Not pretty and he was not a model citizen. But, was he ever convicted? I don’t think so. Which leads to the next question, with a lengthy string of changes that did not lead apparently to a single conviction, was he being persecuted by the police? And all of this doesn’t change the fact that he was chased down and arrested without cause, was thrown in a van, and was next dead. The police need to be held accountable on all of this. Very troubling that they haven’t said much of anything and even now are taking steps to avoid explaining. Seriously, if they knew anything that could absolve the officers, it would be out already. Thus, in my opinion and until proven otherwise, they are covering for the officers.
August 29, 2007: Possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute, violation of probation
Explain 4 yr gap in arrest record...
I don’t really understand what Gray’s criminal record has to do with anything. I don’t care if it was his first arrest, his 50th or his one millionth. I don’t care if he was ever convicted of any charges or if he was convicted on a hundred charges. The simple fact is that we as a society allow the police to use lethal force only under certain circumstances. Those are generally if the officer acts in self defense, if the officer acts to protect the lives of other citizens, or if such force is necessary to prevent a potentially dangerous perpetrator from escaping arrest. I am fine with all of those situations, but it seems that none of those would apply in this case. The suspect was already arrested, disarmed and restrained. It’s pretty hard to make the case that any level of force would be appropriate, let alone lethal force. I fail to see why his prior record is relevant. If the police caused his death, they should be punished regardless of the rap sheet. We don’t allow police to kill people just because they’ve been convicted of crimes in the past.
Yes, he was convicted several times and incarcarated.