Baltimore

It IS an anonymous source. An anonymous prisoner, whose claims are published without the slightest attempt to reconcile them with anything else that has been reported.

It's "not clear" whether there's supporting evidence? It "does not say" whether anyone else in the van heard anything? How does this one source know Gray's intent, if there was even a banging noise to begin with? Was the banging noise consistent with someone being left unrestrained and jostled while driving over a pothole? Is it even possible for one to sever one's own spinal cord in a confined space and at least partially restrained?

The answers to all of those questions, per the story, is "we don't know." That, coupled with the known "flaws" with the way police handled the whole thing, screams out for extensive corroboration.

 

Incredible bombshell about to be reported. A source says Gray was turning into a werewolf and died mid-transformation. The source stressed that Americans should be vigilant about the growing threat presented by "dark Negro magics."

 

The Post should have quoted a gang member or two for balance.

 

I think the Kraken was released in the Inner Harbor that day.

 

This was a great Q&A (mostly A) with Simon, if you haven't read it.

It really illustrates the corrosive effect of bad leadership and the fallout from cooking the books to make yourself look good.

 

What's interesting (though inside baseball) about the Post's report is that it was written by Peter Hermann, who covered the Baltimore City Cops for a decade for the Sun, and that it's also being totally shot down by Jayne Miller of WBAL ("The timeline doesn't add up..."), one of the best TV investigative reporters in the country. If I had to pick two titans of Baltimore media that I trust more than anyone, it would be those two.

There is certainly a vested interest by the BCPD to leak a document that shows they may not have been at fault, but Peter is pretty damn good. So who knows for now.

 

And, that's not just Miller. To my knowledge, every single previous report on the subject said Gray was already unresponsive.

Which isn't to say it's 100 percent true, mind you, but it's something you HAVE to reconcile before going to press.

 

It is pretty interesting, and makes O'Malley look terrible.

I would like to hear a defense of what Simon says, or at least the other side of the story.

Ed Norris and John Timoney were two NYPD alum from the Bratton/Giuliani era that took over big city police departments with great fanfare; with Norris in Baltimore, and Timoney in Philadelphia, and of course Bratton moved on to Los Angeles.

Norris eventually got into ethical problems, and even served time himself, but al of them were viewed as successful initially.

If what Simon says happened -- the "sweeping" of the streets" -- is true, then they certainly went way too far, and violated peoples rights.

But, we essentially know how to effectively police. You put extra cops in high crime areas. You arrest the bad guys -- even if it means you arrest them for something minor, like smoking weed in public, or jumping a subway turnstile. And, you need intelligence, to be able to identify, and arrest drug dealers and gang members who commit violent crime.

Those tactics are aggressive, and they have to be don right. You need oversight, and you need good cops. And, you can't fall in love with the numbers, or the results, and try to push them beyond what could be expected. You have to trust the system.

But, it also means the cops are going to interact a lot more with the bad guys, than if you just sat back and responded crimes as they come in. And, the more interaction, the more potential for problems.

But crime truly is the biggest deterrent to private investment in a community. The costs are way too high to operate in a high crime area.

And, so, while aggressive policing may be tough, and may have it's own problems, the alternative is almost always worse. It effectively abandons a neighborhood to its worst actors.

 

As long as the political leadership in Baltimore stays the same, nothing will change.

 

I guess that if the report exists, and the Post has knowledge of it, then they have to report it, but context maters.

The Sun article about others who have "injured themselves" provides good context.

As we saw with the cop in South Carolina, there will always be some justification claimed for every police abuse. We need to remember this is just one side of the story, and we should look at ll the evidence before reaching a final judgement.

 

Not sure what the positive net effect of arresting a bad guy for jumping a turnstile is going to be (unless, of course, you beat him to death on the way to the precinct).

And, obviously, the cops in Baltimore weren't just arresting bad guys for minor stuff. They were arresting anyone in areas where bad guys were concentrated. And cops don't really need a legit reason to arrest you.

Obviously, this approach doesn't work. You have to get buy-in from the good folks in the areas instead of treating everyone like a criminal.

 

Here's a timeline: The 45-minute mystery of Freddie Gray's death - The Baltimore Sun

According to that and the BPD's own account, police put Gray in the van, then stopped twice - once to put him in leg irons, and once for another "undescribed" check on Gray.

Then, 20 minutes after his initial arrest and after both of the aforementioned stops, they pick up the second guy. It's "unclear" how long he was in the van, but nothing but a "quiet" ride was reported until paramedics were called a few minutes later.