Baltimore police officer who chased Freddie Gray had pattern of violence – court filings

janklow
janklow Members, Moderators Posts: 8,613 Regulator
since this is the big story for some reason in Maryland right now, i figured we needed at least one thread on it:
Baltimore police officer who chased Freddie Gray had pattern of violence – court filings
The Baltimore police supervisor suspended over the death of Freddie Gray was accused of threatening to ? a man as part of an alleged “pattern of intimidation and violence” that led to a temporary restraining order.

Lieutenant Brian Rice was ordered to stay away from the man after a series of alleged confrontations, including one armed standoff that led to a 911 call and officers from two police departments spending 90 minutes defusing the situation, according to court filings.

“I am seeking protection immediately,” the man wrote to a court in Carroll County, Maryland, in January 2013. He alleged Rice’s behaviour had caused him “to have constant fear for my personal safety” and a “fear of imminent harm or death from Brian Rice”.

The Guardian is aware of the man’s identity but is not naming him due to the nature of the allegations. He declined to comment during a telephone conversation with the Guardian. Rice and the Baltimore police department did not respond to emails requesting comment.

The emergency protective order was granted. According to a separate filing, Rice had firearms confiscated. In addition to his police-issued Glock pistol, he was said to own a personal Glock handgun, long guns and a cross-bow. The protective order was then lifted after a week when a judge ruled there was no basis in Maryland law for it to continue.

Rice, 41, was one of six officers suspended pending a criminal inquiry into the death of Gray, who died after his neck was “80% severed” by the breaking of three vertebrae, according to his family’s attorney, who said Gray’s voice box was almost crushed.
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The lieutenant chased Gray on a bicycle after the 25-year-old made eye contact with him and fled on the morning of 12 April, according to police. A knife was found in one of Gray’s pockets. After he was arrested and dragged to a police wagon he lapsed into a coma and died in hospital a week later. City officials insist his injury occurred inside the vehicle.

The man seeking protection from Rice in 2013 alleged to the court that Rice had said during an apparently alcohol-fuelled confrontation at the man’s house at 2am one morning in June 2012 that he “planned to ? ” the man.

“I witnessed Brian Rice remove a black semi-automatic handgun from the trunk of his vehicle,” the man wrote in his petition for protection. As Rice screamed demands for the man to come out of his house, the man called 911 and officers from Carroll County sheriff’s department and Westminster police department arrived, he wrote.

“They remained on scene for approximately one and a half hours,” said the man. “Brian Rice was allowed to leave on foot.” A sheriff’s department spokesman said on Wednesday he could find no record of the call-out. “We were probably there as backup,” he said.

However the man said he had previously not bothered to call 911 in response to threats from Rice due to the officer’s position in local law enforcement. “What good will it do?” he quoted his wife as saying. “He abuses his power as a police supervisor and no one believes us.”
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In the two months preceding the armed threat at the man’s house, he said, Rice sent him “numerous harassing and sexually explicit text messages” from his Baltimore police department-issued BlackBerry. Rice refused to stop when asked to cease, the man said.

The man said he finally applied for protection because five days earlier, Rice arrived again at the man’s house in his Hyundai Sonata, before exiting and slamming his car door, yelling and waving his arms at the man. He finally returned to the driver’s seat, “racing the engine” while inching the car towards the man and flashing the headlights.

“This caused me to become distraught and fear my life was about to end,” the man wrote, adding that he was “terrified and had immense fear” of the police lieutenant.

Baltimore police said in an update on Wednesday that five of the six officers involved had provided investigators with written statements. There was no indication of whether or not Rice had given a statement.

A city police union meanwhile criticised demonstrations that have sprung up in Baltimore over Gray’s death, saying it was “very concerned about the rhetoric of the protests.”

“In fact, the images seen on television look and sound much like a lynch mob,” Baltimore’s fraternal order of police said in a statement, “in that they are calling for the immediate imprisonment of these officers without them ever receiving the due process that is the constitutional right of every citizen, including law enforcement officers.”

