Baltimore Rioting, Looting OK According to Mayor

[paullud]

Got it. The police never invent charges. Like the police in Ferguson who stopped citizens and trumped up charges to rake in revenue for city coffers. The citizens weren't doing anything illegal, tho.

What do a small fraction of cases have to do with anything? Talk about a straw man argument.

 

[Ragman]

Failed liberal policies mostly.

Expressed that way, I will accept.

 

[Turtle]

What do a small fraction of cases have to do with anything? Talk about a straw man argument.

It's not a straw man, it's your own context, an individual, who _couldn't_ get in trouble if stopped by the police because he doesn't do anything illegal.

 

[Pilgrim]

Updating post #96: I need to withdraw my criticism of the Gov of MD for not calling out the National Guard sooner because it turns out he was waiting on Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake to make the necessary formal request for the services of the National Guard. This brings back memories of the infamous incompetence of New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin during the Katrina disaster.

Hogan said he executed the request 30 seconds after it was made by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. Some residents questioned why it took the mayor so long to respond to the crisis, and Hogan made some poignant remarks to that effect as well.

“When the mayor called me, which quite frankly we were glad that she finally did, instantly we signed the executive order. We already had our entire team prepared,” he said. “We were trying to get in touch with the mayor for quite some time, she finally made that call and we immediately took action.”

We also now know that Mayor Rawlings-Blake vetoed legislation that would have required body cameras on all Baltimore police officers.

On December 2, Ms Rawlings-Blake vetoed a bill that would have made it mandatory for Baltimore police officers to be equipped with body cameras. The legislation stated that city cops would “be personally equipped with a digital audio-and-video portable recording device.”

Despite the fact that the bill overwhelmingly passed the Baltimore City Council and the mayor publicly declaring that she wanted officers to wear body cams, she still promised to veto the bill.

http://theantimedia.org/baltimore-mayor-vetoed-bill-requiring-body-cams-for-cops/

The good people of Baltimore should begin TODAY circulating recall petitions for the Mayor's removal from office.

 

[ysracer]

We also now know that Mayor Rawlings-Blake vetoed legislation that would have required body cameras on all Baltimore police officers.


The good people of Baltimore should begin TODAY circulating recall petitions for the Mayor's removal from office.

As is typical, pertinent facts not included that don't fit the pre-packaged position:

"Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake vetoed the bill, but supports the use of wearable cameras. In fact, Rawlings-Blake submitted her own proposal for a wearable camera program in February.

Rawlings-Blake cited questions about funding and disputed the authority of the City Council to legislate changes at the police department."

 

[muttly]

Updating post #96: I need to withdraw my criticism of the Gov of MD for not calling out the National Guard sooner because it turns out he was waiting on Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake to make the necessary formal request for the services of the National Guard. This brings back memories of the infamous incompetence of New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin during the Katrina disaster.

We also now know that Mayor Rawlings-Blake vetoed legislation that would have required body cameras on all Baltimore police officers.


The good people of Baltimore should begin TODAY circulating recall petitions for the Mayor's removal from office.

Yeah, she dropped the ball a bit early on. Now she's blaming the media, regarding her quote.

 

[ysracer]

http://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos/svt15r/baltimore-on-fire

 

[ntimevan]

........ ....

 

[Pilgrim]

As is typical, pertinent facts not included that don't fit the pre-packaged position:

"Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake vetoed the bill, but supports the use of wearable cameras. In fact, Rawlings-Blake submitted her own proposal for a wearable camera program in February.

Rawlings-Blake cited questions about funding and disputed the authority of the City Council to legislate changes at the police department."

The proposed legislation passed the city council vote 12-1. Obviously there was a disagreement between them and the Mayor. Considering the recent performance of the mayor and that the attorney general's office declined to offer an opinion, it's likely the members of the council were on pretty solid ground. She could easily have signed the legislation and then allowed it to be challenged in court to determine which legal opinion was right. Instead she shot down the legislation and appointed a task force.

 

[muttly]

Interesting development :

Prisoner in van said Freddie Gray was ‘trying to injure himself,’ document says
BALTIMORE — A prisoner sharing a police transport van with Freddie Gray told investigators that he could hear Gray “banging against the walls” of the vehicle and believed that he “was intentionally trying to injure himself,” according to a police document obtained by The Washington Post.

The prisoner, who is currently in jail, was separated from Gray by a metal partition and could not see him. His statement is contained in an application for a search warrant, which is sealed by the court. The Post was given the document under the condition that the prisoner not be named because the person who provided it feared for the inmate’s safety.

