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Video and Police Radio Transmissions in Baltimore Riots

Baltimore Sun

BALTIMORE (AP) - City surveillance video and police radio transmissions newly released by Baltimore authorities show the beginning of rioting and the police response in part of the city after Freddie Gray's funeral.

The audio transmissions detail officers' efforts to gain control on city streets after the April 27 funeral for Gray, a black man who suffered a fatal spinal cord injury in police custody.

The police union has accused top brass of instructing officers to not engage rioters, allowing looting. On the transmissions, orders instructing officers to "hold the line" are heard, but there are no orders to "stand down."

The video, obtained by The Baltimore Sunshows people stream into the intersection of Pennsylvania and North avenues, a main area of rioting, and begin to attack cruisers, break into businesses and set fires. Officers periodically move in, then a line of officers in riot gear moves in to control the intersection 90 minutes later.

Don Rush is the News Director at Delmarva Public Media. An award-winning journalist, Don reports major local issues of the day, from sea level rise, to urban development, to the changing demographics of Delmarva.