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Baltimore police prisoner transport under scrutiny after past death, possible policy violation
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/04/24/baltimore-police-prisoner-transport-under-scrutiny-after-past-death-possible/ ^ | Apr 24, 2015

Posted on 05/01/2015 5:49:57 AM PDT by KeyLargo

BALTIMORE – People in Baltimore and other cities accuse police of sometimes giving prisoners an extra-rough "nickel ride" — a reference to amusement rides that once cost a nickel. Now, the safety of people in Baltimore's police vans is under scrutiny because of a past death and a new fatal injury, one that came after police failed to put a seat belt on a passenger.

One of those, Dondi Johnson, died of a fractured spine in 2005 two weeks after he was arrested for urinating in a public street and transported by van. Johnson's family won a $7.4 million judgment that was reduced to $200,000, the legal cap for such cases. Family lawyer Kerry D. Staton said Johnson was seated alone in the van with his hands cuffed behind him and no seat belt to restrain him.

It is police policy that all arrestees must be buckled in during transport. The policy, updated just nine days before Freddie Gray was injured, states "all passengers, regardless of age and location, shall be restrained by seat belts or other authorized restraining devices."

An attorney representing one of the six officers involved in Gray's arrest said it can sometimes be difficult, or even dangerous, for officers to belt prisoners if they're agitated.

"It is not always possible or safe for officers to enter the rear of those transport vans that are very small, and this one was very small."

But Police Commissioner Anthony Batts said Thursday that here are no circumstances under which a prisoner should not be wearing a seatbelt during transport and "that's part of our investigation.

"Much like any other vehicle, you seatbelt people in and it's our responsibility to make sure people are safely transported," Batts said, "especially if their hands are behind their back."

(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events; US: Maryland
KEYWORDS: arrest; badcopnodonut; baltimore; blackkk; blacks; bolt; death; doj; elijahcummings; freddiegray; justiceforfreddie; lynch; maryland; obama; officers; police; prisoner; selfinflicted; thugcops; transport; van
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I believe that Baltimore may be using Chevy vans.

Maybe the Gray's family attorney will be filing a personal injury lawsuit against Obama Motors?

Typical van set-up

1 posted on 05/01/2015 5:49:57 AM PDT by KeyLargo
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To: KeyLargo

So next are mandatory seatbelts for school buses?


2 posted on 05/01/2015 5:52:16 AM PDT by TurboZamboni (Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.-JFK)
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To: KeyLargo

Oh the horror! Why are we not transporting these VIP’s in Uber Escalades??


3 posted on 05/01/2015 5:53:02 AM PDT by petercooper (And I was born in the back seat of a Greyhound bus... Rollin' down Highway 41.)
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To: KeyLargo

Freddie Gray’s fatal injuries reportedly may have been caused by impact with bolt in police van

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/05/01/many-questions-still-remain-in-death-freddie-gray/?intcmp=trending


4 posted on 05/01/2015 5:54:12 AM PDT by KeyLargo
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To: KeyLargo

If Freddie Gray was not a career criminal, he would not have been taking the “nickel ride” that day.


5 posted on 05/01/2015 5:56:20 AM PDT by armydawg505
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To: petercooper
"Oh the horror! Why are we not transporting these VIP’s in Uber Escalades??"

Or at least the Hillary Scooby Do van.

6 posted on 05/01/2015 5:59:04 AM PDT by KeyLargo
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To: KeyLargo

Some criminals are more equal than others.


7 posted on 05/01/2015 6:03:27 AM PDT by TurboZamboni (Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.-JFK)
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To: KeyLargo
The other criminal who was riding in the van and who said it sounded like Gray was intentionally banging the walls... he was released without being charged of anything, and he is now changing his story. And we know for certain the cops did not tell the whole truth to the investigators. They lied about the number of times they stopped.
8 posted on 05/01/2015 6:06:57 AM PDT by kjam22 (my music video "If My People" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74b20RjILy4)
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To: armydawg505

9 posted on 05/01/2015 6:07:38 AM PDT by KeyLargo
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To: TurboZamboni

Michael Moore: ‘Disarm Police,’ Release Blacks Imprisoned For ‘Nonviolent Offenses’
Posted on April 30, 2015

http://www.ammoland.com/2015/04/michael-moore-disarm-police-release-blacks-imprisoned-for-nonviolent-offenses/?utm_source=Ammoland+Subscribers&utm_campaign=b1c1ad7c00-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6f6fac3eaa-b1c1ad7c00-20586057


10 posted on 05/01/2015 6:10:58 AM PDT by KeyLargo
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To: KeyLargo

Quick, somebody tell Obama to send an emergency $1 Billion to Baltimore to repave all the streets. Can’t have any bumpy rides. I’m sure Cummings can make the money disappear.


11 posted on 05/01/2015 6:16:51 AM PDT by FirstFlaBn
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To: armydawg505

In vain do we attempt to assuage conscience by going down this road....


12 posted on 05/01/2015 6:19:04 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)
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To: HiTech RedNeck

I agree with you....


13 posted on 05/01/2015 6:22:17 AM PDT by kjam22 (my music video "If My People" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74b20RjILy4)
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To: TurboZamboni

Children could and did usually catch themselves on pitchy, lurchy school bus rides. Impossible for cuffed prisoners, and no, we have no way of knowing that all are guilty of something even if the risk of death thereby was in fact a condign punishment for any crime.

One answer could be a webbed retainer that goes over the prisoner. So much effort to keep him from escaping the van, so little to keep him from being tossed about in it. And no, Escalades are not needed, you proud smart alecks. What would such a webbed retainer cost, $200 maybe?