The document, written by a Baltimore police investigator, offers the first glimpse of what might have happened inside the van. It is not clear whether any additional evidence backs up the prisoner’s version, which is just one piece of a much larger probe.

Gray was found unconscious in the wagon when it arrived at a police station on April 12. The 25-year-old had suffered a spinal injury and died a week later, touching off waves of protests across Baltimore, capped by a riot Monday in which hundreds of angry residents torched buildings, looted stores and pelted police officers with rocks.

Police have said they do not know whether Gray was injured during the arrest or during his 30-minute ride in the van. Local police and the U.S. Justice Department both have launched investigations of Gray’s death.

Social media users capture massive protests in New York on Wednesday against the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore. (Ashleigh Joplin/The Washington Post)

[Federal investigation launched into Freddie Gray’s death]

Jason Downs, one of the attorneys for the Gray family, said the family had not been told of the prisoner’s comments to investigators.

“We disagree with any implication that Freddie Gray severed his own spinal cord,” Downs said. “We question the accuracy of the police reports we’ve seen thus far, including the police report that says Mr. Gray was arrested without force or incident.”

Baltimore police said they will wrap up their investigation Friday and turn the results over to the Baltimore state’s attorney’s office, which will decide whether to seek an indictment. Six police officers, including a lieutenant and a sergeant, have been suspended.

Capt. Eric Kowalczyk, chief spokesman for the Baltimore Police Department, declined to comment on the affidavit, citing the ongoing investigation.

The affidavit is part of a search warrant seeking the seizure of the uniform worn by one of the officers involved in Gray’s arrest or transport. It does not say how many officers were in the van, whether any reported that they heard banging or whether they would have been able to help Gray if he was seeking to injure himself. Police have mentioned only two prisoners in the van.

Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts has admitted flaws in the way officers handled Gray after they chased him through a West Baltimore housing project and arrested him. They said they later found a switchblade clipped to the inside of his pants. Batts has said officers repeatedly ignored Gray’s pleas for medical help and failed to secure him with a safety belt or harness in the back of the transport van.

[Police cite missteps in arrest of Freddie Gray]

Video shot by several bystanders has fueled the rage in West Baltimore. It shows two officers on top of Gray, their knees in his back, and then dragging his seemingly limp body to the van as he cried out.

Batts has said Gray stood on one leg and climbed into the van on his own.

The van driver stopped three times while transporting Gray to a booking center, the first to put him in leg irons. Batts said the officer driving the van described Gray as “irate.” The search warrant application says Gray “continued to be combative in the police wagon.”

The driver made a second stop, five minutes later, and asked an officer to help check on Gray. At that stop, police have said the van driver found Gray on the floor of the van and put him back on the seat, still without restraints. Police said Gray asked for medical help at that point.

The third stop was to put the other prisoner — a 38-year-old man accused of violating a protective order — into the van. The van was then driven six blocks to the Western District station. Gray was taken from there to a hospital, where he died April 19.

The prisoner, who is in jail, could not be reached for comment. No one answered the phone at his house, and an attorney was not listed in court records.

Batts has said officers violated policy by failing to properly restrain Gray. 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 only 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 left their use discretionary.

Ryan said that until all facts become clear, he “urged everyone not to rush to judgment. The facts as presented will speak for themselves. I just wish everyone would take a step back and a deep breath, and let the investigation unfold.”

The search warrant application says that detectives at the time did not know where the officer’s uniform was located and that they wanted his department-issued long-sleeve shirts, pants and black boots or shoes. The document says investigators think that Gray’s DNA might be found on the officer’s clothes.

Keith L. Alexander contributed to this report.

 

[Yowpuggy]

No video, no justice.

 

[cheri1122]

That's not true. My neighbors could be a target of police and not be in trouble once.

Rubbish! Anyone who is a target of the police is going to react in some negative way, sooner or later. They will reach a point where polite compliance is no longer possible, and then, "resisting arrest" [or just running away] is inevitable.
Whether it's about harassment, excessive taxation, or income inequality, injustice will become intolerable at some point, and when it does, things get real. And real messy.

 

[paullud]

The other prisoner might have heard him getting bounced around or falling out of the seat. We really just need to see what the medical examiner says at this point.

 

[Turtle]

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/riots-are-destructive-dangerous-and-scary-—-but-can-lead-to-serious-social-reforms/ar-BBiW2J8

Social justice riots are often depicted as people senselessly destroying their own communities to no productive means. President Obama, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, and members of the media have all used this type of characterization to describe the riots in Baltimore.

