I would think that if a person was arrested and then beaten to such an extent that they have 4 spinal cord injuries and a crushed voice box that someone would have seen that, assuming that any beating related to arrest would have occurred prior to being placed in the van.
Some people have said that when he was placed in the van he appeared to not be moving and such, giving me the impression that they are implying he was or may have been injured prior to being placed in the van.
The video looks to me like he was injured. They had to carry him to the van. Now, he could have been faking it, I suppose.
If he was seriously injured prior to being put in the van, then it becomes less likely he was making loud banging noises. On the other hand, the police could have made a deal with the witness/prisoner to say what he said for better treatment. A whole lot of unknowns, I await the tox report and autopsy.
He very well could have been faking it because of the injury he already had and had gotten a large pay out for. Maybe he thought “I’ve already got an injury and I’m going to pretend the cops are hurting my old injury.” Then he gets in the wagon and bangs his head one time too many and one time the wrong way and HE turns out re-injuring himself. Typical Darwin Awards stuff.