Freddie Gray Told Officer: "Help Me. Help Me Up."

Baltimore City police form a line to hold protesters back during a demonstration at the Inner Harbor September 2, 2015 in Baltimore, Maryland.

Chip Somodevilla / Via Getty Images

Baltimore police Officer William Porter approached the rear of the police van and peered through the open doors. Inside was Freddie Gray, a guy known to Porter and other police officers as a local drug dealer and someone who regularly put up a fight during arrests.

That certainly was the case on the morning of April 12, when Gray was taken into custody in the streets of West Baltimore. But after initially screaming in pain and saying that he needed medical attention, Gray grew more quiet inside the van.

To the point of being unresponsive, Porter said.

Gray had been placed on his knees, slumped against a bench, with his wrists handcuffed behind his back. Porter called out to him. “Freddie, what’s up?” There was silence — Gray wasn’t breathing and had lost consciousness.

“Oh shit, we need to call for a medic,” Porter recalled telling another officer, according to video of his statement made to detectives.

Friday offered the first public glimpse into Porter’s version of events from that day, told in the form of a recorded video of his nearly hour-long interview with detectives. Prosecutors played the video for jurors as part of their morning-long inquiry of Det. Syreeta Teel, the department’s lead investigator on the case.

Porter, 26, is one of six officers charged in Gray’s arrest and death on April 19. He has pleaded not guilty. Gray’s death, from a spinal injury suffered while in police custody, sparked unrest in Baltimore in May.

The video of Porter’s interview was the highlight of the morning session, the first time the jury and public have seen — or heard — the three-year police veteran talk at length about what happened when he arrived on the scene of Gray’s arrest on April 12.

Porter sat down with Teel and another detective on April 17, two days before Gray would die from fatal spine injuries suffered while in police custody.

In the video, Porter sat down at a small table in a small gray room at police headquarters. Teel sat in front him and the detective took the seat to Porter’s right. Porter signed a number of documents apprising him of his rights before offering his statement and then calmly, if not cooly, launched into his testimony.

Porter said he arrived at the scene of Gray’s arrest at about 8:40 a.m. He said he heard Gray yelling inside of the van before he saw him. Since Gray was already in custody, Porter said, he focused on maintaining the crowd that had gathered at the scene. He said he heard someone make an allegation of “police brutality.”

Porter later met the police van at another stop, where he noticed the officers had taken Gray out of the vehicle. “It’s always a big scene when you try to arrest Freddie Gray,” Porter told the detectives, recalling he’d once heard a story about Gray trying to kick out the windows of a police cruiser during one arrest.

Asked repeatedly by the detectives which officers put Gray back into the van, Porter couldn’t remember. “I’m sorry,” he said, trying to remember. “Skinny white guys.”

Porter said the officers lifted Gray under his arms and slid him back into the van.

At the van’s next stop, not too far from that one, Porter approached the van and saw Gray laying on his side with his hands cuffed behind him. “What’s up, what’s going on?” Porter recalled asking Gray.

“Help me,” Porter said Gray told him. “Help me up.”

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