Prosecutors will charge police in Freddie Gray case
The Baltimore prosecutor has made a decision:
State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby, the chief prosecutor for Baltimore, announced this morning that her office has also found probable cause to pursue criminal charges in connection to the case.
Five of the six police officers are now in custody, Baltimore mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake confirmed this afternoon.
Mosby announced a series of charges now facing the six police officers involved in putting Gray in custody and transporting him in the police wagon on the morning of April 12. The charges vary for each individual, but include several counts of manslaughter, second-degree assault, misconduct in office, and false imprisonment among others. The most serious charge she listed was second-degree depraved heart murder, which only one officer faces.
“Depraved-heart murder” (a term I’d never heard before) is defined as an unintentional killing with “extreme indifference to the value of human life.” The article also mentions that, according to the prosecutor:
…the decision to take Gray into custody in the first place was unwarranted because the knife that he had is allowed under Baltimore laws. While the knife was able to fold, it was not a switchblade.
What’s the difference between a folding knife and a switchblade?:
It is important to remember that the natural position of the switchblade knife is OPEN, it is held closed only by the locking mechanism.
On the other hand, the natural position of the spring assisted opening knife is CLOSED. There is no pressure being exerted upon the blade, and there is no button to push…
Performance wise, there is very little (if any) difference in the opening speed of a switchblade and a spring assisted knife. However, the differences in the way they are made make the spring assisted knives legal in all 50 U.S. states (They are not legal in the 5 boroughs of New York City…)
On reading this article by attorney Andrew Branca at Legal Insurrection, I conclude that this fact would be relevant to the decision to take Gray into custody. Branca writes [you have to read Branca’s entire article to learn what a “Terry stop” is, but it describes the SCOTUS rule that established the basis for what’s called a “stop” by police]:
In the context of Freddie Gray, we’ve already seen that the Constitutional basis for a Terry stop was present.
Upon making the Terry stop, the police report that they frisked Gray, and felt the presence of a folding knife in his pocket.
Upon securing the pocket knife, they observed that it was of a type unlawful to possess in Baltimore, and thus contraband.
The discovery of Gray in possession of contraband forms the probable cause for charging Gray’s with the relevant crime and effecting his arrest.
But since the blade in question was apparently not contraband (and the police could be presumed to know the difference between the two types of blades), that is what would make the arrest illegal.
Note that none of the charges involves deliberate murder.
My prediction, for what it’s worth, is that police officers will be found guilty of some sort of negligence (some of them or at least one of them) based on putting Gray in the van without belting him and failing to respond to his strong assertions that he was injured. And my guess is that the cop who is charged with second-degree depraved heart murder was either the one who put him in the van and didn’t belt him in, or the driver (this indicates it’s the driver, but I haven’t seen that reported anywhere else).
Seat belts are extremely important in assuring that the person in the van is protected, both from any sort of jostling or accident, and even from him/herself. So the failure to belt was arguably negligent even if it turns out that somehow Freddie Gray caused his own neck injury by his own actions. As for the seat belt directive, there’s this (which would not necessarily exonerate the officers, either, but which might possibly go towards the issue of their state of mind):
But the president of the Baltimore police union noted that the policy mandating seat belts took effect April 3 and was e-mailed to officers as part of a package of five policy changes on April 9, three days before Gray was arrested.
Gene Ryan, the police union president, said many officers aren’t reading the new policies ”” updated to meet new national standards ”” because they think they’re the same rules they already know, with cosmetic changes. The updates are supposed to be read out during pre-shift meetings.
The previous policy was written in 1997, when the department used smaller, boxier wagons that officers called “ice cream trucks.” They originally had a metal bar that prisoners had to hold during the ride. Seat belts were added later, but the policy made their use discretionary.
Further questions I’d like answered: was it common or uncommon prior to that to not belt in a prisoner, and are there any benign reasons for failing to do so? Or would it always be due to negligence and/or malign intent?
The only new facts in today’s announcement (other than the fact that they will be charged) is the nature of the knife and its legality. As for the rest, it had already seemed clear quite some time ago that there was at the very least probable cause to charge for the failure to belt and the failure to get timely medical help.
