Who Was Freddie Gray?

At this moment he is the "most significant symbol of distrust of the police", according to washingtonpost.

Called "Pepper," he was a 25-year-old who was brought up in the poverty-stricken Sandtown-Winchester, Baltimore's west side.

In 2008, one lead-paint lawsuit was filed on behalf of Freddie and his two sisters, against the owners of their home. His disabled mother was a heroin-addict, who admitted that she could not read. Their walls and windowsills had lots of lead. Freddie was four grades below the normal level of reading.

This type of lawsuit is very common in the neighbourhood, and the settlement payments are usually called "lead checks."

"Before the world heard his name chanted in the streets, before his cries echoed across televisions and sparked protests in Baltimore, Freddie Gray was struggling to turn his life around," according to CNN.

He was 5-foot-8 and 145 pounds, and described as "loyal and warm, humorous and happy".

"Every time you saw him, you just smiled, because you knew you were going to have a good day," said Angela Gardner, 22, his date for the past two years.

"He was so funny. Any time you're looking for a laugh, you're going straight to Freddie," Raheem Gaither, a friend and neighbor of Gray's, told the Baltimore Sun. "We're all from the same neighborhood. All of us here are family."

Gray sang in the youth choir at church, loved fashion shows and was part of a neighborhood football team. His twin sister, Fredericka, said her brother "would not want this," ie the violent protests in the city. His older sister was Carolina, according to latimes.

However, he was often caught by the law too. Records show him getting arrested more than a dozen times, and convicted for selling heroin or marijuana. He longest jailterm was for two years.

On April 19, the police began to chase him when they claimed they found a switchblade on him. He began to run but got caught. A video shot by a civilian bystander shows officers dragging Gray, who became limp, after he was handcuffed. He could climb on to the back of the truck.

It was a 30-minute ride to a police station to put him in leg restraints, police officials said. He began the ride angry and talking but stopped breathing when he arrived at the police station.

Baltimore police agree that there were the following errors: he was not seat-belted, he violated department policy, he got no medical treatment and the officers neglected calling an ambulance after he was arrested.

It isn't clear why he got arrested, or injured in the van.

Six police officers are suspended even as the officials are investigating. Those who are involved deny that any force was used by them. The investigation is expected to be over by May 1, after which the final decision on the prosecution will be held.

Were civil rights violations committed? No one is sure. Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said in a statement that she welcomes the additional scrutiny to help "get answers to the questions so many of us are still asking."

The death was soon followed by peaceful and then increasingly violent attacks and riots as the much larger national issue of police mistreating black men is on the rise.

Other cases include Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., Tamir Rice in Cleveland, Eric Garner on Staten Island and Walter Scott in North Charleston, S.C.

Those tensions were only heightened in West Baltimore, where relations between residents and police have long been strained. On Saturday, a lengthy and largely peaceful march of about 1,000 people ended with flashes of violence outside Camden Yards.

"People want justice," said Adam Jordan, 27, who leads one of the Baltimore protest groups. "They want the officers to go to jail. But most of all, they want reform - sweeping reform."