'Freddie Gray was me': frustration with police simmers after death in Baltimore

“If I’d been dropped two inches to the left, then Freddie Gray was me,” says Abdul Salaam. The 36-year-old mental health executive from north-east Baltimore unbuttons his collar to show deep, dark scarring on his left shoulder from the time he was beaten by three Baltimore police officers in front of his child.

“It was 1 July, 2013, 6.37 pm,” he says.

Salaam was approaching his driveway after grocery shopping for a family barbecue when an officer pulled him out of the car and threw him against a gate. They slammed him on the concrete five times, and then proceeded to punch and kick him. His three-year-old began screaming, officers threatened to send his son to social services, while Salaam lay on the floor, hog-tied.

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