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Does anybody even know what they arrested him for?
I think it was for having a switch blade, but then it was determined that the knife was legal. Hence the officers are being accused of false arrest…
On a related note, Instapundit had the following observation:
DIVERSITY IS OUR STRENGTH: Arrested Baltimore Cops: Three Black, 3 White, One Woman. Well, that’ll let the air out of one major narrative, though I’m sure this is explainable by privilege-osmosis or something.
UPDATE: Yep! “And there is no debate that tragically, black police officers often absorb the attitudes of their colleagues.” It’s from Salon’s Joan Walsh, natch.
It will be interesting to observe how these attacks on “the system” continue to play out, but I suspect we will see more and more blame shifting.
Yes Chris, I learned that blacks can be racist to other blacks. Apparently white people make them do this. The sneaky devils!
This is what happens when you give a community organizer an important job to do.
I have my doubts about Dershowitz’s assertion she will be removed as prosecutor. If it happens, she’ll have to be replaced by another black lawyer. All those whites standing behind her? Oh, no — they’re disqualified. “Justice” must be done.
I wait with baited breath to hear what Messrs. Epstein and Yoo have to say about this insanity. (or maybe I missed it?)
For myself, like I’ve thought about all these recent incidents, there’s plenty of stupid being spread around for all parties involved.
Has the autopsy report been read and commented on by anyone who is considered impartial? I read about the debunking of the spinal surgery theory and I really don’t see that they proved he did not have recent spine surgery. All they debunk is that the insurance settlement was for a lead-exposure suit not for an auto accident. I’d like to hear if an impartial medical person saw the spinal damage and determined the most likely origin.
Also, if the state attorney asked police to not talk to the media, one officer could be in trouble: on the Kelly File last night she interviewed an anonymous cop who worked with the 6 accused, and who gave, to my ears, a lengthy, detailed and sincere defense of all 6 cops as innocent.
Here’s an excerpt from an article from the Washington Post on what constitutes what’s called a “depraved heart murder” in the State of Maryland.
Let’s add some more complexity into this mix. I leave it to you to ascribe credibility to the anonymous Baltimore police officer being interviewed by Megyn Kelly :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EI8fa7qMhO4
The whole thing is an obscenity. Not a single conviction will stand when it’s all over. I’ll have much more to say about it soon.
Big difference: in 1968 there was a large white majority the Dems risked alienating.
Now, they have largely given up on whites and the game is to agitate non-whites into high turnout.
Their problem is that there is a large potential for latino vs black riots. In order to prevent that, the Dems will double down on foucusing simultaneous rage against whites.
The seatbelt rule was only recently put in place, as I understand it from Rush yesterday. They could have easily forgot to use it, also if it was a false arrest, why did it take 6 cops to subdue him? Rush had a caller, an emergency room doctor, say he saw first hand a young man come in with a C4? fracture, under his own power. The man said he had hurt himself 10 days before, but had no idea the injury was that severe. The doctor said he could have been completely paralyzed at any moment by someone just bumping his head slightly. Is that believable, Docjay?
Good points. You may be right. Let’s just hope it doesn’t come to this.
Mere speculation, but from the talking heads I’ve seen, I’m not convinced that the spinal injury occurred in the van. Whiplash from not being strapped in or self-inflicted head banging don’t cause the severance Gray suffered. Instead, Gray looks rather limp getting hauled into the van at the beginning. As a result, I’m wondering–without insisting that I’m correct–whether Gray’s spine was injured in the initial physical encounter. One talking head pointed out that his injury is consisted with the kind of pressure to the upper back and neck with a knee when officers are trying to subdue and handcuff a suspect. Maybe, the pressure applied to that area caused some amount of severance, and, in the next hour, the situation was exacerbated.
I think I read that his spine was severed to the extent of 80%. I have no qualifications to suggest where any amount of severance precludes any physical mobility. But the best explanation for the severance seems to be pressure applied as I’ve described rather than the “rough ride” scenario that’s been mentioned.
As I just said, I’m not sure the seat-belt rule is relevant because, as I understand, the seat belt would help prevent whiplash injuries, which are different from what Gray suffered. I’m with you wondering whether Gray got injured in the initial takedown and handcuffing, but he was still able to function to a limited extend for a little while, but gradually lost function during the van ride.
But one thing I’m going to quibble with you about is that it never took six guys to arrest him. The driver, so far as I’ve read, didn’t nothing but drive. He’s transport. The black woman is some kind of supervisor who, supposedly, was summoned to meet the van in response to two (I think) calls from bystanders. I’m not sure, but I think I’ve read that some bystanders called to complain about Gray’s treatment at the initial arrest or at a later stop where Gray supposedly may have been knocked around. Hence, she has little involvement and certainly none is apprehending him.
Instead, three officers on bikes initially encountered and eventually arrested him after a chase. Beyond apprehending him and piling him into the van, I’m not sure that they had any contact after that. I’m also not sure when and where the sixth officer cane into play. In the end, these six officers were part of his apprehension, arrest, and transport, but you can’t say, simply, that it took 6 officers to arrest him.
As for the part about “false arrest,” I’m not sure how to respond. I think that’s a bogus charge and one that should be reserved for instances in which officers are intentionally arresting someone for something that they know the person didn’t do. Even if it turns out that they had no probable cause to stop or detain him, let alone arrest him, cops will be in terrible trouble if false arrest charges are raised every time a cop makes a good-faith error in arresting someone.
if false arrest charges are raised every time a cop makes a good-faith error in arresting someone.
Is arresting someone for possession of an illegal device that they didn’t possess a good-faith error?