One thing I can pretty much predict: whatever the outcome, there are many people who will not be satisfied. If the police are not found guilty, or if just one is found guilty, or if they are not found guilty of a serious enough crime, there will be further unrest. Some people will be upset if they’re not found guilty of first degree murder—but since they’re not even being charged with that, it’s pretty much guaranteed that they won’t be found guilty of it.
Another thing: I would imagine that the AG may step in and investigate whether this is a racially motivated crime, and that (whatever the finding on that) use it as a stepping stone to investigate the entire police department. But as soon as I typed that sentence, I realized that it may already have been done. Sure enough, the DOJ had already announced on April 21 that they were opening a probe. And strangely enough (or perhaps not so strangely), the Balimore PD has already been under the thumb of the DOJ in what’s called a “collaborative review” ever since last October.
Davis detailed the plans to work with city leaders and outside consultants in the next 30 months to curb future abuses by police officers.
Policing consultants, working with federal officials, plan to start interviewing community members, elected leaders, officers and union officials within weeks. They plan to ride with officers and examine the culture, practices, policies, supervision and oversight in the department.
Davis said federal officials would be “very blunt” in identifying deficiencies and holding officials accountable to rebuild the trust with residents.
I guess they hadn’t gotten very far yet.
The big picture here is that relations between police and the people in the city of Baltimore seem to have been bad for a long, long time. It may have been spiraling out of control in an ever-ascending loop in high crime areas, in which the more angry the residents became the more defensive and angry the police became, and the more defensive and angry the police became the more angry the residents became, and everyone ended up feeling endangered, angry, and justified in their anger. This doesn’t seem to be primarily a racism issue, either, since all the city officials seem to be black and the community is majority black as well.
[NOTE: I can’t find any reliable information that indicates the race of the officers who were charged, although I’ve read unofficial reports that they are all white.]
[UPDATE: According to this article, at least two of the charged officers appear to be black.]
Of course:
Baltimore State Attorney In Charge Of Prosecuting Looters Is Married To The Councilman Who Facilitated The Looting…
[insert demented laughter]
I blame the voters ….
If the charged officers were all white, I think we’d have heard that, loudly and clearly. The fact that the officers’ respective races haven’t been publicized suggests to me that they don’t “fit the narrative”.
neo…
Simple Simon asserted that it was common procedure for the Baltimore PD to give ‘suspects’ a ‘rough ride’ on the way to the lock-up — with the implication that such trips would entail extra mileage. (Through the rough streets, no doubt)
One could describe such travails as the UN-joyride.
The ‘suspect’ would’ve received quite an ordeal — without having a glove laid on him… such is Simon’s assertion.
Such a gambit would entirely dovetail with this tragedy.
&&&&
BTW, for those unaware: such government vehicles are commonly equipped with seriously tight suspensions — as in they ride like they’ve got no springs at all.
My brother once rode to the EM in a ambulance — that was such a rough ride I though I would be injured — spinally.
One HAD to hold onto something to stop from flying straight up into the roof of the ambulance. And that was an ambulance!
Hence, if Simon is right, we have a new breed of Rough Riders — at work — and in play.
Such events may well be the backdrop for the court papers cited above.
&&&&&&
I don’t understand the existence of the second rider — who’s been cited as having heard Gray banging his head against the van — perhaps deliberately so.
I would like to see the layout of a police van that can hold multiple officers, multiple suspects — and yet is partitioned so that the suspects can’t see each other nor the police and vice versa.
THAT is one very strange machine.
An un-padded Paddy wagon?
&&&&&&&&&
If any of Simon’s allegations about rough-riding are correct… that’s one screwed up police department.
Here’s my demand: I want every African-American currently incarcerated for drug “crimes” or nonviolent offenses released from prison today.
– Michael Moore (@MMFlint) April 30, 2015
Next demand: Disarm the police. We have a 1/4 billion 2nd amendment guns in our homes 4 protection. We’ll survive til the right cops r hired
– Michael Moore (@MMFlint) April 30, 2015
from another
Disturbing new liberal trend: Idiots wearing “Assata taught me” shirts celebrating cop-killing run-away Assata Shakur
see? now you know why they are buying all those war forbidden hollow points… why the military is practicing… (and remember, its illegal to use US military on US soil, but NOT illegal to use the military of other countries who are now in the US on loan – like from russia)
it was easy to see all this coming
what was hard was to believe
there is nothing to stop this train, or to quote one of my favorite songs. [with a slight change]
In the shuffling madness
Of the locomotive breath,
Runs the all, time loser,
Headlong to his death.