Comments

  • kingblaze84
    kingblaze84 Members Posts: 14,288 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited April 2015
    Scumbag Baltimore cops are the cause of the big ? mess there.....still no explanation for an unarmed man getting his windpipe and spinal cord broken while in police custody?? Of course people are gonna be ? . ? those cops
  • kingblaze84
    kingblaze84 Members Posts: 14,288 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Iran gained some respect from me today

    http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/04/28/iran-supreme-leader-ridiculous-that-even-though-us-president-is-black-still-such-crimes-against-us-blacks/

    WASHINGTON (CBS DC) — The Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei, is blasting the United States for what he’s calling the country’s “ridiculous” racial inequality and police brutality, labeling the U.S. government a “major enemy to human rights.”

    “Power & tyranny are different. In some countries like US, police are seemingly powerful but they ? innocents. #FreddieGray #RekiaBoyd,” he posted on Sunday.

    Iran’s Supreme Leader also called out what he views as American hypocrisy on issues of race.

    “It’s ridiculous that even though US President is black, still such crimes agnst US blacks continue to occur. #BlackLivesMatter #FreddieGray,” he tweeted.
  • janklow
    janklow Members, Moderators Posts: 8,613 Regulator
    Scumbag Baltimore cops are the cause of the big ? mess there.....still no explanation for an unarmed man getting his windpipe and spinal cord broken while in police custody?? Of course people are gonna be ? . ? those cops
    Baltimore does have some problems with this:
    The city has paid about $5.7 million since 2011 over lawsuits claiming that police officers brazenly beat up alleged suspects. One hidden cost: The perception that officers are violent can poison the relationship between residents and police.
    that being said, it seems like a lot of people around here went from "#FreddieGray" to "y'all need to calm down out there"
    Iran gained some respect from me today
    well, they shouldn't, because it's not like they have an open society or a lack of overbearing police presence (i guarantee police ? innocents in Iran), but also...
    Iran’s Supreme Leader also called out what he views as American hypocrisy on issues of race.
    okay, so Obama would be hypocritical if he overlooked US issues to bash Iranian issues. but that sort of implies there ARE Iranian issues; otherwise, you'd just say Obama was wrong or a liar or something. so doesn't that mean Khamenei called himself a hypocrite as well?

  • playmaker88
    playmaker88 Members Posts: 67,905 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited April 2015
    Color me shocked...

    and lol at respecting the supreme leader..dont be dense.. Politricks
  • kingblaze84
    kingblaze84 Members Posts: 14,288 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited April 2015
    janklow wrote: »
    Scumbag Baltimore cops are the cause of the big ? mess there.....still no explanation for an unarmed man getting his windpipe and spinal cord broken while in police custody?? Of course people are gonna be ? . ? those cops
    Baltimore does have some problems with this:
    The city has paid about $5.7 million since 2011 over lawsuits claiming that police officers brazenly beat up alleged suspects. One hidden cost: The perception that officers are violent can poison the relationship between residents and police.
    that being said, it seems like a lot of people around here went from "#FreddieGray" to "y'all need to calm down out there"
    Iran gained some respect from me today
    well, they shouldn't, because it's not like they have an open society or a lack of overbearing police presence (i guarantee police ? innocents in Iran), but also...
    Iran’s Supreme Leader also called out what he views as American hypocrisy on issues of race.
    okay, so Obama would be hypocritical if he overlooked US issues to bash Iranian issues. but that sort of implies there ARE Iranian issues; otherwise, you'd just say Obama was wrong or a liar or something. so doesn't that mean Khamenei called himself a hypocrite as well?

    Yeah many people in Baltimore seem to have had enough of the rioting, although I completely understand why people did riot. Their voices weren't being heard and now even Hillary Clinton is weighing in.

    With that being said, Iran probably is being hypocritical on the issue of police brutality too but his wider point is legit, and it's that the US too often makes it a habit to ? people and violate the rights of people. And from a worldwide perspective, America seems to ? a LOT more innocent people then Iran does. It's not even close. There's a reason America seems to never run out of enemies.
  • kingblaze84
    kingblaze84 Members Posts: 14,288 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Color me shocked...

    and lol at respecting the supreme leader..dont be dense.. Politricks

    It is politiricks but he's more or less right in this case
  • janklow
    janklow Members, Moderators Posts: 8,613 Regulator
    With that being said, Iran probably is being hypocritical on the issue of police brutality too but his wider point is legit, and it's that the US too often makes it a habit to ? people and violate the rights of people. And from a worldwide perspective, America seems to ? a LOT more innocent people then Iran does. It's not even close. There's a reason America seems to never run out of enemies.
    of course, we're also a society with a freer media (for what it's worth) so our tales of innocent people getting killed get a lot more play than those of Russia or Iran or what have you.
  • kingblaze84
    kingblaze84 Members Posts: 14,288 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited April 2015
    janklow wrote: »
    With that being said, Iran probably is being hypocritical on the issue of police brutality too but his wider point is legit, and it's that the US too often makes it a habit to ? people and violate the rights of people. And from a worldwide perspective, America seems to ? a LOT more innocent people then Iran does. It's not even close. There's a reason America seems to never run out of enemies.
    of course, we're also a society with a freer media (for what it's worth) so our tales of innocent people getting killed get a lot more play than those of Russia or Iran or what have you.

