I’m surprised by this. I figured the white officer would get off the hook (which he did), but I figured they’d pin the whole thing on the black officer.
Once it gets to court, the only colour that seems to matter is blue.
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It’s not anyone’s fault. The suspect took a gentle ride in a van and miraculously ended up with a broken spine. God works in mysterious ways.
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You could always throw your television through the window and set the woods on fire.
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Those cops are not outliers. This is the system doing what the system is designed to do.
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“Detective Michael Boyd reconstructed the route of the police van carrying Freddie Gray by using surveillance footage and his own memory. He told Officer Caesar Goodson’s attorney that he did not see any evidence that Goodson made abrupt stops, starts or turns while transporting Gray.”
Umm, accelerometers and GPS location recorders in tamper evident “black boxes” in all police vehicles, similar to airplanes, to be turned over to a neutral authority in the event of anything like this, high speed chase, etc? Use in conjunction with dashboard and body cameras. We have the technology…
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but we lack the political will
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Hmmm, how about a cell phone app that can be covertly initiated?
Any modern cell phone has all the sensors required… DIY FTW?
Other than Freddie Gray’s broken neck. I’d say (to the person testifying and to the judge) that once someone is in police custody the police have primary responsibility for that person’s well-being. Like a child’s school in loco parentis. This week sucks.
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Way back when this first happened, I recall talk of what IIRC was known as the Baltimore Joy Ride or something like that. Basically toss them in the back of the paddy wagon and do essentially what this driver was accused of doing.
It sounded like a well known issue. So why did none of this come out in trial? I would think that a history of this kind of abuse that eventually lead to a death would guarantee conviction.
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Cops don’t have to follow the rules in an authoritarian society.
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Of course. Cops have special rights. They get away with murder on a consistent basis. And it will continue to be that way. Unless? No. Not “unless”. Period
Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
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They are given those rights by the public. But the public seems too frightened to take them back.
Compared to cops such as these getting black-bagged by the people, legitimate punishment by the courts is much safer for them, and for their own sake they should take advantage of it.
I think their official line is he did it himself. Like, gosh, he must have stood up or something. Clearly he was just trying to make them look bad 
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He got away with it for the same reason that murderers of African-Americans have been getting away with it from day one.
The USA, historically, politically, culturally and legally, is fundamentally based upon white supremacy and the exploitation of poverty.
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A. The public should be scared. In a world where no one knows the criteria for being put on a watch list, where people can be held indefinitely without trial, and where the Bill of Rights is being actively dismantled, it’s risky to act out.
B. Besides being scared, the public is also tremendously divided. Everyone agrees that the status quo sucks, but the people’s opinions are in direct opposition with one another when the question of how to fix things arises. The media seems to like to help broaden that divide. And now, supporters of the two largest political parties think that the other party’s supporters are evil, to put it mildly. This is exemplified by what we see on Congress on a daily basis, where those of different parties refuse to work with each other, even on issues that they should both agree on. And then the congresspeople invariably turn around and place all of the blame on the other party, without acknowledging that they were just as inflexible and pigheaded.
Even here on the BBS, people are quick to dismiss and degrade anyone who says anything supportive of the Republican Party, though friendly debate and education are more productive in working towards getting someone to reevaluate their views. Dismissal and ad hominems do little to forward the thinking of the general populace.
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And yet we stick this equipment in garbage trucks and snow plows. 
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Yeah, but it seems like these days, with all the new attention being given to the issue, it’s only when all that is less-than-explicit that police still get away with it so cleanly. I guess that’s just me being hopefully deluded.
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