At least one blog reader suggests I’m overdue to comment on the Baltimore riots. He may be right. On the other hand, instead of being overdue, I may be premature writing about it now.
Tomorrow, Friday the first of May, the authorities are scheduled to announce where the investigation is in the death that ignited the riot. At the moment, there is a welcome “lull in the action” in Baltimore. There are indications that Freddie Gray, the career criminal dope dealer whose death triggered the conflagration, may have died through his own self-destructive misadventure. If the authorities announce such a conclusion, well…longtime readers will recall my take on the explosion in Ferguson, MO. When the chief prosecutor announced that the grand jury which saw all the evidence refused to indict the officer who pulled the trigger in that case, the “protesters” instantly became “rioters”: as seen on TV and still visible on YouTube, they triggered an obviously pre-planned response of violence without waiting to hear the prosecutor’s well-reasoned explanation of the grand jury’s decision. I would not be at all surprised to see the same reaction if the Baltimore investigation indicates the police may not be at fault in Mr. Gray’s sad death.
The flames in Baltimore carry symbolism beyond the obvious, inexcusable arson. The embers of that fire have flown across the country, reigniting the never-really-quenched flames of Ferguson, and sparking new ones in New York, Philadelphia, and elsewhere. That’s happened before and will doubtless happen again. There are people with agendas who want to see the flames of Baltimore turn into a nationwide firestorm.
What I’m about to say will in some parts be what is expected of me, and in some parts, not.
We’ve seen bullshit from both extremes. A Salon writer excuses the destruction of black-owned businesses, and a discount pharmacy in an impoverished neighborhood, and the burning of an old people’s home as somehow right because those who perceive themselves as downtrodden are justified in so expressing themselves. I say that’s so insanely unethical, the very suggestion destroys the credibility of the writer. And on the other side, I hear calls for police to open fire with machine guns and show those rioters a thing or two, and I call bullshit on that as well. Would you have your uniformed son or daughter fire the first shot in the next Kent State shooting, or the next Bonus Army shooting?
There have been some surprises. Within days of warnings that Crips, Bloods, and Black Guerrilla Family members were going to kill cops, all three groups attempted to create peace in the streets, and seem to have had some success, at least up ‘til now. Smart PR for those groups? Sure. But if they did actually help quell the violence, the deserve credit for doing so…as long as that approach continues.
Did the mayor really say that she created a safe zone for rioters? I for one don’t read it that way. I think she was saying that she created a safe zone for peaceful protest and those with a violent agenda took advantage of it, and I can’t fault her for what in retrospect may simply have been poor phrasing. But do I think there should have been a greater uniformed force presence on the streets sooner? Sure…but I wasn’t the one there to see the outbreak building, nor privy to the intelligence that would have warned of it…so I don’t have the standing to criticize the authorities for it, and neither does anyone else who didn’t know what the decision-makers knew in those critical hours.
A rush to judgment without facts – something I’ve warned about in this space before – led to this whole damn thing. I’m going to wait for the facts before I point fingers at the mayor and others in this volatile matter, for the same reasons.
But, enough about my take on the matter.
Let’s hear yours.

61 COMMENTS

  1. Does it occur to anyone else that that the prosecutor has no illusion that she will prevail in court with these over-reaching charges? That this prosecution may be intentionally designed to fail?
    Note the close ties between the both the prosecutor and the mayor with Sharpton and others in the black grievance industry. Could it be that they are willing to sacrifice their city as an ignition point for nationwide civil unrest when the riots inevitably come in response to acquittals?
    Note how quickly the number and diversity of the protesters grew after the announcement of the charges against the officers, to include just about every progressive grievance group in the U.S. converging on the streets of Baltimore almost simultaneously with her press conference.
    One could almost come to the conclusion that a select number of professional agitators had been given advance notice of the content of the prosecutors planned announcement.
    A trial run for future events?

