Baltimore, USA police charged over Freddie Gray’s death

This video from the USA says about itself:

USA: Riot police halt Baltimore May Day with curfew

1 May 2015

After thousands poured onto the streets earlier in the day to take part in May Day demonstrations supporting Freddie Gray, around 50 protesters remained in defiance of the 22.00 curfew, Friday.

From Jurist.org in the USA:

Baltimore police officers charged in Freddie Gray death

Friday 1 May 2015 at 5:01 PM ET

by Alison Sacriponte

The State’s Attorney for Baltimore City on Friday charged six police officers [press release] with crimes including murder and manslaughter over the death of Baltimore resident Freddie Gray while he was in police custody.

Baltimore state attorney Marilyn Mosby [official profile] filed charges almost immediately upon receiving the medical examiner’s report that ruled Gray’s death a homicide. Gray’s arrest and death have led to ongoing protests and civil disorder in the city of Baltimore. Earlier this week Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website] urged Baltimore police to exercise restraint [JURIST report] during protests, prioritize non-violent means and limit the use of force.

Also on Friday, amidst national concern about police behavior, the US Department of Justice [official website] announced a $20 million body camera grant [press release] program that includes training, technical assistance and evaluation to accompany $17 million for local law enforcement agencies to purchase body-worn cameras. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said, “Body-worn cameras hold tremendous promise for enhancing transparency, promoting accountability, and advancing public safety for law enforcement officers and the communities they serve.”

Racial tension has recently mounted in the US following several police killings of unarmed black men. Earlier this year Judge Edgar Dickson of the South Carolina Circuit Court declared a mistrial [JURIST report] in the murder case against a former police chief for the 2011 killing of an unarmed black man. After a grand jury decided not to indict [JURIST report] the Ferguson, Missouri, police officer who last year shot and killed Micheal Brown [USA Today Timeline], an African American teenager, there was a large uproar from the Ferguson community that led to mass protests and violence in some instances.

The case had reached international news with AI reporting [JURIST report] human rights abuses by Ferguson Police in late October. In early October a federal judge ruled [JURIST report] that the police tactics used on protesters were unconstitutional and issued a preliminary injunction. The American Civil Liberties Union [advocacy website] also published a report [JURIST report] arguing that increased militarization of police forces is putting citizens at risk rather than protecting them.

Police in Baltimore, Maryland moved aggressively to arrest protesters Friday night, following an announcement earlier in the day that state prosecutors were charging six police officers in the murder of 25-year-old Freddie Gray: here.

Freddie Gray officer had innocent man prosecuted as part of lengthy feud. Brian Rice, charged with manslaughter in Gray death, accused ex-lover’s husband of breaking a court order as part of a feud that police chiefs were warned about: here.

THE CONSEQUENCES OF HIGH BAIL FOR THE POOR “Defense lawyers, scholars and even some judges say the high bail amounts set for some Baltimore protesters highlight a much broader problem with the nation’s money-based bail system. They say that system routinely punishes poor defendants before they get their day in court, often keeping them incarcerated for longer than if they had been convicted right away.” [NYT]

AUTOPSY: FREDDIE GREY SUFFERED SINGLE HIGH-ENERGY INJURY “Freddie Gray suffered a single ‘high-energy injury’ to his neck and spine — most likely caused when the police van in which he was riding suddenly decelerated, according to a copy of the autopsy report obtained by The Baltimore Sun. The state medical examiner’s office concluded that Gray’s death could not be ruled an accident, and was instead a homicide, because officers failed to follow safety procedures ‘through acts of omission.'” [The Baltimore Sun]

The death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray, an event which provoked massive protests and unrest, leading to a police-military occupation of Baltimore by 5,000 National Guardsmen, was an act of homicide caused by police officers, an autopsy report leaked by an anonymous source to the Baltimore Sun confirmed: here.

ST. LOUIS — Kevin Moore, the man who filmed Freddie Gray’s violent arrest, was detained in Baltimore on Thursday night, along with Chad Jackson and Tony Smith, two activists who had previously filmed protests in Ferguson, Missouri: here.

From Ferguson to Baltimore, a 5-Step Guide to the Police Repression of Protest: here.

Read the horrifying racist texts that have prompted a probe of San Francisco police: here.