    Completely understood, but it's hilarious seeing the irony of America whining about how other nations treat their people when there seem to be demonstrations and protests against police brutality every few weeks right here.....the world is watching and seeing so many Americans basically turn against each other, while American politicians worry about things half a world a way that aren't as important.

    Americans spend billions a week babysitting the world, while Baltimore, Ferguson, NYC, and plenty of other cities are crumbling right before our very eyes. How about these cities get a bail out, while America worries about what other nations are doing??
  • janklow
    janklow Members, Moderators Posts: 8,613 Regulator
    Completely understood, but it's hilarious seeing the irony of America whining about how other nations treat their people when there seem to be demonstrations and protests against police brutality every few weeks right here.....the world is watching and seeing so many Americans basically turn against each other, while American politicians worry about things half a world a way that aren't as important.
    i would submit there's still a world of difference between Baltimore and a country like Iran. note that when you had cases with acrual systematic torture (hello, Chicago) it wasn't juicy enough for the Khameneis of the world (who cosign their own torture) to comment on.
    Americans spend billions a week babysitting the world, while Baltimore, Ferguson, NYC, and plenty of other cities are crumbling right before our very eyes. How about these cities get a bail out, while America worries about what other nations are doing??
    well, if we're talking about foreign aid, it's likely that we spend less abroad than you think. in fact, here's something related to this issue...
    Nope, Jon Stewart, $1 trillion wasn’t spent on Afghanistan schools at the expense of Baltimore
    But Stewart specifically mentioned schools. The numbers are even smaller in that instance. Using USAID’s ForeignAssistance.gov Web site, one can drill down to individual programs in Afghanistan year after year. For basic education in Afghanistan, the number is about $100 million annually. Adding higher education boosts the spending about $30 million a year. For instance, in 2012 and 2013, the total spent on education in Afghanistan was $128.6 million and $115.1 million, respectively.

    Now let’s compare that to the federal spending for the city of Baltimore. According to city budget documents, the federal contribution to Baltimore schools was $184.8 million in 2012 and $169.3 million in 2013. (Most of the more than $1.2 billion budget comes from state and county funding sources.)

    The contrast was even greater in 2011: $95 million for Afghanistan schools and $265 million for Baltimore schools. That’s because the 2009 stimulus bill bolstered funding for schools for several years.
    frankly, i am not sure what the taxpayer gets for that $169.3 million in Baltimore.
  • kingblaze84
    kingblaze84 Members Posts: 14,288 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited May 2015
    janklow wrote: »
    Completely understood, but it's hilarious seeing the irony of America whining about how other nations treat their people when there seem to be demonstrations and protests against police brutality every few weeks right here.....the world is watching and seeing so many Americans basically turn against each other, while American politicians worry about things half a world a way that aren't as important.
    i would submit there's still a world of difference between Baltimore and a country like Iran. note that when you had cases with acrual systematic torture (hello, Chicago) it wasn't juicy enough for the Khameneis of the world (who cosign their own torture) to comment on.
    Americans spend billions a week babysitting the world, while Baltimore, Ferguson, NYC, and plenty of other cities are crumbling right before our very eyes. How about these cities get a bail out, while America worries about what other nations are doing??
    well, if we're talking about foreign aid, it's likely that we spend less abroad than you think. in fact, here's something related to this issue...
    Nope, Jon Stewart, $1 trillion wasn’t spent on Afghanistan schools at the expense of Baltimore
    But Stewart specifically mentioned schools. The numbers are even smaller in that instance. Using USAID’s ForeignAssistance.gov Web site, one can drill down to individual programs in Afghanistan year after year. For basic education in Afghanistan, the number is about $100 million annually. Adding higher education boosts the spending about $30 million a year. For instance, in 2012 and 2013, the total spent on education in Afghanistan was $128.6 million and $115.1 million, respectively.