  2. As an interesting side bar: The PR department of the police union seems to be fighting back. An source was on Fox news implying that Freddie Gray was a police informant. The phrase “Snitches get Stitches” was used over and over. I did not find they way the source told their story believable. A whole new level of intrigue and melodrama that would make Raymond Chandler proud has been added as a counter balance

  3. Dennis, RE the Baltimore prosecutor overreach: tyrannies have traditionally been imposed via top-down decree (i.e., “executive orders”), intimidation, and outright violence. Constraints such as those recently leveraged on local authority from a hypocritical (“Fast and Furious”) federal administration, plus disingenuous, inflammatory media exploitation of criminals’ deaths, and municipal authorities’ tolerance of arson and assault, under a largely exaggerated, racial-persecution umbrella, are time-honored take-over tactics. The prosecutor’s overreaching charges in Baltimore look like a powder keg. Let the aforesaid parties first publicly acknowledge that drug-dealing, escape attempts, resisting arrest, felony assault, being deranged by drugs, etc., lead to individual and societal disaster.

  4. Attention:
    Anyone seeking 72 virgins- It appears that the Garland, Texas Police Department has set up an express check-out lane.

  5. Wow, Randy! “All over the map” really defines your analogy! It did make me laugh, though. I can’t agree with your 50-50 approach to a review board makeup. The review is not there to educate others in something they should know coming in. You question the police’s impartiality – using that logic, the police would inevitably influence the civilians.

  6. Actually, Dennis, it ain’t just Garland PD that offers such a service…there are about 826,000 CHL holders in this great state of Texas, and I hope that any one of us can be called upon to do likewise if the need arises!

  7. Information released on the 5th shows that the prosecutor in the case filed charges against two people who were not involved, but had similar names rather than the officers arrested. Now, THERE is a complaint to file to the Bar association.

  8. It seems that at least one of the officers has his own history of prior incidents:

    “Freddie Gray officer threatened to kill himself and ex-partner’s husband, court document alleges ”

    http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/may/05/freddie-gray-baltimore-police-brian-rice

    “The Baltimore police lieutenant charged with the manslaughter of Freddie Gray allegedly threatened to kill himself and the husband of his ex-girlfriend, during incidents that led to him being disciplined and twice having his guns confiscated. . .

    “Deputies from the Carroll County sheriff’s department responded to an emergency call and transported Rice to a hospital, before confiscating his police service weapon, his personal 9mm handgun, two rifles and two shotguns. . .

    “Rice was allegedly given another administrative suspension and had his guns confiscated again eight months later, according to court filings . . . after a series of alleged confrontations, including one armed standoff in June 2012 when officers from two police departments responded to a 911 call and spent 90 minutes defusing the situation.”

    As has been mentioned previously, this does not bode well for the officer.

  9. @Uncle Dave: The paperwork had wrong information in it, but the correct persons were charged, arrested, and made bond. No incorrect person was arrested or, as far as I can tell, even visited by law enforcement officers or court officers due to the error. According to the Baltimore Sun, the wrong people whose names and addresses were in the paperwork in error (and who were neither law enforcement officers nor related in any way to law enforcement or this case), were bothered by press and bail bondsmen who contacted them through the wrong information.

    http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/blog/bal-freddie-gray-arrest-documents-drawn-up-for-wrong-people-20150504-story.html

    As for a complaint to the Bar Association: For what? A mistake? If that was the standard for bar complaints, I would have been disbarred decades ago because I make mistakes all the time, just like everyone does.

  10. Mas,
    I just viewed again the publicly released video of the officers loading Mr. Grey into the PD van (I assume the first time they put him in, since his legs weren’t yet shackled). I was struck by what appeared to be the very extreme angle of Mr. Grey’s head – way off to the left, actually laying on his left shoulder. I’m not a doctor but would be interested in the opinion of any MD’s frequenting this forum as to whether this might indicate Mr. Grey’s neck had already been broken prior to putting him in the van. I’m neither overly limber nor muscle- bound but definitely can’t get my head to lay flat on my shoulder as Mr. Grey’s appears to be.

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