When Will Freddie Gray's Autopsy Be Released?

The ongoing protests in Baltimore over Freddie Gray's death following an arrest by Baltimore police were relatively calm on Thursday, but protests are expected to ramp up Friday night after Freddie Gray's autopsy is released. WJZ reported that the autopsy was completed by medical examiners and was turned over to the Baltimore City state's attorney's office and the governor Friday morning before Marilyn Mosby announced the charges of murder, manslaughter, and assault filed against the six police officers involved in the arrest. The results of the autopsy are expected to be released to the public sometime Friday, after the Gray family is told the cause of death.

According to WJZ, the medical examiner will determine Gray's cause of death as trauma to the neck and spine, as expected, but that can't be fully verified until the report is released. The possibility of a spinal injury has been known for days now, but having it confirmed will likely spark more protests and riots in Baltimore and across the country, as it proves something went terribly wrong with Gray's arrest. Maryland governor Larry Hogan told WUSA 9 that more violence is possible after the cause of death comes out.

It's still unclear exactly what happened to Gray during his arrest and ride in the police van to the station. A complete autopsy should help shed some light on what caused his death and how it could have been avoided. Sources reportedly told WJLA that Gray's fatal injury happened when he slammed into the back of the police van, breaking his neck, and that his head injury matched a bolt in the back of the van.

Warrants for the arrest of the six police officers involved in Gray's arrest and transport to the police station were issued Friday morning, but it's unknown whether any of them are in custody yet. The officer driving the van, Officer Caesar Goodson, received the most severe charge of second-degree depraved heart murder, along with other charges of manslaughter, assault, and misconduct. Second-degree depraved heart murder comes with a prison sentence of 30 years if convicted. The other officers were charged with various manslaughter, assault, misconduct, and false imprisonment crimes.

Protests will likely continue in Baltimore and other major cities, as demonstrators don't believe criminal charges brought against the officers is enough to alter the systemic inequalities that led to Gray's death, as well as Trayvon Martin's, Eric Garner's, and Walter Scott's.

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