    Now let’s compare that to the federal spending for the city of Baltimore. According to city budget documents, the federal contribution to Baltimore schools was $184.8 million in 2012 and $169.3 million in 2013. (Most of the more than $1.2 billion budget comes from state and county funding sources.)

    The contrast was even greater in 2011: $95 million for Afghanistan schools and $265 million for Baltimore schools. That’s because the 2009 stimulus bill bolstered funding for schools for several years.
    frankly, i am not sure what the taxpayer gets for that $169.3 million in Baltimore.

    It is true Iran is a worse place to be then Baltimore (smh at alcohol and porn being illegal in Iran) but Iran's ayatollah still is correct in that America has a lot of mess to clean up in its backyard while it plays Mrs. Doubtfire in many places around the world.

    And those are mildly interesting numbers you mention for Baltimore, but spending trillions in losing wars worldwide could have been MUCH better spent building America's and Baltimore's infrastructure and building more affordable housing, which is a crisis in many places across the nation. And many parts of Baltimore look like war zones after factories left and tax bases ran away to better communities, imagine what billions can do for Baltimore and other cities to help create construction projects that would put so many people to work. Instead, we spend it on ? overseas and many times we never get anything out of it. As Americans nationwide see higher and higher rates of poverty along with higher and higher cost of living.
  • janklow
    janklow Members, Moderators Posts: 8,613 Regulator
    And many parts of Baltimore look like war zones after factories left and tax bases ran away to better communities, imagine what billions can do for Baltimore and other cities to help create construction projects that would put so many people to work. Instead, we spend it on ? overseas and many times we never get anything out of it.
    i guess what i am saying is that while it sounds good to say "spend more on Baltimore" ... what does that actually MEAN? because the feds are apparently throwing a lot of money in, and i know we have all kinds of gambling now because money for schools*

    *it's no longer bad for Baltimore to have all the gambling because our governor was a Democrat during the time it happened. also, "money for schools" is kind of a scam everyone fell for.
  • janklow
    janklow Members, Moderators Posts: 8,613 Regulator
    also:
    Six officers charged in death of Freddie Gray
    Six police officers were charged Friday in the death of Freddie Gray as Baltimore’s top prosecutor acted with surprising swiftness in a case that ignited protests and rioting here. She described how Gray allegedly was arrested illegally, treated callously by the officers, and suffered a severe spine injury in the back of a police van while his pleas for medical help were ignored.

    Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby publicly delivered her stunning, detailed narrative of extensive police misconduct in the latest of several cases nationwide that have fueled anger over heavy-handed law enforcement tactics in low-income communities.

    Her decision to file charges brought joy and relief to low-income West Baltimore and beyond, at least temporarily. By nightfall, thousands of residents had taken to the streets in peaceful demonstrations.

    One officer is accused of ­second-degree murder, and three others were charged with manslaughter.
  • kingblaze84
    kingblaze84 Members Posts: 14,288 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited May 2015
    janklow wrote: »
    And many parts of Baltimore look like war zones after factories left and tax bases ran away to better communities, imagine what billions can do for Baltimore and other cities to help create construction projects that would put so many people to work. Instead, we spend it on ? overseas and many times we never get anything out of it.
    i guess what i am saying is that while it sounds good to say "spend more on Baltimore" ... what does that actually MEAN? because the feds are apparently throwing a lot of money in, and i know we have all kinds of gambling now because money for schools*

    *it's no longer bad for Baltimore to have all the gambling because our governor was a Democrat during the time it happened. also, "money for schools" is kind of a scam everyone fell for.

    Baltimore can improve in more ways, it could get money that we're spending on losing wars onto construction projects that can improve Baltimore's infrastructure and housing situation. Affordable housing needs to be built there along with other cities, that would ease the problems of the shrinking middle class out there. There are many ways we can spend money to improve a city, roads and pipes are outdated, fixing those would create a lot of jobs. Also cities could use the money to pay off down some of the debt and help make college cheaper.
  • kingblaze84
    kingblaze84 Members Posts: 14,288 ✭✭✭✭✭
    About time those crooked cops got charged
  • janklow
    janklow Members, Moderators Posts: 8,613 Regulator
    Baltimore can improve in more ways, it could get money that we're spending on losing wars onto construction projects that can improve Baltimore's infrastructure and housing situation. Affordable housing needs to be built there along with other cities, that would ease the problems of the shrinking middle class out there. There are many ways we can spend money to improve a city, roads and pipes are outdated, fixing those would create a lot of jobs. Also cities could use the money to pay off down some of the debt and help make college cheaper.
    actually reminds me of this recent article:
    If a person happens to point out that Baltimore's criminally inept government has been run exclusively by Democrats since 1967 (with one Republican mayor since 1947) and features not a single city councilor who isn't a liberal, he may be called a lazy apparatchik. Because not everything, you see, is reducible to mere party politics.

