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 The U.S. Justice Department is looking into the case of Freddie
Gray, who was arrested on April 12 and a week later in a hospital
after slipping into a coma, a spokeswoman said.
A preliminary autopsy showed Gray died from a spinal injury.
Baltimore police have identified six officers who have been
suspended over the death, which sparked outrage in the largely black
city and renewed concern about law enforcement treatment of
minorities in the United States.
The crowd of protesters gathered on Tuesday evening outside the
city's Western District police headquarters and marched to the spot
a few blocks away where Gray was arrested, according to aerial
footage on local television.
The protest was peaceful and was winding down at about 9 p.m., CNN
reported.
Officers arrested Gray because he fled when they approached him on a
street, an incident captured by bystanders' video recordings.
 They found a switchblade knife in his pocket and put him in a police
van for transport to a station. When Gray was taken from the van, he
was unresponsive and transported to a hospital.
Demanding "Justice for Freddie," the protesters were calling for the
six officers to be charged with first-degree murder, according to
CNN.
They could be seen raising their hands in the air, in what has
become a protest sign since the August 2014 death of Michael Brown
by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri.
Some witnesses said Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old black man, had put
his hands in the air and said "Don't shoot" before he was killed.
The U.S. Justice Department in a report later said it could not
confirm those accounts and said they were not credible.
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In the Baltimore case, a Justice Department spokeswoman said: "Based
on preliminary information, the Department of Justice has officially
opened this matter and is gathering information to determine whether
any prosecutable civil rights violation occurred."
Police identified the officers suspended with pay as Lieutenant
Brian Rice, 41, Sergeant Alicia White, 30, Officer William Porter,
25, Officer Garrett Miller, 26, Officer Edward Nero, 29, and Officer
Caesar Goodson, 45.
Gray's death follows a series of killings of unarmed black men by
white police. The deadly encounters include incidents in New York
City and North Charleston, South Carolina.
(Additional reporting by Ellen Wulfhorst in New York, Suzannah
Gonzalez in Chicago and Julia Edwards in Washington; Writing by Ian
Simpson; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn, Ted Botha, Sandra Maler and Leslie
Adler)
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