By: Jef Katz – May, 2015
As I write this column, we see terrible acts of violence and radical activity in the City of Baltimore. Buildings are being looted and then set on fire. Police officers are being attacked with bricks and bottles. Gangs of rampaging hooligans are jumping up and down on cars. Thugs are pulling innocent shopkeepers from their stores and then beating them in the street. Why is this all happening?
Well, if we are to believe some of the puppet masters, this is all about the untimely death of Freddie Gray. Mr. Gray was just twenty-five years old when he suffered a severed spinal cord resulting in his death. Mr. Gray was a career criminal who had amassed more than 20 arrests in his short life, most of which were job related…that is to say they were for possession and distribution of narcotics. In early April, Gray was reported to have made eye contact with a Baltimore police officer. The steely gaze was apparently too much, since it resulted in Gray fleeing.
It is alleged that the cops decided to give Freddie Gray a “rough ride” in the back of a Baltimore Police wagon. One of the arresting officers is alleged to have said that she did not fasten the seat belt because she was afraid that Gray “had a full bladder.” The problem with all of this is that the Baltimore Police have an extensive record of injuries being sustained by prisoners who were given the old nickel ride in the police wagon. The city has paid out lots of money and as a result the department has a very clear protocol about always buckling in the prisoner.
I am an ex-cop. I have not worn a uniform or carried a badge in years but I am still a cop to my core. I will always bleed blue. There is no question in my mind but that Freddie Gray was a bad guy. Simple as that. In my research I could not find any shred of evidence that could be used to provide any glimpse at a single redeeming quality. He was a stone cold criminal. A drug dealer who was not concerned with feeding the hungry or clothing the naked. As a career criminal he really should have known better than to run from the police and so I must point out that it was his personal actions which precipitated his interaction with law enforcement. He was also a human being and his well being and safety became the responsibility of the police officers the moment that he was taken in to custody.
If the investigation shows that the police officers failed in their duty to properly look after their prisoner they must be held accountable. No if, no ands, no buts. His rap sheet shows that he was not a good guy. The question becomes, why did he become a dead guy?