He feels the piston scraping
Steam breaking on his brow
Obama stole the handle and
The train it won’t stop going
No way to slow down.
He sees his children jumping off
At the stations one by one.
His woman and his best friend
In bed and having fun.
He’s crawling down the corridor
On his hands and knees
Obama stole the handle and
The train it won’t stop going
No way to slow down.
He hears the silence howling
Catches angels as they fall.
And the all-time winner
Has got him by the balls.
you cant stop gideons bible
open at page one
Obama has stole the handle
and the train it wont stop going
now we cant slow down…
Putting a seat belt on a handcuffed, hostile and angry suspect can be dangerous because presumably you’d have to get very close to them to lock the seat belt. Close enough for them to bite and/or spit at you. Any volunteers for this duty?
I think a prudent officer would have to put a hostile suspect in some kind of Hannible Lecter-style head and face restraint before attempting to do this, which doesn’t seem very practical.
In Baltimore, policing, violence, crime and politics have long been driven by heroin. I’m sure Obama and Holder will somehow turn this into more race-baiting, since their ultimate goal is to nationalize local police forces. But heroin’s usually the explanation for what goes wrong in Baltimore, and that includes the criminal career of the late Freddie Gray.
About twenty years ago, I knew a few white people from Baltimore. they claimed that half the adults in Baltimore were drug addicts. I think the DEA estimate was 10% of the population — including children. You don’t have to watch “The Wire” to guess what happens in a place like that.
FWIW. I reckon the cops knew Freddie from his 18 priors.
March 20, 2015: Possession of a Controlled Dangerous Substance
March 13, 2015: Malicious destruction of property, second-degree assault
January 20, 2015: Fourth-degree burglary, trespassing
January 14, 2015: Possession of a controlled dangerous substance, possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute
December 31, 2014: Possession of narcotics with intent to distribute
December 14, 2014: Possession of a controlled dangerous substance
August 31, 2014: Illegal gambling, trespassing
January 25, 2014: Possession of marijuana
September 28, 2013: Distribution of narcotics, unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous substance, second-degree assault, second-degree escape
April 13, 2012: Possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute, unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous substance, violation of probation
July 16, 2008: Possession of a controlled dangerous substance, possession with intent to distribute
March 28, 2008: Unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous substance
March 14, 2008: Possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to manufacture and distribute
February 11, 2008: Unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous substance, possession of a controlled dangerous substance
August 29, 2007: Possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute, violation of probation
August 28, 2007: Possession of marijuana
August 23, 2007: False statement to a peace officer, unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous substance
July 16, 2007: Possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute, unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous substance (2 counts)
http://nation.foxnews.com/2015/04/30/freddie-gray-arrest-record-criminal-history-rap-sheet
Russian troops are already on US soil! They are occupying US/Alaska Wrangell Island in the Arctic.
The Obama/Kerry State Department is giving away seven strategic, resource-laden Alaskan islands to the Russians. Yes, to the Putin regime in the Kremlin.
“According to a press release by the Ministry of the Russian Federation for Civil Defense and Emergencies, US and Russian officials met on June 25 at the 17th Joint U.S.-Russia Cooperation Committee on Emergency Situations.
As part of a deal signed last week in Washington DC between the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry and FEMA, Russian officials will provide “security at mass events” in the United States
this is why i said they are getting around posse comitatus by importing soldiers from other countries etc.. there are russian troops in Montana, Colorado, and other places doing joint exercises.
A disturbing report has been cropping up on the Internet suggesting that the US Government under the Obama Administration has requested 15,000 Russian troops to provide security in case of contingency operations if a disaster occurs here on US soil. A source we’ve notified in regards to this story says its “nonsense”.
all this stuff has been happening, and i try to bring it up, but then the thread changes and we avoid putting it all together. well, they put it together for you… all you need to know is that they can pull this trigger any time they want to given the previous moves of the bishiops, rooks, knights and pawns…
gonna be a hot time in the igloo soon..
ha cha cha cha!!
