If you believe that, I've got a bridge I want to sell you. And I'm glad you consider multiple felonies as doing stupid stuff.
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The Police department and the prosecutor agree with me not you. They have arrested the cops, I think 7 of them, for manslaughter and 2nd degree murder. The pocket knife they arrested him for was not a switch blade and was legal.
Only one of the cops was charged with murder but he has been disciplined for roughing up this guy before. He had recently (13 days before this incident) received a letter telling him to quit taking people for rough rides and injuring them in the paddy wagon. Taking a rough ride with your hands bound behind your back and your feet shackled is a sure ticket to injury. Suspects were not supposed to be transported without being restrained with a seat belt.
They stopped the guy because he was black and an ex-con and because they could get away with it. They had no business being cops. Cops are to protect and serve, if you can't do that then don't be a cop.
"According to the city, an officer made eye contact with Gray, and he took off running, so they pursued him."
If he wasn't doing anything illegal, why run? Bottom line...if you don't want to attract the cops attention, don't give them ammo. But in Corrections, we had a saying about convicts: "They're not in here because they're smart. When they frisked him, they found the switchblade.
His last arrests were on March 13th for malicious destruction of property, and second-degree assault. On March 20th, he was arrested for possession of controlled dangerous substances. There's no information as to the disposition of those two arrests, so we don't know if a trial was forthcoming, or if the charges were dropped. For someone who had multiple arrests previously for possession of controlled dangerous substances, he probably shouldn't have been hanging out in an area specifically patrolled by cops because of the drug problems there. And since we don't know if he was under any court restrictions at the time of his death, we can't say that his possession of the switchblade was legal or illegal.
The police department does what the DA, or State Attorney's office tells them to, and they were told to charge the cops. Remember what happened with George Zimmerman? You can charge anyone with a crime. You have to prove your case to a jury.
Having transported many inmates during my career in Corrections, you'd be negligent if you didn't take the steps to properly restrain the inmate. If these cops are indeed guilty, and aren't being railroaded to satisfy a crowd, then by all means they should take the punishment.