U.S. City Probes Latest Death of Black Man in Custody

The mayor of Baltimore promised Monday to thoroughly investigate the death of an African American man who died after an arrest that lawyers say left him with severe neck injuries.

The case is the latest in a long series of deaths that critics say demonstrates officers' racial bias and an over reliance on force when dealing with suspects.

Freddie Gray, 25, who died Sunday, was arrested on April 12 and somehow suffered an 80 percent severed spinal cord and three broken vertebrae during the ordeal, his family's lawyer said. 

Police have yet to announce how he was injured or why he was arrested. 

"While in police custody for committing no crime -- for which they had no justification for making the arrest except he was a black man running -- his spine was virtually severed, 80 percent severed, in the neck area," attorney William Murphy Jr told a news conference, according to the Baltimore Sun.

About 100 local residents and activists gathered outside a local police station Sunday demanding more information. 

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said officials were investigating the incident.

"We have to make sure that we are doing this investigation in a way that ensures that the people who need to be held accountable can be and will be held accountable," she told CNN.

"We are preparing for an independent review of the investigation so there are outside eyes taking a look at the investigation, and making sure that we get it right."

She said that, under an officers' bill of rights for the state of Maryland, police are allowed a period of time before being questioned. 

A video shot from nearby showed police restraining Gray on a sidewalk, then dragging him while yelling in pain to a police van.

A Baltimore police timeline said Gray was conscious and speaking when put in the van, the Sun reported.

Baltimore is the largest city in the state of Maryland, about 35 miles (56 kilometers) northeast of Washington DC.

A series of recent killings of unarmed black men by police officers has sparked nationwide protests, charges of racism and revived the debate about excessive use of police force.

Earlier this month, white officer Michael Slager was charged with murder after a video showed of him fatally shooting 50-year-old Walter Scott in the back in North Charleston, South Carolina.