The Rev. Al Sharpton is jumping into the controversy over a Baltimore man's death from injuries he suffered while in police custody, announcing Monday that he'll visit the riot-torn city this week and is planning a march next month.
Freddie Gray, 25, died April 19, a week after he suffered spinal cord injuries while in custody, and Sharpton says that's when activists and clerics first urged him to visit the city, the
Baltimore Sun reports.
"I have been asked by many in the Baltimore area since day one to get involved in the justice for Freddie Gray movement," Sharpton said. But he says he resisted getting involved until news that a report on Gray's death might not be made public this week.
The Sun reports that Police Commissioner Anthony Batts has said police expect to present a report on Gray's death to the state attorney's office by Friday, though it's unclear whether it will be made public.
"I am saddened and disappointed that there now may not be a report released on May 1," said Sharpton, who heads the Harlem-based National Action Network. "It is concerning to me that a deadline that the police themselves had set and announced they have now conveniently changed."
Sharpton said the planned march, from Baltimore to Washington, is designed to call attention to Gray — as well as other black men recently shot and killed by police, including
Walter Scott in North Charleston, S.C., a case in which
Sharpton also has become involved.
He also said he'd push the case with
Loretta Lynch, the incoming U.S. attorney general.
"Ms. Lynch, in her new role that we all supported, must look and intervene in these cases," Sharpton said. "Justice delayed is justice denied."
The Sun reports that another civil rights leader, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, also says he's been invited to Baltimore in the wake of Gray's death.