David O:
Yes, it can be very hazardous. But it is not unusual for a person to violently resist arrest and be combative. I don’t doubt there’s some sort of protocol for dealing with it, and there were 6 officers here (not that all 6 could have fit in the van, but maybe more than one).
But that’s why I also asked the question as to whether there were any benign resigns for failing to belt a prisoner in. That’s the sort of thing I was thinking about. The Balimore PD had to have encountered this problem many times before, and had to have developed recommended ways of dealing with it.
“We have decided that the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Russia’s Emergencies Ministry will work together to develop systems to protect people and territory from cosmic impacts,” claimed Russian “Emergencies Minister” Vladimir Puchkov in a statement to journalists. “I believe we can make a technological breakthrough in this area if the Emergencies Ministry and FEMA supervise this project, attracting the finest minds and research groups including in Canada, Europe, China, and Southeast Asia.”
The extra-constitutional “agreements” were inked late last month in Washington, D.C., at the fourth annual meeting of the so-called “U.S.-Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission Working Group on Emergency Situations.” The shady outfit, formed under the Obama administration, is one of almost two dozen similar “working groups” bringing together top U.S. and Russian officials. The bodies are cooperating on everything from the drug war and agriculture to terror, science, “rule of law,” health, environment, energy, nuclear issues, education, culture, media, business, arms control, and more, according to the U.S. State Department. The Senate has not ratified any of the international deals, as required by the Constitution.
U.S.-Russian Bilateral Presidential Commission: Working Groups
http://www.state.gov/p/eur/ci/rs/usrussiabilat/c37181.htm
there has been talk of a merger for decades..
that the point of the collapse was to bring the two countries in line so that merging their powers is possible and so, bring to the world, a complete socialism
i have no idea of this
after all, there has been no meaninful discussion
and post change, there wont be allowed any, eh?
we are now in a Zugzwang position
just think if someone like the guy that went to russia, married a russian girl, and came back to do some shooting in daily square does something similar AGAIN..
WWIV and Biden at the helm…
i wonder if the Berkley students would hollar, we were just kidding… we didnt really think we would succeed!! i just wanted to get laid by the girl with the hairy armpits!!!
Higgledy piggledy, what a lawyers’ delight, whether the knife was “contraband” or not. “Contraband” used to mean “imported or exported illegally,” i.e., smuggled.
I guess in the eyes of Justice and the Law, the world of police and policing is intended to be a perfect world, where no one in the police is ever to be human and make a mistake. Police must be perfect, huh?
Medically, I am unsure how a spinal cord injury, with or without injury of the bony spine, can be attributed to a specific one of six arresting officers beyond a reasonable doubt. A charge of murder? Seems bizarre and highly irregular, but not the first time prosecutors have played like Nifong.
Fracture of the odontoid process of C2 is classic for trivial bone damage mashing the C2 spinal cord, which causes death by neurologic asphyxiation. If the cervical spinal cord was effectively severed, the perp would have been paralyzed while dying, and thus immobile and unable to thrash about as the other arrestee in the paddy wagon has reported.
If the cord was not severed but the odontoid was fractured, the perp may have killed himself by thrashing. If the cops failed to immobilize his head and C-spine for a possible C-spine injury (if recognized by them as a possibility), that is negligence, not murder or assault.
Now, mind you, I do not know if the spinal cord lesion was in fact at C2. But it had to be C3 or above to kill him by interfering with respiratory muscles.
This whole thing smells of Justice a la Holder. Make it up as you go along, anything for the narrative.
From my perspective, the task for defense attorneys may thus be less than onerous.
Here’s an article in the Daily Mail about the officer with the most serious charges, the one who drove the van, Caesar Goodson Jr. The article says he’s black.
police dont give first aid…
They tend to just stand there and wait
i have seen this in every case
also the public tends to be very unrealistic in terms of understanding what criminals do that cause the police to ignore non criminals csught for thefirst time…
ultimately, before nationalization of police (like hitler and the soviets), comes the fast rise in crime from police scardd to do their job… its very hard to prove a cop looked away, and or ignored something….when the predators smell the bloodfrom that, the real circus begins
thiugh i suggest one read of the soviets and germans and how Rthey used criminals to fill up positions snd insure public compliance
on anither note…i just saw four apache helos flying acroo the ny sky..
