Assistant Medical Examiner Discusses Gray's Spinal Injury
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Freddie Gray's autopsy was discussed on the stand Monday. The assistant medical examiner revealed new details in the trial of Officer William Porter, the first of six officers accused in the death of Freddie Gray. Porter is charged with manslaughter, assault and misconduct in office.
Derek Valcourt has more.
Freddie Gray's spinal injury was described in detail to jurors inside the courtroom, where the medical examiner said the autopsy revealed a spinal contusion---a kind of bruising of the spinal cord---near Gray's brain stem. Gray spent a week in the hospital before his injury ultimately ended his life.
"When a spinal cord injury is severe, it can affect your breathing," said Dr. Mark Iguchi, GMBC. "It can affect your heart rate; people can go into cardiac arrest and die very quickly."
Dr. Iguchi says injuries in the upper part of the spine near the brain can cause swelling and require immediate attention. He says he treats these kinds of injuries all the time.
"They can come from shallow diving accidents where someone dives into a pool and injures their head on the bottom of the pool. We see people from Ocean City in the summertime diving in the water and their head hitting the sand. It can come from gunshots and car accidents, as well as more unusual injuries," he said.
But what caused Freddie Gray's spinal injury remains a key question for the jurors, who will also have to decide whether immediate medical attention would have saved his life.
The jury can expect to hear more about these kinds of injuries as the prosecution and defense call experts in the medical field.
