gray s medical needs and, as we saw in that video, dragged him tathe van knowing that it could increase his injuries. a big puzzle a piece of the puzzle here is that medical forensics, which could tell us whether the dragging made a difference. the type of blow that could happen and that kind of thing. the answer to those questions, wolf are not readily available right now. and we know the department could order a separate federal autopsy like it did in the ferguson case. we don t know if that happened, but it s a possibility. still a lot of unanswered questions, wolf. they certainly are. they are going to be investigated at multiple levels. pamela brown, thanks very much. let s bring in jeffrey toobin right now, our senior legal analyst. jeffrey, as we take a look at this. the effectiveness of a justice department investigation. do you think it will be real? because this could go on and on and on. remember there are three investigations now going on or planned. you have the poli
terms? did your standard of care so deviate from what a reasonable person would do under those circumstances that it constitutes a crime. in this case as we know, there is some indication that he grabbed the taser from his chest area and, you know he wanted or should have grabbed or meant to grab is the indication a taser that was on his chest area and, instead, grabbed his pistol and shot. so that s a concern. but after you granted bail to go on vacations and jungts i haven t as a prosecutor nor as a defense attorney ever seen this before. i think it doesn t send the proper and appropriate message under these circumstances. let me just get quickly from jeffrey toobin. someone charged with second degree manslaughter. 73-year-old man allowed to go spepd spend a month on vacation in the bahamas with his family because they already purchased the tickets? it is a total disgrace and a slap in the face to everyone in the criminal justice system. and i think it s indicative.
in fact why we get an update on the justice department s investigation of the case pamela brown is joining us. what are you learning pamela? wolf the justice department s move to launch the civil rights investigation this early on is an indication of a more aggressive approach by the department. federal officials will try to establish whether the officers willfully violated freddie gray s rights to be free from unreasonable seizure under the fourth amendment. to answer that officials we have been speaking with investigators will have to reconstruct the sequence of events step by step first to determine whether the injuries was thereinflicted after the takedown of gray. he was already in handcuffs and then force was used to cause the injury that could be considered excessive because he was already restrained. according to police the officers say force was not used against gray. now, another aspect investigators will look at is whether the police were reckless in not giving immediate m
court documents show lieutenant brian rice faced allegations of domestic violence in 2008 and 2013. in the second case he was ordered not to contact, go to the home or workplace of the person who filed the complaint. but in both cases, protective orders were not authorized by the courts. neither rice s attorney nor the baltimore police responded to requests for comment. the head of the baltimore police union who knows rice said this i can t really comment on what happened in his past. what happened in his home life shouldn t play nor factor into what happened on the job. reporter: now, the head of that police union, gene ryan told us that police throughout this city are very concerned about possible retaliation for freddie gray s death. he says they are all thinking about the murders of those two new york city police officers following the ferguson and staten island cases, wolf? there s also new information about the suspended officers meeting with investigators, right?
baltimore u.s. attorney s office who handle these types of cases. that s going to take a long time. that s exactly right. thanks very much, evan perez, for that. joining us now is mark morial, thank you for joining us. the police union, we had live coverage they re making the case these six police officers who were apparently involved five of them are cooperating, giving statements to the police, one has not, which of course is that individual s right under the u.s. constitution. your reaction to what we just heard? here s the thing. there s a context behind all of this. and that is one, just last thursday the department of justice held a meeting at coppin state university in baltimore at which over 300 people showed up to voice complaints against the baltimore police department. number two, the baltimore sun