14 posted on 05/01/2015 6:24:28 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)
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To: petercooper

Read the article, these aren’t convicted people, nor or they criminals, one described was picked up for public urination, for instance, whether he was guilty or not.

That photo does not look alike anything to be transporting people, and drunks, in with their hands cuffed behind them.


15 posted on 05/01/2015 6:47:35 AM PDT by ansel12 (LEGAL immigrants, 30 million 1980-2012, continues to remake the nation's electorate for democrats)
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To: TurboZamboni
So next are mandatory seatbelts for school buses?

Amazing isn't it.

People will get bent up out of shape(no pun intended) over prisoners not wearing seat belts, meanwhile little kids on buses aren't required to wear them.

And yes I know prisoners are handcuffed. BFD.

16 posted on 05/01/2015 7:04:18 AM PDT by FreeReign
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To: HiTech RedNeck
Children could and did usually catch themselves on pitchy, lurchy school bus rides.

Making excuses for little kids on school buses not having seat belts??

Sure lots of times they catch themselves. And the times they don't??

Geez.

17 posted on 05/01/2015 7:06:23 AM PDT by FreeReign
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To: FirstFlaBn

Prosecutor statement in progress.

No commentary as yet.

M.E. Report classified at “HOMICIDE”

PERSONNEL CHARGED WITH CRIMES:

GOODSEN: CHARGED WITH MURDER

PORTER: INVOLUNTARY MANSLAUGHTER

RICE: INVOLUNTARY MANSLAUGHTER

NERO: ASSAULT 2ND DEGREE

MILLER: INTENTIONAL ASSAULT 2ND DEGREE

WHITE: MANSLAUGHTER, AND INVOLUNTARY MANSLAUGHTER

But, prosecutor is describing how the “victim” was illegally arrested and not secured per Department Regs.

Police Lieutenant participated in the arrest.

Baltimore Cop Who Chased Freddie Gray Had Pattern of Violence
April 26, 2015 10:26 am·

Court filings have recently revealed that Baltimore Police Lieutenant Brian Rice had a pattern of violence, even before chasing down Freddie Gray in the moments that led up to his assault and arrest.

Rice had been ordered to stay away from man who court documents say had legitimate “fear of imminent harm or death.”

The Lieutenant has now been suspended in the police assault that led to the severed spine and ultimately death of Gray. That death, and the preceding assault that took place in the police van, has now sparked federal inquiry.

Rice is currently one of the six officers who is suspended with pay, pending a criminal inquiry, as to their roll in the death of Freddie Gray. But Rice has been confirmed as the officer who first chased Gray before he was thrown into a police van and had his neck “80% severed.”

But Rice had previously been accused of threatening to murder an innocent man as part of what court documents call a “pattern of intimidation and violence.” They took this matter so seriously that they issued a temporary restraining order against the lieutenant.

Rice found himself under court order to stay away from the man he had been threatening.

The documents reveal that these threats came in the form of physical confrontations and even one “armed standoff” that resulted in a 911 call, as well as officers from two departments defusing the situation for an hour and a half… Somehow, Rice remained free, in spite of these incidences.

“I am seeking protection immediately,” the Carroll County, Maryland, court documents from January 2013 read. The Guardian UK has obtained these documents, which have not yet been released. The man’s name has thus far remained protected, as he says he fears his life would be in serious jeopardy if the Baltimore police decided to retaliate on behalf of Rice.

The man went on to say in his filings that Rice’s behavior caused him “to have constant fear for my personal safety” as well as a “fear of imminent harm or death from Brian Rice”.

A separate time, also filed separately with the court, Rice even had his firearms confiscated because the threat to the man was considered so seriously. But a judge lifted this protective order within only a week, saying that he saw no basis in the law for it to continue.

Back in 2013, the man says that Rice even came to his house at 2am, very drunk and saying that he “planned to kill” him.

“I witnessed Brian Rice remove a black semi-automatic handgun from the trunk of his vehicle,” he wrote in the filings.

The man called 911, prompting numerous officers to respond.

“They remained on scene for approximately one and a half hours,” he continued. “Brian Rice was allowed to leave on foot.”

But the sheriff’s department spokesman claims that there is no record of that incident. “We were probably there as backup,” he claimed.

After and before that, he didn’t even bother calling 911. “What good will it do?” his wife said. “He abuses his power as a police supervisor and no one believes us.”

In the months that followed, Rice sent “numerous harassing and sexually explicit text messages” on his Baltimore police department-issued BlackBerry.

Another time, Rice came to the man’s house, and was “racing the engine” while flashing the headlights and moving closer and closer to the man.

“This caused me to become distraught and fear my life was about to end,” he said, adding that he was “terrified and had immense fear” of the lieutenant.

Meanwhile, police had no comment on this history of violence, instead choosing to focus on how they are “very concerned about the rhetoric of the protests” that have followed the death of Gray last week.

“The images seen on television look and sound much like a lynch mob,” Baltimore’s fraternal order of police said, invoking the image of police as a persecuted minority.

http://countercurrentnews.com/2015/04/pattern-of-lieutenant-brian-rice-baltimore-freddie-gray/


18 posted on 05/01/2015 7:52:50 AM PDT by KeyLargo
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To: ansel12

Cry me a river.


19 posted on 05/01/2015 8:00:47 AM PDT by petercooper (And I was born in the back seat of a Greyhound bus... Rollin' down Highway 41.)
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To: petercooper

Remain an unthinking lump.


20 posted on 05/01/2015 8:02:00 AM PDT by ansel12 (LEGAL immigrants, 30 million 1980-2012, continues to remake the nation's electorate for democrats)
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