From what we have heard, there are no witnesses to Mr. Gray’s arrest. With six cops how do you decide if any one assaulted Gray during the arrest? There is no witness to Gray’s ride in the wagon other than the prisoner who could hear but not see. After the wagon took Gray to the station there are no witnesses so far to an assault.
The only clear misbehavior was not buckling a seat belt and not getting medical help.
This is thin gruel for murder. Looks like a Nifong to me.
Ann:
Thanks for that link. The British papers often have more facts than the US ones (although not always true facts, but that problem exists on both sides of the pond).
If the officer with the most serious charges is indeed black, it may open up a whole other can of worms. The reaction of this one Baltimore man to news of the charges maybe gives a hint of things to come:
Tillman said he would have liked to see more serious charges filed against more of the officers…
Also, that article in the Daily Mail indicates that Officer Goodson himself says he begged the arresting officers to put a seatbelt on Gray.
All I have been able to find in the MSM is the perp was unable to breathe or walk when removed from the truck. Per my earlier post, unable to breathe implies high (C2) cervical spinal cord damage. One MSM source says 3 vertebrae were fractured, no anatomic detail provided. Lots of chatter about the event, all noisome. He died a week later, presumably quadriplegic and on a ventilator.
Cause of death is nowhere stated that I found (pneumonia? pulmonary embolus? etc). How it works: The immediate cause of death is not his spinal cord injury. The quadriplegia was contributory, but something else secondary thereto killed him. Like a woman who dies of hemorrhage during delivery; she didn’t die of pregnancy but of hemorrhagic shock.
T
– See more at: http://wemeantwell.com/blog/#sthash.69NfxuZc.dpuf
Is there more truble coming to US more than Baltimor looting and protastors.
This is definitely a case of Baltimore’s politicos looking to crucify the cops to appease the mob and ensure that they escape any responsibility.
From the Rueters article: “The officer [Goodson] who drove the police vehicle in which Gray was taken after his arrest was charged with second-degree murder. Goodson also faces a charge of involuntary manslaughter,”
How can a man be charged with two mutually exclusive charges? You can be guilty of murder or of manslaughter but not of both.
The social repercussions of attacking the institution of policing will be profound. Painting good cops with the same charges as the bad ones ensures that, ‘Where’s a cop when you need one?’ will become far more common. Lawlessness will spiral upwards and “no-go” zones become far more prevalent.
The officers who took Gray into custody were responsible for his safety & they failed.
So sue ’em, Molly. But murder? C’mon.
It occurs to me that prison guards are “responsible” for the safety of felonious, vicious inmates, who periodically kill one another. Charge a prison guard for the murderous death of an inmate by another on his watch? What charge would you prefer?
Ahh, yes. Failure, such an uncommon human failing.
A lefty I know (46 YOA) said this afternoon, “They have to find SOMEONE guilty! They can’t just keep dismissing All These Charges!” (meaning Ferguson et al.).
I said, “That’s a lynch mob idea: ‘We just want someone to hang!’ You need to go by the actual facts and evidence.” He sorta almost admitted it, then went right back to the emotional “They have to get SOMEONE!” and then ranted about cops in general.
I asked him if he had ever served on jury duty, and he said “No! I know how to get out of it.” (I restrained myself from chiding him for ducking his civic duty.) I said, “You may think someone’s guilty, but you REALLY have to hand down a verdict based on the Facts and Evidence.” He sorta acknowledged this, then ranted, “The jury system sucks!!!” I said, sarcastically, “So judges would be better??”
They are wholly creatures of impulse and emotion. Spastic emotions. And profoundly ignorant of how crucial it is to be able to be judged by a jury of twelve of your peers. He had a lot of ignorant ideas about how jury selection is done, too, all high on the Paranoid scale.
They exhaust me.
I heard the mob on their way down the Bowery, from Union Square to Foley, I presume. Raging and chanting. The police helos have been aloft over downtown for hours. Life during wartime.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obAtn6I5rbY
Geoffrey Britain:
How can a man be charged with two mutually exclusive charges?
