield or steering wheel during a severe collision.
Here is the interesting part, if the injury is caused by a high enough amount of energy, such as being thrown around a rapidly moving wagon, the trauma can be severe enough to fracture the Dens, part of the Axis that would frequently penetrate the medulla oblongata (although, frequently reported in the press as the spinal cord).
That Mr Gray was able to vocalize when put into the wagon is telling, a C2 abruption of the spinal cord damages eye control and the ability to speak, not to mention breathe.
That he lost the ability after strongly suggests that he was not restrained in the wagon and he was taken for a 'nickle ride', in short, he was summarily executed by the officers driving the wagon, with a conspiracy of the officers who placed him in the wagon unrestrained.
For completeness, an article on summary execution that refers to the capital variety, but ignores summary "execution of justice" when law enforcement officers decide to be judge and jury. https://en.wikipedia.org/...
Fortunately, the DOJ is now investigating.