An autopsy showed no wounds to Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who died after being chased and arrested by the Baltimore police, except for the injury to his spinal cord that killed him, officials said Monday. “We have no evidence - physical, video or statements - of any use of force,” and all of the officers insist that none was used, the deputy police commissioner, Jerry Rodriguez, said at a news conference. “He did suffer a very tragic injury to his spinal cord, which resulted in his death. What we don’t know, and what we need to get to, is how that injury occurred.”Amid national protests over police treatment of black men, Baltimore officials, including the mayor, have promised a thorough and transparent investigation into Gray’s death.Gray died Sunday, a week after his arrest. His family’s lawyer said that 80 percent of his spinal cord was severed at the neck while he was in police custody, and that he later lapsed into a coma.The police commissioner, Anthony Batts, said officers had been slow to recognise that Gray needed medical attention. Even before being placed into a police van, a scene that was captured on videos taken by bystanders, Gray had said he needed his inhaler, according to the police, which he did not have with him.“We should have probably asked for paramedics” sooner, the commissioner said.Rodriguez said that when Gray was put into the van, he was talking and breathing, and “acting irately,” according to the van driver, but that when he was taken out about 40 minutes later, he could not talk or breathe.The videos appear to show officers dragging Gray to the van, raising questions about whether he had already suffered the spinal injury. Rodriguez conceded that investigators do not know whether it occurred on the ride to the police station, or before.Police officials and Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake extended condolences to Gray’s family and appealed for calm as people protested a death that has roiled the city.“I continue to encourage those residents who wish to express their frustration to remain peaceful,” the mayor said. “This is a very tense time for Baltimore city, and I understand that people are frustrated.”Rawlings-Blake vowed the city would conduct a thorough investigation to make sure the facts come out.“The questions that many of you have are the same questions that we’re asking,” the mayor said, adding, “I take very seriously my obligation of transparency.”Rawlings-Blake said she had told the Police Department to cooperate with the state’s attorney’s office in an investigation.“We’ve already indicated that we will also have independent eyes take a look at this,” the mayor said on MSNBC. “This is not the first time that I have asked for independent review, so we can make sure we are getting this right for the people.”The state attorney for Baltimore, Marilyn J. Mosby, said in a statement that her office had “dedicated all its existing resources to independently investigate this matter to determine whether criminal charges will be brought.”Police officers filed court documents on Monday saying that Gray had been arrested “without force or incident.” The officers asked that Gray be charged with carrying a switchblade, according to the court records, which were obtained by The Associated Press.Rodriguez, the deputy commissioner, said the police believed Gray was involved in drug dealing. But a lawyer for the Gray family, William Murphy Jr., has said there is no evidence that Gray had committed a crime.According to a police timeline, four officers on bicycles tried to stop Gray about 9 a.m. on April 12. When he ran away, the police said, the officers caught him and restrained him on the ground while awaiting backup. The timeline said Gray had been conscious and speaking when he was loaded into the van to be taken to the police station. After he arrived at the station, police officers called medics, who took him to a hospital.But Murphy has disputed the police account. In a statement, Murphy said Gray’s “takedown and arrest without probable cause” had been captured by a police video camera, adding, “We believe the police are keeping the circumstances of Freddie’s death a secret until they develop a version of events that will absolve them of all responsibility.”The death of Gray comes as Rawlings-Blake, who is African-American, has issued a “call to action” to ease black-on-black crime and improve the lives of young black men in Baltimore.Last month, as part of that effort, the mayor convened a forum at the Empowerment Temple that featured civic leaders and city officials including Batts, who took over the Baltimore department in 2012 after resigning as chief of police in Oakland, California.“I am acutely aware that, this uniform, when people see it, there’s a visceral hatred of this uniform,” Batts said then. “I’ve been brought here to change that, and to change it at a very deep level.”Last summer, the city put in place one of the strictest curfews in the country, an attempt, supporters say, to get youths off the streets at night both for their safety and to reduce crime.--2015 New York Times News Service..