Posted on 05/06/2015 2:35:08 PM PDT by Kaslin
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.
The cops probably would not have gotten into trouble for making an illegal arrest if Gray had not died due to a spinal injury he suffered in the back of a police van. Gray's death has shined a light on the way police officers abuse their arrest powers to impose arbitrary punishment, a practice that helps explain the anger on display in Baltimore last week.
Of the various criminal charges that Marilyn Mosby, the state's attorney for Baltimore, announced on Friday in connection with Gray's death, the most unusual and revealing was false imprisonment. Mosby said Lt. Brian Rice, together with Officers Edward Nero and Garrett Miller, "failed to establish probable cause for Mr. Gray's arrest as no crime had been committed."
Rice, Nero and Miller arrested Gray for carrying a switchblade, which Maryland defines as a knife with "a blade that opens automatically by hand pressure applied to a button, spring or other device in the handle of the knife." Since Gray's perfectly legal folding knife did not fit that description, he plainly was not guilty of the crime that was the pretext for hauling him away in handcuffs.
Baltimore has a history of such trumped-up charges. A 2006 class-action lawsuit backed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) cited "a pattern and practice" of bogus arrests for minor, often vaguely defined offenses such as loitering, trespassing, impeding pedestrian traffic, disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace and failure to obey a police command.
Of the 76,497 people arrested by Baltimore police without warrants in 2005, the lawsuit noted, prosecutors declined to charge 25,293 -- nearly one out of three. According to the state's attorney, those cases were "legally insufficient."
The arrests nevertheless had real consequences for people who were publicly kidnapped by armed agents of the state, strip-searched and placed in "small, filthy and overcrowded cells" for hours or days. In addition to the humiliation, degradation and loss of liberty inflicted by this process, the ACLU and NAACP noted, victims of illegal arrests "may lose their jobs or be denied job opportunities in the future as a result of the permanent stigma of having a criminal charge on their record."
The named plaintiffs in the case included Tyrone Braxton and Evan Howard, two friends who spent 36 and 54 hours behind bars, respectively, after police accused them of loitering and impeding traffic; Donald Wilson, who was strip-searched and held for five hours, although he was never told what crime he had supposedly committed; and Aaron Stoner and Robert Lowery, two visitors from Pennsylvania who were arrested for failure to obey an order to stop loitering, strip-searched and locked up for 17 hours. "For innocent victims of these arrest practices," the lawsuit observed, "being unlawfully arrested can be a life-changing event."
Under a settlement reached in 2010, the Baltimore Police Department (BPD) agreed to change performance evaluation policies that encouraged false arrests and introduce safeguards aimed at ensuring that cops have probable cause when they take people into custody. Two years later, the ACLU complained that the BPD was "failing to comply" with the agreement. It noted that "BPD officers did not or could not justify arrests for quality of life offenses in at least 35 percent of the cases examined" by an independent auditor.
As demonstrated by Austin cops who arrest activists for recording police encounters and New York cops who arrest pot smokers for publicly displaying marijuana after tricking them into revealing it, this problem is not limited to Baltimore. But given the city's history of hassling young black men for imaginary offenses, it is not hard to understand why Freddie Gray ran when he saw the cops.
Actually, it was reported the day of the arrests that the officers had seen Freddie with another unknown male. But since I wasn’t there I don’t know for sure.
And since I haven’t seen the knife, I can only “assume” that since he was charged with it’s possession, they believed it was illegal...but it’s not up to the cops to determine if the knife is illegal, it’s up to the courts.
It’s no different than if a cop stops you for running a red light. He can write you a ticket for the infraction, but the judge makes the final determination. Otherwise...why bother having a court system? The cop can be judge, jury, and executioner.
From the published narratives. No evidence to the contrary.
In case you’re not feeling up to doing any research. The below section defines what a “switchblade” is. It IS LEGAL TO OWN such knifes but it IS ILLEGAL TO SELL OR CARRY such knifes. Maryland case law effectively has expanded the definition of illegal knife to include such things as “gravity” knifes.
Md. CRIMINAL LAW Code Ann. § 4-105 (2012)
§ 4-105. Transfer of switchblade or shooting knife
(a) Prohibited. — A person may not sell, barter, display, or offer to sell or barter:
(1) a knife or a penknife having a blade that opens automatically by hand pressure applied to a button, spring, or other device in the handle of the knife, commonly called a switchblade knife or a switchblade penknife; or
(2) a device that is designed to propel a knife from a metal sheath by means of a high-compression ejector spring, commonly called a shooting knife.
(b) Penalty. — A person who violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction is subject to imprisonment not exceeding 12 months or a fine of not less than $ 50 and not exceeding $ 500 or both.
