Brady Bunch wrote:

Here is my take on the entire situation:

It certainly appears that something very bad happened to Freddie Gray in police custody. However, at this point I think we should wait until a full and complete external investigation is completed before definitively declaring the police broke his neck. If they did unnecessarily injure him during the arest or gave him a ride in the police van meant to injure him, by all means they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Up until yesterday, the vast majority of the protests were peaceful and non-violent, and that was good to see.

However, there is NO excuse for what took place yesterday, no matter what happened to Freddie Gray. Those weren't protestors yesterday like we saw the first week, they were rioters whose only mission was to injure police/burn/loot whatever they could. Unfortunately, they only made things worse for themselves, as many of the businesses and property they destroyed were owned by people within their neighborhoods and were places that employed people from the area. Most of these nieghborhoods are "deserts" for economic activity (such as stores and employment) and things were just starting to turn around. I can't imagine outside companies wanting to risk going into those neighborhoods anytime soon.

The police should have responded more quickly yesterday to the situation and not let it reach the level that it did. I agree with Lager's assessment about the mayor and how she handled (didn't handle) what happened.

I have been encouraged by what I have seen from the people of Baltimore who were out last night trying to stop the rioters and the people working today to clean up/take back their neighborhoods. In my opinion, it is going to be the people of the neighborhood and community that will need to solve this problem by not allowing/standing up against crime.

Well said. 


 

Brady Bunch wrote:

Here is my take on the entire situation:

It certainly appears that something very bad happened to Freddie Gray in police custody. However, at this point I think we should wait until a full and complete external investigation is completed before definitively declaring the police broke his neck. If they did unnecessarily injure him during the arest or gave him a ride in the police van meant to injure him, by all means they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Up until yesterday, the vast majority of the protests were peaceful and non-violent, and that was good to see.

However, there is NO excuse for what took place yesterday, no matter what happened to Freddie Gray. Those weren't protestors yesterday like we saw the first week, they were rioters whose only mission was to injure police/burn/loot whatever they could. Unfortunately, they only made things worse for themselves, as many of the businesses and property they destroyed were owned by people within their neighborhoods and were places that employed people from the area. Most of these nieghborhoods are "deserts" for economic activity (such as stores and employment) and things were just starting to turn around. I can't imagine outside companies wanting to risk going into those neighborhoods anytime soon.

The police should have responded more quickly yesterday to the situation and not let it reach the level that it did. I agree with Lager's assessment about the mayor and how she handled (didn't handle) what happened.

I have been encouraged by what I have seen from the people of Baltimore who were out last night trying to stop the rioters and the people working today to clean up/take back their neighborhoods. In my opinion, it is going to be the people of the neighborhood and community that will need to solve this problem by not allowing/standing up against crime.

Nice post.

Censorship, nice forum!  When someone doesn't agree with you and challenges your position, delete their posts!  LOL

Last edited by The Man (4/28/2015 3:16 pm)

Goose wrote:

tennyson wrote:

Just Fred wrote:

Geez-o-man.  A guy was taken into custody, put in a van with policemen, and exits the van with a broken neck/severed spinal cord, and some say, "Well, there's no proof of police brutality?"

Ok. 

 I was wondering just where did you come up with the notion that policemen were in the back of the van with him  (if that is what you meant) ?  I have seen nothing at all suggesting that. My understanding so far from what I read is that on the way to the precinct they made one other stop to pick up another prisoner and when he was placed in the van Gray was still responsive. I have NOT heard any testimony surrounding the second man in the van and what his testimony was (if any) as to what happened on the remainder of the ride. 

There are still a lot of questions to be asked and answered concerning the whole circumstances surrounding this mans death. 

 

It is very important that police start releasing information, including a detailed timeline for the arrest and transport.
The sooner, the better.

I believe the Baltimore police had announced that they had hoped to finalize their investigation and submit their report to the prosecutor to see if charges needed to be filed by this Friday. Hopefully the details of that investigation will be made public at that time. In addition there is a Federal investigation going on about the same thing as well. I don't believe they have announced any expected timeline to release info from that. 



 


 

Last edited by tennyson (4/28/2015 3:24 pm)

I would just like to take a brief second to give thanks that Darkstar isn't here for all this.

  Well, he was (is) at the very least, an interesting character wasn't he?