April 25^th

There are no right wing columnists writing in today’s paper. There is a back page column about the Baltimore police department. This is the outfit that recently took a black man into custody for a minor offence; the family lawyer claimed it was for “running while black.” No one disputes that characterization. While in police custody the man died of a severed spinal cord. 

The history of the Baltimore police department’s abuse has cost the city literally millions of dollars and will cost them millions more. In an interesting twist the city often settles law-suites by paying money but not admitting guilt. The police union claims it is cheaper to just pay the money even though nothing illegal occurred. But an additional clause forced upon the plaintiff is that they cannot discuss the settlement or describe the treatment that led to the lawsuit. In this way the public is kept in the dark about the extent of police abuse. If the plaintiff does reveal what happened then the settlement can be substantially reduced. What a neat way to muzzle the complainer and keep the public in the dark!

Freddie Gray, the man transported to jail in a police van, was given in police parlance, a “rough ride.” This interesting method of police brutality is hard to prove but the results can be spectacular. The victim is placed in a van with hands handcuffed behind his or her back. They are not seat belted in place and the ride begins. Suddenly the driver swerves sharply to the side and then immediately back again. He had to swerve to avoid a car trying to cut him off. Naturally there are no cameras to verify this. The prisoner though is catapulted from one side of the van to the other without being able to use his hands to cushion his body from slamming into the sides of the vehicle. Now the brakes are hit hard, to avoid a dog you see, or perhaps a child darted into the street. This flings the unanchored prisoner against the front screen of the van, again without the use of his hands to cushion the collision. You get the picture.

The results are sometimes terrible injuries, broken necks, broken backs and substantial lawsuits. For one Doug Johnson who became a paraplegic, an award of 7.4 million dollars; for Jeffrey Alston whose neck was broken, an award of 39 million dollars. The “punishment” for the offending cops in the case of Freddie Gray has been suspension with pay; that’s a punishment? The union maintains that they haven’t been convicted yet but why do they merit a vacation with pay?

This situation is easily remedied: put a camera inside the van and put one on the van’s dashboard. Put an officer in the van with the prisoners and make it a prosecutable offense to transport any prisoner not attached to a seatbelt. It would be easy for the Baltimore police to clean up their act but first they must want to clean up their act and so far they obviously aren’t interested.