On Thursday, Fox News police contributor Bo Dietl suggested that Freddie Gray be given a toxicology examination because he may have taken drugs that caused him to slip and fall in the van and injure himself. Freddie Gray is the man from Baltimore, Maryland, who recently had his spinal cord injured while being arrested.
Baltimore’s chief prosecutor Marilyn J. Mosby charged six police officers on Friday with a range of crimes including murder and manslaughter in the arrest and fatal injury of Freddie Gray.
The Young Turks looks at the charges against police who murdered Freddie Gray.
Baltimore headed into a weekend of rallies on Saturday after six police officers were charged for the arrest of a 25-year-old black man, who died in a hospital after being assaulted by police and taken away in a police van. Whose death led to rioting earlier in the week. Reuters described the mood as “jubilant.”
Demonstrations are expected to continue around the United States through the weekend, and a massive rally is planned for Baltimore city hall with marchers leaving from the Gilmor Homes housing projects where the victim, Freddie Gray, was arrested.
Many in the largely black city erupted with joy on Friday after the officers were charged with crimes ranging from murder to assault and misconduct in Gray’s death on April 19th from severe spinal injuries while under police custody at a hospital.
Baltimore has largely followed the 10 p.m. curfew put in place after unrest that broke out after Gray’s funeral. Dozens of buildings and vehicles were burned, 20 police officers were injured and more than 200 people were arrested in that unrest.
U.S. Representative Elijah Cummings, who represents the area where Gray died and has worked to calm Baltimore’s streets the past four nights, said he was glad to see charges filed.
“It feels good, it’s a relief,” he said. “They have to let it play out. It will take time. But so often there are no charges and the process never begins.”
Is local news giving more information than national news about Freddie Gray?
ABC7 is a local channel in Washington D.C., about 40 miles from Baltimore, Maryland. The national news reports are giving very little details about what happened in the transport van. ABC7 WJLA states they spoke with multiple law enforcement sources after those sources were briefed on a police report that was turned over to prosecutors Thursday.
Demonstrators are taking to the streets of other cities to support Baltimore protesters and to complain about police brutality in their own towns.
In addition to Baltimore, there were recently protests in New York and Boston. Protests are taking place Thursday in Philadelphia and Cincinnati.
Demonstrations in Seattle; Portland, Oregon; and Oakland, California, are scheduled for Friday, which is also May Day, or International Workers Day — often used to call attention to issues affecting the working class and minorities.
The protest in Philadelphia started Thursday afternoon in Philadelphia in front of city hall. Aerial video showed several hundred people gathered.
Police and protesters clashed about 7:45 p.m., apparently when the group tried to block the entrance to I-95.
CNN reported police had said they would move against anybody who tried to do that.
Aerial video showed uniformed officers grouping to push back demonstrators, many who held their hands in the air and chanted, “Hands up.”
According to WJLA, an investigation into the death of Baltimore resident Freddie Gray has found no evidence that his fatal injuries were caused during the arrest by police officers, stated multiple law enforcement sources.
The sources spoke to ABC 7 News after being briefed on the findings of a police report turned over to prosecutors on Thursday.
Sources said the medical examiner found Gray’s most serious injury was caused when he slammed into the back of the police transport van, apparently breaking his neck, states ABC 7.
A head injury he sustained matches a bolt in the back of the van, states ABC 7.
Details surrounding exactly what caused Gray to slam into the back of the van was unclear. The officer driving the van has yet to give a statement to authorities. It’s also unclear whether Gray’s head injury was voluntary or was a result of some other action.
CNN and other sources have claimed Freddie Gray was not buckled in to the transport van by police officers.
Recently, Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly criticized Baltimore African Americans on many fronts, including income and arrest rates.
According to MediaITE, he said that “despite African-Americans controlling Baltimore, the city’s not prospering” and he focused on personal behavior instead of economic conditions. He also pointed out stats about black crime in Baltimore.
The Huffington Post calls the recent Baltimore riots “the worst outbreak of rioting in Baltimore since 1968.”
The L.A. Times states that at the recent riots, more than 235 people were arrested, including at least 34 juveniles; 15 buildings were set on fire; 144 vehicles were destroyed; about 20 police officers were injured, including one who was hit in the head with an object and remained hospitalized Tuesday.
At least one civilian was in critical condition as a result of a building fire.
Public schools closed Tuesday, keeping nearly 85,000 children out of classes. Schools are to reopen today, Wednesday.
Bicycle cops arrested a black man in Baltimore after beating him half to death earlier this month. He died later at a hospital.
Freddie Gray had to undergo a double surgery on three broken vertebrae and an injured voice box on April 14th, after being beaten by police. He died later after days of being in a coma.
The 25-year old was arrested last week for an undisclosed violation.
But more may have happened to Gray than was on camera.
Oddly, according to CNN, Gray was able to breathe and to talk when he was placed in the transport wagon. When he was removed from the vehicle, “he could not talk and he could not breathe.”
The Associated Press says that officers did not put a seatbelt on Gray in the transport wagon, which may have had an effect on him. However, is there more to the story?
The police said that he was restrained on the ground by an officer during the arrest, but “appeared to be fine” when he was taken to the district station. However, a cell phone video shows that the officers used force that some may see as “brutal.”
Protests have erupted in his neighborhood since Gray was sent to the hospital.
Since then, Lt. Brian Rice, 41, Officer Garrett Miller, 26, Sgt. Alicia White, 30, Officer William Porter, 25, Officer Edward Nero, 29, and Officer Caesar Goodson, 45, have all been suspended for the violation, according to the New York Times.
OK, Fine. 