Simple, easy, happens all the time.
You draw up a list of charges, sometimes very very many, that fit (or could fit) the elements of the situation. Just as an example, let’s say a certain crime (murder first degree, although no one here has been charged with that) involves premeditation. That’s a state of mind that the prosecutor may or may not be able to prove. If the prosecutor can’t prove it, then maybe he/she can prove a lesser crime such as some degree or type of manslaughter that doesn’t require premeditation. Prosecutors sometimes only charge with the greater crimes because they’re afraid if a lesser crime is available the jury will wimp out and go for that. But ordinarily there are many charges of various seriousness.
At least, that’s the way it goes to the best of my recollection. Can’t seem to find a good site to link to.
Comparing these officers, who inappropriately arrested Gray & most likely would only have *brief* custody of Gray to guards monitoring a community of felons is comparing apples to oranges.
Sad, that a very short duration custody is such an
abysmal *failure*, prison guards however, hopefully they are doing the best they can.
I realized that neo. My point in phrasing it that way was to point out the contradiction as proof of the incompetence (mendacity, ambition, or deflection) of the prosecutor. The motivation being (ala Beverly above) ‘we have to convict them of something!’, so we’ll throw lots of s**t at the wall until something sticks. It’s a fundamentally dishonest approach. It’s also manipulative, a jury that is unwilling to convict on the graver charge, then chooses to convict on the lesser charge as compromise.
“The officers who took Gray into custody were responsible for his safety & they failed.” Molly NH
Yes, in the most basic of terms they did fail. That said, what should they have done differently? Not arrested him? Sure. What about the next time though? And with Gray’s rap sheet there’s no doubt whatsoever that there would have been a next time.
Should cops call for the paramedics every time a perp yells that he’s hurt? If not, they’re now playing roulette with both their jobs and their freedom. Ready for the higher taxes needed to fund that level of ‘safety’? Perps LOVE police brutality charges, what are the odds that from this point forward, every perp is going to sue for back ‘injures’? Which of course the taxpayer will be on the hook for with all of the expenses involved, more lawyer’s fees, judicial system expenses, the victim’s ‘compensation, etc. etc.
Then there’s recruitment; how willing would you be to work in a job under ever more scrutiny where any action on your part was subjected to hindsight with the ever present potential for the gravest of consequences for you?
Molly: Was Freddie on parole? If so, fleeing from an officer is itself a parole violation, making him subject to immediate incarceration.
You can’t make up your own criminal code, Molly.
And it is Apples to Apples. You don’t see that, but so it goes.
Geoffrey Britain:
No, it’s not mendacious. It’s the way things have to be done in order to get a conviction of the guilty. It’s not a game of chance where you gamble that it’s murder one and only charge with that, and if you fail to prove all the elements of murder one the accused then goes scot free even though he/she is guilty of manslaughter.
Because of double jeopardy, if you fail to convict of murder one in the trial you can’t ask for a do-over and charge with manslaughter. So you combine the charges in one trial and try your best as a prosecutor to convict of the greater charge, or if it doesn’t work out for that then you hope for conviction on the lesser.
Forgive my lack of clarity neo. I did not mean that overcharging a defendant is inherently mendacious. I meant that prosecutors frequently overcharge out of political ambition or succumb to political pressure in charging the defendant, which if so is inherently mendacious, given that it places personal aggrandizement and/or public appeasement before justice.
I do not agree however that, “It’s the way things have to be done in order to get a conviction of the guilty.” it is the job of the DA to examine all the evidence and base their charges upon that evidence and, if that means that the evidence only supports a charge of, for instance manslaughter, (regardless of how ‘certain’ people may be that it was murder), then in that example, manslaughter is all that the defendant can honestly be charged with.
It is my contention that in the long term, combining unsupported by evidence charges with charges that the evidence does support is a corrupting influence upon our system of justice because it seeks to convict a defendant even when the evidence doesn’t justify that charge. And that is a mortal threat to our system of justice. It seeks to satisfy upon emotion, rather than rely upon reason. Emotion leads to the mob and in turn, it encourages political theater.
Oops. Should be “It seeks to satisfy emotion”
G.B.: “This is definitely a case of Baltimore’s politicos looking to crucify the cops to appease the mob and ensure that they escape any responsibility.”