But riots can and have led to substantial reforms in the past, indicating that they can be part of a coherent political movement. By drawing attention to some of the real despair in destitute communities, riots can push the public and leaders to initiate real reforms to fix whatever led to the violent rage.

"I was one of the ones who started the peaceful protests … the first seven days [after Gray's death], when it was fine and dandy," William Stewart, a West Baltimore resident who didn't participate in the riots. "I walked about 101 miles in peace. But if you protest peacefully, they don't give a shit."

"When you have a major event like this, the power structure has to respond," Hunt of UCLA said. "Some very concrete, material things often come out of these events."

 

[ysracer]

The proposed legislation passed the city council vote 12-1. Obviously there was a disagreement between them and the Mayor. Considering the recent performance of the mayor and that the attorney general's office declined to offer an opinion, it's likely the members of the council were on pretty solid ground. She could easily have signed the legislation and then allowed it to be challenged in court to determine which legal opinion was right. Instead she shot down the legislation and appointed a task force.

Her position sounds pretty reasonable to me.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/politics/bs-md-ci-vetoes-20141201-story.html

 

[Pilgrim]

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/riots-are-destructive-dangerous-and-scary-—-but-can-lead-to-serious-social-reforms/ar-BBiW2J8

As mentioned in one of the article's comments the author is long on BS excuses and short on facts, especially when he attempts to compare these senseless acts of destruction by vandals and thugs to past revolutions against tyranny or despotic regimes. To repeat the obvious, Baltimore's elected leaders and law enforcement organizations have a high percentage of minority representation from the Mayor all the way down to the police force on the streets. However, one paragraph in the article stands out above all others (bold emphasis mine):

Similarly, in 1992, South Central Los Angeles rose up in riots that lasted six days, killed more than 60 people, and injured thousands....
The riots were triggered by the acquittal of police officers who were caught on tape beating Rodney King, a black man, after a high-speed chase...
Previous research found, for example, that high unemployment and poverty in South Central Los Angeles made it a hotbed for violent outbursts...

"It was the accumulation of slights and insults and disrespect," Hunt said.

You gotta be #**@% kidding me! Since when does a hive of drug dealers, criminals, thugs and deadbeats deserve respect? Does that mean it's OK for any segment of society to burn, loot and pillage whenever they get "dissed" or insulted? Let's hope evangelical Christians or conservative caucasians don't decide to go militant.

The article goes on to point out the Sandtown area where the Baltimore riots took place is also a nest of crime, unemployment and poverty. In the typical liberal fashion, the study to which they refer suggests the following preposterous alternative to putting people (criminals) in jail:

"Rather than spend millions of dollars to incarcerate people from each of these communities, the funds could, instead, be invested in education, workforce development, treatment, and housing services."
http://static.prisonpolicy.org/origin/md/Sandtown.pdf

To evaluate the wisdom of that philosophy, one only has to look at the pictures of the burning CVS that was looted first or the new Southern Baptist senior citizen center that went up in flames. These kinds of actions are typical of an area ridden with crime, juvenile delinquency and no desire or respect for education or normal family structure. The reason the arrest rate and police brutality statistics seem so out of proportion is that the crime rate in that area is out of proportion.

If these people really wanted to riot in a constructive manner, they would riot and protest against the nature of their rotten hip-hop gangsta culture and race hustlers and poverty pimps like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. Burning down their own neighborhoods accomplishes nothing but the destruction of their neighbors' property and the encouragement of businesses and investors to put their resources elsewhere.

I'll say again: anarchy and absence of the rule of law is not compatible with democracy.

 

[Turtle]

Yet there are reasons why people riot, and it's not because they're criminals.

 

[LDB]

Technically I think they actually are criminals.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

Fargo Cop shoots Unarmed Cow, Town Braces for Bovine Riots
http://drrichswier.com/2014/08/27/fargo-cop-shoots-unarmed-cow-town-braces-bovine-riots/

A resident of Cass County, ND, has warned the People’s Cube of the rising tensions between the local community and the bovine population after a Cass County Sheriff’s Deputy shot and killed an unarmed cow who allegedly attacked him and pushed the uniformed officer to the ground after he produced his credentials and read the Miranda rights.

 

[Turtle]

Technically I think they actually are criminals.

People commit criminal acts during a riot, but that doesn't mean they were criminals prior to the rioting, nor that they were rioting simply because they are criminals.