Regarding the false arrest. It raises an unanswered question that may be answered perhaps during the trial or trials. Were the bicycle cops witnessing Gray distributing drugs in the alley where he had been arrested before? Or based on the testimony of the anonymous officer in the Megyn Kelly interview, was Gray being detained and arrested to bring him in for questioning on an entirely different crime or criminal, since the officer in the interview said that Gray had acted as a police informant many times in the past and used to put on a show when being arrested so as to give the impression to others in the area that he was not an informant? Is it possible that the officers were detaining Gray for questioning but had no intention of booking him, only questioning him away from his normal surroundings? Yes, this is speculation, of course, but speculation based on the anonymous officer’s comments in the Kelly interview – for whatever that’s worth.
The false arrest charges seem to stem from the fact that they charged him with a “switchblade”, and the knife in question has been described as a “spring-assisted folding knife”. I’m guessing they’re referring to something akin to this. (I carry one myself, and it’s a great knife for the money).
A lot will depend on how the Maryland law against “switchblades” is worded.
I first read that as “comedy female politicians”. Both seem to be the case.
No
Firstly, there is a phrase that describes all of the speculation that is taking place regarding how his injury occurred. It is called “reasonable doubt”. At this point, I don’t think that it is clear to anyone when or where he was injured. This fact makes the expedited charges more suspect.
Secondly, regardless of whether the charges are accurate or not. Regardless of whether the man was murdered or not, the statements by the prosecutor were unethical. The Maryland Board of Professional Responsibility should initiate an investigation regarding her. Frankly, considering what she said and the climate in which it was said, she should be disbarred.
Lastly, the National District Attorney’s Association should issue a statement denouncing her.
Pathfinder1208
Herbert Woodbery:If it’s accurate that he wasn’t seat belted in,isn’t it clear that there is some degree of culpability on part of at least some of the officers?
No
.. So sticking a handcuffed man (unable to use his hand to steady himself into a van to be transported, would not be considered negligence?
I think the switchblade canard was started by a halfwit news reader.
I was watching either Fox or CNN, forget which, when someone was trying to talk about Baltimore’s knife ordinance, not about the Gray incident particularly but background. In the general disorganized chatter (do TV news producers encourage them to do that? Is that an appeal to reality-TV viewers?) one of the blonds (might have been a black man, for all I remember, but they’re all soooo blond) was mangling a pseudo-sentence that contained the word “switchblade.” The rest of the halfwit news community (dang, redundancy again, got to keep my eye on that word limit) heard the trigger word (would have been cool if blondie had said “trigger”, huh? Freddie’d be a gun-toting thug by now.) and ran with it.
Does anyone believe that criminals now are not aware of the fact that if they self-inflict their own bodily damage while in police custody, it will cloud the issue of their arrest? I wouldn’t put it past Al Sharpton to hold classes on street corners in How to Screw the Man in Blue.
Evidence of racism is highly flexible. It’s just like global warming: If it’s unusually hot, that’s global warming. If it’s unusually cold, then that’s global warming. If there’s a drought, or a flood, dead calm or hurricanes, snow or lack thereof, it’s global warming.
If a person of color is harmed by police, it’s racism. If a person of pallor is harmed by police, I’ll bet the Baltimore mayor and prosecutor can find racism in that, too.
Giving yourself bruises is one thing, snapping your own neck is another. Unless Gray was on PCP or something similar, I don’t see it.
It’s already come to that.
This “severed spine” business was announced from the rooftops at the very beginning, but I have seen nothing that even approaches it from any official source. What has been said, officially, that the injury was consistent with hitting a bolt inside the paddy wagon, does not add up to anything close to an “80%” severed spine. That there could be a spinal injury, even one sufficient to cause death, is unlikely, but not inconceivable, from such a scenario. A neighbor was involved in a traffic accident a couple weeks ago, and suffered a spinal injury. There was no displacement, however, and the spinal cord was not permanently injured. He will probably make a full recovery. A few millimeters different, he he could well be paralyzed for life, or dead. So this line about Gray having a “severed spine” I’m not buying. Let’s see the pathologist’s report – the whole thing, not a summary.
I believe it has been said officially that the knife was found in his pants post-arrest. Therefore, it cannot have had anything to do with the probable cause for the arrest. And, having been a peace officer, I can assure you that, even if the knife were visible, unless it was way over the top, it wouldn’t have merited so much as a second glance. The knife story was a red herring and a straw man all at once. So what precipitated the pursuit and arrest?
I think on Friday I heard (that phrase raises my skeptic’s filter, but read on) a person who identified himself as a Baltimore police officer, who had spoken to some of the officers involved. He said that the incident started when officers observed what they recognized as a drug deal going down between two individuals. The officers chased and caught both individuals, one of whom was Gray. No drugs were found, but there was ample opportunity for either party to dispose of the drugs, or swallow them, during the foot pursuits. He said that preliminary toxicology tests on Gray’s urine showed the presence of heroin and marijuana.
I have no way of verifying the identity, even in general terms, of this person, nor do I have any way of checking what he reports. But I must also say that what he describes is more complete, and more rational than anything I’ve heard from any official source.
It could be negligent. Your question was “isn’t it clear that there is some degree of culpability.” No, it is not clear. I don’t know the facts of the case but I can think of many situations where it wouldn’t be considered negligent. Some of the variables would be the policy directives that were known to the police officers in question, the equipment in the vehicle, the training that they had received, the level cooperation by the defendant, the level of impairment that the defendant suffered, etc. An example would be that if a defendant was acting in a way that would make it more likely for him to injure himself because of the physical restraints then there may be a directive otherwise. An example of this would be if he was suicidal and the seat belt included a shoulder strap that he could wrap around his neck while restrained. There may be a directive to not use the shoulder strap in that instance.
Yes, but putting him handcuff unrestrained in the back of a van….