We now have, thanks to a court document examined Monday by Sun reporters Justin Fenton and Jessica Anderson, the first bit of light about why Baltimore police arrested Freddie Gray a week ago Sunday.
But while charging documents mention that Gray was carrying a knife, we have nothing more on why he came to the attention of police to begin with, and we certainly know precious little about how he received the severe injuries that contributed to his death.
The 25-year-old Gray died Sunday at Shock Trauma.
A portion of his arrest on April 12 was captured by a citizen on video.
Given that, and given the present atmosphere in Baltimore — with a Justice Department investigation of police misconduct opening deep and festering wounds — you'd think the mayor and police commissioner would want to have answers a lot faster than at the present pace.
Given the atmosphere in the nation — with distrust of police forged in Ferguson and other places where encounters have led to the deaths of unarmed citizens — you'd think we'd have more information by now.
Obviously, it is prudent for the police to conduct a thorough investigation.
Transparency is good. But some situations call for transparency a whole lot faster than we've seen here, and this is one of them. The delay of this length fosters more distrust.
It's hard to believe it takes a week to come up with some straightforward answers: Why was Gray stopped by police? What explains his apparently painful condition — as seen in the citizen-captured video of his arrest — when he was led (carried seems more accurate) to a police van? And what happened to Gray during his transport in the police van?
Police have provided a timeline of events, but not much else. The fact that police found Gray with a knife was not volunteered during the last week; Anderson and Fenton found the reference in a District Court document. The document claims Gray was arrested "without force or incident," but the citizen video challenges that assertion.
The Freddie Gray video, and others like it, announce the new reality for police departments, for all of us: Eyes are everywhere; citizens are watching and recording, and their videos travel fast. Social and mainstream news media quickly push these stories in front of our eyes, as never before, and a plodding pace of explanation doesn't work. It compounds distrust.
Baltimore Sun columnist Dan Rodricks is the host of Midday on WYPR which will discuss the Gray case Monday afternoon.