In Baltinmore: Curfew Ends, Guard Leaving, Police Charged But Charges Held Shakey At Best as Second-Guessing Begins In Ernest; Obama Vilified

BALTIMORE, Maryland May 4, 2015 - They were marching again in Baltimore on Saturday, although after dozens of charges had been laid on the six police officers involved in detaining the career criminal, Freddy Gray, just prior to his sustaining fatal injuries, it was hard to figure why.  These charges were announced on Friday.  The nascent State's Attorney for the City, Marilyn J. Mosby, conceded that the list of charges she filed against the six officers - without benefit of a Grand Jury Review - was a direct response to, and a decided effort to placate, the riots and uprisings throughout the City in the days prior to her announcement.  "I have heard you," she assured rioters,  "I have heard your calls for no justice, no peace."  

Meanwhile, the Mayor of Baltimore and the Governor of Maryland jointly decided to end the 10 pm to 5 am curfew on Sunday, and the pull out of some 3,000 National Guard Troops also has started.  Governor Robert Hogan said the State of Emergency declared for the City would remain in full effect until all Guardsmen are deactivated.  Businessmen made an almost desperate plea for people to return to patronizing downtown businesses.  In the years after the last round of riots in Baltimore, which was in 1968 after the murder of Martin Luther King, hundreds of downtown businesses failed and hundreds of thousands of citizens moved out of the City.

In the wake of State's Attorney Marian Moseby's announcement of charges against the six police officers, some immediately wondered whether this meant that there would not have been charges if there would not have been riots.  A lad by the name of Greg Bailey, meanwhile, was arrested and charged with slicing the fire hose of City Firefighters battling the spectacular arson blaze at the CVS Store in on Pennsylvania Avenue in West Baltimore during the height of Monday's riots.  Police said cell phone videos taken of the incident were quite clear, and a City officer recognized Bailey in those videos as he rammed his knife into the fire hose.  Bailey was already in police custody on unrelated charges.  All six of the charged officers are veterans of the force with uniformly exemplary records.  Yet, without a witness of the alleged injuries, without a witness to any injuries inflicted upon Mr. Gray, without any possible motive, all six officers were charged with a long list of bogus charges.  One officer, the one driving the police van, was actually charged with second-degree murder.  To be guilty of second degree murder, the State must prove that the officer wanted to kill Mr. Gray.  Swish that one around for a minute.  

City police revealed that that there had been over 200 arrests during the six days of rioting, looting and curfews.  Race Hustler Rev. Al Sharpton called Saturday's march one "of celebration" for the long list of charges leveled against six Baltimore City Police Officers involved in the arrest of Freddy Gray.  Gray was found badly injured in the back of a police wagon when it arrived at a police station after his capture.  He subsequently died.  No one witnessed his injuries, but prosecuters, reacting to the demand of rioters and looters to hold police responsible for Gray's death, lodged the charges anyway.

The FOP and the Vanguard Justice Society are standing firm behind the six officers, all of whom turned themselves in Friday.  Five were immediately released while a sixth was temporarily detained for unknown reasons.  The FOP blasted the charges and the speed with which they were brought.  Most egregious, according to many legal experts, is the second degree murder charge brought against the police officer driving the prisoner transport van.  Such a charge means that the officer intended to kill Mr. Gray, who was being arrested for the 40th time since turning 18 seven years ago.  Another City officer who works with and is familiar with all six of the arrested officers told a television interviewer Friday night that the officer charged with the murder is a good and decent man and the last person one would ever expect to harbor such feelings.  The officer interviewed said Gray was not disliked by any of the officers.  It was revealed during the interview that Gray often cooperated with police after his series of arrests, and had provided information that allowed police to clear several serious crimes.

The officer explained that Gray, like other persons from that part of the City, often put on a very hostile display at the scene of the arrest so that no onlooker would believe that they are "snitching" to police.  But once the van leaves the scene of the arrest, Gray would quickly calm down and begin providing information to police.  None of the six officers have any idea how Gray sustained the injuries that led to his death, the interviewed officer said.

Morale among City police officers is said to be at an all-time low after they were compelled to appear during the riots with orders not to intervene, resist the violence and looting, or in any way interact with the law breakers.  Many predicted that there would be a rash of retirements and resignations in the days and months after this violence subsides.  The posture taken by police at the height of the rioting led to over 100 officers sustaining injuries.

On Sunday, two U. S. Congressmen who represent Maryland said on national television that the blame for the riots belongs with Republicans who refuse to spend even more millions of dollars on inner city projects.  Congressman Christopher van Hollen and Elijah Cummings both leveled the charges on Sunday.  What wasn't said by the two Democrats is that nearly $2 billion in Obama Stimulus Money was ticketed for Baltimore, but no one seems to know what that money was used for.  Nor did the two career politicians address the fact that over $15,000.00  is spent annually on each and every Baltimore City public school students, among the highest per pupil outlays in these United States.  As Credible and Incisive has reported, Maryland has been in the total choke hold of Democrats for decades, and this is one place where any effort to blame problems on the GOP is pure folly.  

Former Congressman Helen Delich Bentley said on a Baltimore Radio Station Monday morning that "100 percent" of the blame for the problems in Baltimore are the fault of President Obama.  Obama has been in office since 2008 and has done nothing at all to alleviate the high rate of black unemployment.  Obama had a virtual mandate to address the inner city plight of poor black Americans  but instead chose to channel his energy to his ultra far left agenda, which includes, in pertinent part, degrading the nation's capitalist economy.  In that category, he has been purely successful.