The details are different, but the essential elements are all there to remind one of Wolfe’s “The Bonfire of the Vanities.” The story is a drama about ambition, racism, social class, politics, and greed in 1980s New York City. The characters and location have changed, but the similarities are all there.
There is nothing new under the sun. It’s a rerun of the late 60s and 70s. This time the “troubles” are going to last longer and run deeper. Mostly because the progs are running the show in too many places. If you live in a “diverse” city, you may have a hard time living a normal life. Streets clogged by protestors, buildings on fire, anarchists attacking the “system,” and more are going to be much more common. The poor police in those cities will be under the thumb of the DOJ and will be harder to find when you really need them. Maybe the LIVs will finally wake up, but I see so many people interviewed on Seattle newscasts who have been robbed, mugged, or assaulted, who seem to feel guilty that their possessions or person (white privilege) tempted the perps to victimize them. I don’t see enough anger at the thugs to believe that anything will change soon. When will these well-intentioned people realize that being robbed and assaulted is not their fault? And that they pay taxes to the government for protection from criminals? Progressive government fails at its primary duty, which is to protect the citizens. Self protection becomes much more important going forward. parker assures us he’s well armed. How many of us aren’t? I don’t like to cry Wolf, but it’s something to consider.
Geoffrey Britain:
I agree that prosecutors shouldn’t overcharge—as in, charge an offense too serious to be supported by the facts. But that didn’t seem to be what you and I were talking about here.
“that didn’t seem to be what you and I were talking about here.”
Which is why I apologized for my lack of clarity.
J.J.,
Yes, the repercussions will be profound going forward.
Different states have different laws as to how a citizen can protect themselves. Many allow pepper gel, which in some ways is better than pepper spray. Many allow you to carry a ‘stun gun’.
In some states, ‘concealed carry’ of a firearm is an option, though the legal aspects are potentially severe (ala George Zimmerman).
All however are dependent upon your mind-set. There’s no substitute for ‘situational’ awareness and preparation. With the right mind-set and wielded knowledgeably, almost any object can be a weapon.
There’s a complete transcript of Mosby’s announcement of the criminal charges here. This part details step-by-step what happened after Gray was put into the van:
Geoffrey Britain,
No problem.
Ann:
Not belting someone in does not support a charge of depraved heart murder, nor does not being able to tell that a person who’s still responding, but asking for medical assistance, is in such dire shape that his life is in danger. And it seems that if Goodson was charged with those crimes, why not Alicia White? She saw Gray when he was more unresponsive and she didn’t react, so why is she not at least as culpable as he or more?
There are varying degrees of negligence that these people could have been charged with. Murder with a possible 63-year sentence for the van driver doesn’t seem at all warranted, based on these facts. We’d have to know a lot more.
Do you think Dershowitz, a liberal and a noted criminal law expert (that’s the course he taught at Harvard), doesn’t know what he’s talking about?:
Mosby alleges (per Ann’s citation above), “Following transport from Baker Street, Mr. Gray suffered a severe and critical neck injury as a result of being handcuffed, shackled by his feet and unrestrained inside of the BPD wagon.” There is no evidence, none, that is the time when his neck injury occurred. It is an inference.
No one has said anything about the Medical Examiner’s report. All citations blankly report the ME’s conclusion (!!!) Gray’s death was due to homicide. It strikes me as patently biased. Medically, he apparently died of consequences of a high C-spine injury, and no ME is in a position to determine when and why said injury occurred….not from an autopsy, which is where the ME’s competence starts and stops. if the ME’s charge is truely cited, I take this as a sign the political corruption in Baltimore is everywhere.
http://www.breitbart.com/video/2015/05/01/clarke-freddie-gray-charges-duke-lacrosse-case-all-over-again/
Caterpillar:
I was thinking something similar.
Absent a gunshot wound causing death, or strangulation, or something of that sort, how on earth would an autopsy tell how that injury was gotten?
And what about about a toxicology report? Has that come out at all?
Neo: I see few facts, and fewer intelligent media comments. This whole thing is demonstrative of the depths into which the nation has sunk.
Thus my posting of the link of the black Milwaukee sheriff’s good remarks.