The headline posed a valid question (Why Freddie Ran)
Too bad the article was crap and didn’t address that question.
“When the cops chasing Freddie Gray caught up with him, they had a problem: He had not done anything illegal. They solved that problem the way cops often do: They plucked a charge out of thin air.”
Police in disguise were interviewed and stated that two cops saw him had over ‘drugs’ and take money.
“Rice, Nero and Miller arrested Gray for carrying a switchblade, which Maryland defines”
He was arrested by Baltimore City cops under Baltimore statues. The Maryland definition is irrelevant.
...or had the drugs stashed within site so as not to have the drugs on him.
Interesting. My AARP tabloid just listed Baltimore as a nice place to live in retirement, several times.
Perhaps valid points.
However, Liberal-t-more is a progressive city and has been for decades.
Which means, of course, that it requires scientific notation to accurately notate the incompetance and corruption.
The inverse of the above number will also indicate the average IQ of their typical gubmit minion.
Face it, the place is doomed.
” New York cops who arrest pot smokers for publicly displaying marijuana after tricking them into revealing it”
They didn’t ‘trick’ them. They just asked them to empty their pockets.
So......When is the public going to see the evidence? Or are we going to continue to get it from 3rd party MSM sources? This trial is going to be very interesting. Seeing how Mosby seemed to keep mentioning Gray not wearing his seatbelt at her lighting speed press conference after the autopsy report came in, I am assuming that is all she is able to charge the cops with - a seatbelt violation.
“Baltimore has a history of such trumped-up charges.”
Police get paid NOTHING for arrests. Police get paid NOTHING for getting into fights with people that may well hurt them. Police get paid NOTHING for being in intense situations.
If a cop drives around for seven hours and never speaks to a civilian once, he gets paid the same as one that makes three arrest and has two fist fights.
As someone with several retired cops as good shooting buddies, allow me to tell you how it ACTUALLY works.
All patrol officers start with some kind of meeting. It’s referred to by different names in different police departments, but we’ll just use ‘morning briefing’ for this discussion.
Morning briefing 1 “We’re getting a lot of calls from citizens in (such and such street) complaining about crack dealers standing right in the middle of the street dealing.” Likely outcome: ignored.
Morning briefing a few days later “Dang it I still have these citizens calling in about the dealers on (such and such street). Likely outcome: also ignored.
Morning briefing a week or so later “Dammit, if somebody doesn’t do something to get those pain in the butt citizens off my neck about the dealers on (such and such street), I’m going to start coming up with some real crappy assignments for some of the people in this room.” Result - police show up in force.
There is no money or glory in going into a distressed area and starting a fight. Aids, Hep B, and others all await. When ever you hear one of these stories, believe me there had already been NUMEROUS citizen complaints about what was going on. The cops know exactly what the people are up to long before they got there. Only when it is completely obvious that the situation won’t fix itself do they go in.
Here Libertarian Sullum is letting his bias show. According to Sullum it’s all about the war on drugs. Whether a person believes the WODs is useless or fruitful, the police officers are obliged to enforce the law. And Grey had broken the drug laws and a number of other laws many times. Sullum looks like an ass in this story.
Originally it was stated that the cops made “eye contact” with Freddie, and that’s why he ran.
One article I read stated that the reason the cops made “eye contact” with him is because they saw him selling drugs.
Why anyone would want to be a cop in the cesspool that is Baltimore is a mystery.
Cuz he was a career drug dealer, had some inventory on him, and thought he could get away. Duh....
IBTZ
The NYC cop who was killed over the weekend focused on his murderer because he “adjusted his waist band in a suspicious manner.” By taking the bullet in the face, he very probably and tragically aborted the shooting of a future victim. But was “adjusting a waist band” probable cause? By the way , his name was Brian Moore. The same media that has done such a great job of teaching us the names of Freddy Gray, Michael Brown and Eric garner would much prefer that Brian Moore’s name be forgotten before the first shovel of dirt thuds onto his casket.