OF THE
TIMES
BPD Comm Anthony Batts says 2nd prisoner in van with Freddie Gray reports no erratic driving by van driver and Gray mostly quietWe can all see where this is going: the narrative will be something like he wanted to claim police brutality and as such, injured himself. Perhaps he was just plain crazy. Whatever lie is most convenient toward putting the middle class to sleep will be flung across the mainstream and privileged white people will continue to have no idea what's really going on. I suggest the curious reader go through that piece, it'll give you a sense of just how out-of-touch most upper-middle-class people really are.
โ Jayne Miller (@jemillerwbal) April 24, 2015
A Maryland sheriff who traveled to Baltimore to help law enforcement stop Monday's riots told 105.7 The Fan that he was stunned when officers alerted him of the orders to stand down.Lewis says that he never heard the mayor give any particular orders, but he is very clear about the fact that the police were being instructed to "stand down" and to "let them destroy property"....
"I was sick to my stomach like everybody else. ... This was urban warfare, no question about it. They were coming in absolutely beaten down. The [city officers] got out of their vehicles, thanked us profusely for being there, apologized to us for having to be there. They said we could have handled this, we were very capable of handling this, but we were told to stand down, repeatedly told to stand down," he said. "I had never heard that order come from anyone โ we went right out to our posts as soon as we got there, so I never heard the mayor say that. But repeatedly these guys, and there were many high-ranking officials from the Baltimore City Police Department ... and these guys told me they were essentially neutered from the start. They were spayed from the start. They were told to stand down, you will not take any action, let them destroy property. I couldn't believe it, I'm a 31-year veteran of law enforcement. ... I had never heard anything like this before in my life and these guys obviously aren't gonna speak out and the more I thought about this, ... I had to say a few things. I apologize if I've upset people, but I believe in saying it like it is."
Comment: Let's hope history doesn't repeat.