Suit claimed Freddie Gray suffered from lead paint exposure as a child
Freddie Gray, the 25-year-old Baltimore man who died from a spinal injury after being arrested by police, had health problems as a child due to lead-paint exposure, according to a 2008 lawsuit.
The suit alleged that Gray and his two sisters had high levels of lead in their blood, obtained from flaking lead paint in their rental home between 1992 and 1996, report the Washington Post and the Baltimore Sun.
The defense had pointed to other possible causes for problems that included attention deficit disorders and problems in school. The children’s mother, the defense said, had used heroin and had moved frequently. The suit settled in 2010; the terms were confidential.
Maryland law sets the threshold for lead poisoning at 10 micrograms per deciliter. Six tests conducted between 1992 and 1996 detected lead levels in Freddie Gray’s blood between 11 and 19 micrograms per deciliter, according to the Baltimore Sun. The Washington Post says the levels were even higher in previous tests, ranging from nearly 30 micrograms in 1990 and 37 micrograms in 1991.
An expert interviewed by the Post said those high levels would have caused irreparable damage, affecting Gray’s ability to think, process information and self-regulate.
Gray was in special education classes and never graduated from high school. He served two years in prison after drug-related convictions.
Updated a 3:54 p.m. to fix a typo in the phrase “attention deficit disorders.”
