There were rumors of it from the beginning: Was Freddie Gray a victim of one of Baltimore’s infamous “rough rides”?

They paralyzed one man in 2005, and the city has paid out millions in settlements over these “rides,” in which, after arresting a person, police toss the handcuffed man or woman into the back of a van, not bothering to secure him or her with a seat belt. Officers then take these people on a journey, fast and rough, with jagged, abrupt turns, leaving them jostling around in the van like rag dolls, slamming uncontrollably against the sides of the vehicle. During the ride, the driver will slam on the brakes, causing arrestees to crash into the walls or, if they’re on a gurney, to fall off.

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University of South Carolina professor Geoffrey Alpert, an expert in police force, said rough rides are also known as “screen tests.” When police cars or vans had screens between the front and back seats, drivers would stop short — “to avoid a dog” — sending a handcuffed prisoner flying face-first into the screen, he said. “Cops used to laugh about it. That was big in the 1980s and 1990s,” Alpert said. “It was obviously against policy and illegal. I remember in some trainings that police chiefs would say, ‘You’d better bring the damn dog you were trying to avoid if you come in with a prisoner with such an injury.’”