Baltimore Cop Verdicts Are Wins Regardless of the Outcome
Mark Puente has documented how Baltimore City has paid about $5.7 million since 2011 over lawsuits claiming that Baltimore cops brazenly beat up alleged suspects. Over the past four years, more than 100 people have won court judgments or settlements related to allegations of brutality and civil rights violations. Victims include a 15-year-old boy riding a dirt bike, a 26-year-old pregnant accountant who had witnessed a beating, a 50-year-old woman selling church raffle tickets, a 65-year-old church deacon rolling a cigarette and an 87-year-old grandmother aiding her wounded grandson.
In almost every case, prosecutors or judges dismissed the charges against the victims — if charges were filed at all. This changes with the arrest, indictment and trial of these cops in the Freddie Gray trial. The verdict does not matter as much as them being held accountable for their actions.
Baltimore Cop Verdicts
It is believed by civilians and some police, though there is no evidence to suggest, the cops gave Freddie Gray a “nickel ride,” and it ended up killing him. The cops didn’t like him, he didn’t like them, and they decided to bounce him around inside. It happens all of the time, but normally, the guy only gets bruised and bumped.
The police in Baltimore are certainly not immune to widespread corruption. The towing scandal alone involved about 50-60 officers. Concerning Freddie Gray, no one dies of a “fake” injury. In fact, he was the third person to come out of a Baltimore police van paralyzed. In a 2 year period, about 2500 detainees were turned away from Baltimore lockup because they showed up in the custody of Baltimore police too injured to be incarcerated.
Everyone should be happy here in spite of the verdict. After all, what if the man who turned up dead with head injuries after a short ride in a police wagon had been an anti-big-government white guy arrested for protesting inside an IRS office? I imagine those angry that these cops were arrested, tried and convicted would correctly have been outraged and demanded an investigation followed by criminal charges against everyone involved, right?