    Now, if an economic renaissance sparked by the progressive policies of Stephanie Rawlings-Blake had lifted Baltimore from poverty, I imagine Democrats would be eager to claim credit for the accomplishment. Entire political debates are predicated on the effectiveness of partisan ideas. We blame presidents for recessions they probably have little to do with, yet according to liberal pundits, the party overseeing a city riddled with poverty, failing schools, high crime rates and racial tension bears no responsibility for what's happening.

    The president disagrees. Sort of. After a night of violence and looting in Baltimore, Barack Obama spoke to the press and said that "we, as a country, have to do some soul-searching" -- by which he meant "they," as in conservatives, need to get on board.

    Obama said that solutions to mend Baltimore's suffering are sitting right there in Washington -- unpassed because of ideologically inflexible Republicans. "And there's a bunch of my agenda that would make a difference right now," Obama claimed before going on: "Now, I'm under no illusion that out of this Congress we're going to get massive investments in urban communities, and so we'll try to find areas where we can make a difference, around school reform and around job training and around some investments in infrastructure in these communities and trying to attract new businesses in."

    What piece of legislation have Republicans obstructed that would have helped keep families together in Baltimore -- right now? Which proposal would have created jobs to turn the city around? What law has Obama lobbied for that would have made Baltimore's police department -- which has been answering to one party for decades -- more compassionate or effective? Is there a criminal-justice reform effort that Obama's been spearheading all these years that we've all forgotten about?

    Yes, the war on drugs is a disaster. But Democrats are complicit in that war, too. And Democrats are also in charge of a city school system that has huge failure rates, despite the fact that Baltimore's school district also has consistently ranked in the top five among the nation's 100 largest school districts in spending per pupil. Like most big city districts, there is no accountability. It's Democrats who consistently sink conservative education reform ideas (ones that in many cities are popular among African-American parents) for their union patrons.

    For that matter, when did the president ever offer comprehensive legislation that would have brought "massive investments" to inner cities or reformed how government functions in urban communities? Was it when Democrats controlled both houses of Congress and the White House? Or was it after?

    As Obama noted, the citizens of Baltimore (and all of us) have an alternative. They can care more, just as he does. "But that kind of political mobilization, I think, we haven't seen in quite some time," he explained. Rather than resort to counterproductive violence -- the kind of violence numerous leftist pundits were justifying -- Baltimore can vote for candidates who reflect and act on their concerns, candidates who will demand the police be accountable to civilian oversight. There are African-Americans in elected office and power positions throughout the city, so surely, there is no active racist faction undermining the ability of blacks to participate in democracy. Right now, they need better Democrats in Baltimore.

    Where does the blame for the civil unrest lie? In plenty of places. Some of those places have absolutely nothing to do with politics and can't be fixed by any Washington agenda -- imagined or otherwise. The tribulations plaguing cities such as Baltimore are complex, having festered for years. But does that excuse the bungling of Democratic Party governance? Does it change the fact that massive amounts of spending have done little in the war on poverty?

    And if Democrats claim that they are uniquely sympathetic toward the poor and weak, that welfare programs can never be reformed, only expanded, and that perpetually pumping "investments" into cities is the only way to alleviate the hardship faced by citizens, it's more than fair to gauge the effectiveness -- not to mention the competence -- of those allocating and overseeing those policies. Because Republicans may be horrible, but they aren't running Baltimore.

  • kingblaze84
    kingblaze84 Members Posts: 14,288 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited May 2015
    Yes, Democrats share a lot of blame when it comes to the people of Baltimore and several other cities. No debate there, Democrats also enjoy spending money on overseas adventures as American cities see its own problems continue to be ignored.

    I've said this for years, but federal bailouts are still needed in many, many cities in this nation. Good article.