Very good post. Cops arrest people whom they believe are violating a law, based on some evidence (for example, the knife, which had a “mechanism” and thus was not legal in Baltimore) and then it is up to the judge or the grand jury to decide if this is a chargeable offense and if it’s likely that the arrested person committed it.
They weren’t taking him off to hang him, but simply to hold him until he could go through the legal process.
Here’s the only Baltimore code I can find on knives:
“It shall be unlawful for any person to sell, carry, or possess any knife with an automatic spring or other device for opening and/or closing the blade, commonly known as a switch-blade knife.”
So what is an “automatic spring?” To ming mind it pretty clearly means you push a button or flip a lever and the knife opens automatically. That’s not the way these knives work. You open it manually, just with a spring to assist.
Which is not to say a court will take this common-sense position.
From the published narratives. No evidence to the contrary.
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Jeez, from the published narratives there is no evidence that space aliens didn’t materialize in the prisoner van and fatally injure the perp. So therefore, according to your stellar logic, I can state that “alien murderer” as a fact. But I won’t since I’m not ruled by illogical thinking.
Understand, the ordnances are written by legislators with consultation by lawyers. They are written very loosely so they can be used in a variety of circumstances. If the law was written as tightly as you are alleging with your switchblade argument, you’d have to have a law for every conceivable situation and circumstance.
Again, I’m not arguing with your position, It is a VERY POORLY written law. Probably something was was thrown together because a previous case was lost on just such a technicality.
You are the only one pushing the alien angle That I am aware of.
“Actually, it was reported the day of the arrests that the officers had seen Freddie with another unknown male.”
That doesn’t seem to be mentioned in the excerpts we have of the police reports, or any of the official statements that I’ve seen, at least nothing about a drug transaction being witnessed. I’ve only seen it sourced anonymously.
“And since I haven’t seen the knife, I can only “assume” that since he was charged with it’s possession, they believed it was illegal...but it’s not up to the cops to determine if the knife is illegal, it’s up to the courts.”
Color me cynical. I don’t live in Baltimore, but I live in another big, dem-controlled city, and in my experience the cops operate similarly in all those places. When they find a knife on you, even one that is obviously legal, they will flat out tell you that “I can arrest you for this”. Well, that is if you are lucky enough that they just want to intimidate you and haven’t already decided to arrest you on whatever charge they can think up.
So when I see big-city cops arresting someone for an apparently legal knife, it tells me they just wanted to slap some charge on him, and that’s the best they could come up with. If they had evidence that he committed a real crime, they would have charged him with that, because they would have known there was a very high chance the knife charge would be tossed once it got before a judge.
Two undercover police officers. The inside story came from another officer with inside knowledge of the case. I’m sure it will all come out in court, if the charges don’t get dismissed at the PC hearing.
You are the only one pushing the alien angle That I am aware of.
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Hey, there’s “no evidence to the contrary” so it might be something I “know” (using YOUR definition of arriving at “knowledge”.
“Two undercover police officers.”
In other words, two anonymous people who we have no way to verify are actually police officers with inside knowledge of the case. Correct?
Go with it.
It’s consistent with convulsion in the back of a van, not to mention difficulty breathing,cardiac arest, loss of consciousness, and coma, all of which Gray exhibited.
It is also consistent with some kinds of medical aid when a person is not breathing to try and clear their airway. Gray had to be intubated. He could easily have been injured by EMT’s or hospital staff. Happens all the time.
They aren’t anonymous to the officer giving the information. I think we can figure out why they haven’t gone public themselves, hence the term ‘undercover”.
The requirement for police to make an arrest is probable not definite. Even if the knife in question is ultimately found to be legal by Baltimore statute, it doesn't mean the arrest was improper.
IBTZ
Severed spine?
They don’t get paid for the number of arrests but they will get their butts in hot water if they don’t make enough arrests. The same with traffic cops. They may not have an official quota but they have a quota that says “You’d better start writing some tickets.”
And don’t think cops don’t make crap up AFTER they arrest people. Cops believe they are judge and jury. Everyone they arrest is guilty. If not when they made the arrest then last week when no cops were around. I know a cop who told me that happens a lot. The exact words were “He may not have had drugs on him tonight. But I KNOW he had some on him last week.” Then he pulled drugs out of his own pocket and made it evidence against the perp.
Thanks for your thoughtful post.
I just checked The Conservative Treehouse before coming back to this thread, and it appears there is some video footage of Freddy Gray running into and back out of a building just before the police took him down.
You might want to tell us what you make of this video, and the comments about the timeline. It seems to me that he :::might::: have dumped something, but I am just speculating.
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