A Brief History
On April 29, 2015, the Baltimore Orioles hosted the Chicago White Sox for one of the most bizarre major league baseball games of all time, one at Camden Yards in which no fans were permitted to attend! The game was held in the afternoon behind locked doors because of the ongoing “protests” (riots) stemming from the Freddie Gray death in police custody case.
Digging Deeper
Coincidentally, April 29 (1992) happens to be the anniversary of the Rodney King Riots in Los Angeles, a factor that may have increased already boiling racial tensions.
Freddie Gray was a career criminal, though only 25 years old when he was arrested once again on April 12, 2015, to go with his previous 18 arrests with 31 charges ranging from assault, burglary, numerous drug related charges, escape, vandalism, illegal gambling, trespass, and false statement. Chased on foot and tackled by police, Gray was put in the back of a police van with other prisoners for transport to the station and jail. On arrival he was exhibiting signs of neck and back injury, but did not receive proper medical treatment immediately and fell into a coma, after which he died a week later. An outraged African-American public assumed Gray had died from purposely being bounced around un-seat-belted in the back of the police van, despite other prisoners denying such treatment. Witnesses had noticed police had to help Gray into the van as the arrestee had obvious physical difficulty. Initial conflicting reports by police and confusion as to when the fatal injuries occurred fueled public distrust of the authorities.
Protests and riots ensued, leading to closing of businesses, curfews, and the cancellation of 2 Orioles games and the closing of the White Sox game to the public. The closed game beat the dubious record major league low for attendance previously set at only 6 fans back in 1882.
Eventually, 6 police officers were charged by an overzealous prosecutor with an axe to grind, with murder and other offenses such as false imprisonment and the claim that the spring opening knife Gray was found with did not constitute a “switch blade” under the law. She also alleged that Gray running from police upon the appearance of police (which is a crime, Lady!) was not probable cause for arrest (yes it is). The officers were either acquitted or their charges were dropped, although the specter of police being persecuted by their own superiors for obviously political reasons helped fuel a national epidemic known as the “Ferguson Effect” where police became unwilling to take proactive enforcement, especially against African-Americans resulting in a sharp uptick in crime in cities where such incidents had occurred. Baltimore suffered record setting increases in murder in the following months, exactly the type of results you get when you undermine the police.
Of course, ill-considered and provocative media “outrage” over the incident helped make the situation in Baltimore so much worse, as no real story exists if police do their job (dog bites man) by running down a street thug up to no good and arrest him with a switchblade in his possession, then the poor guy dies inadvertently from injuries caused by his own resistance. The “better” (man bites dog) story is the evil police purposely murdered a community hero who had been doing no wrong. Allegations that Gray had previously faked injury at the hands of police and had intentionally hurt himself (accidentally a bit too much) were largely ignored by the press and prosecution.
Freddie Gray’s life mattered, period. We believe everyone’s life matters, although in all honesty the guy was not just your regular Joe. He was a drug dealing evil jerk criminal that hurt rather than helped his community, and does not deserve to be honored for dying as a scumbag, although of course criticism of police reluctance to promptly get him medical aid is valid criticism. His family reached a settlement with Baltimore for $6.4 million well before the police trials took place, a miserable and prejudicial action callous to the criminal case faced by those cops, seen by many as “proof” of police guilt.
Question for students (and subscribers): If you have any opinions about the Freddie Gray case, either way, we welcome your comments in the comments section below this article. (Contrary opinions are not dismissed out of hand.)
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Donald, Heather Mac. The War on Cops: How the New Attack on Law and Order Makes Everyone Less Safe. Encounter Books, 2016.
