Government officials in the city of Baltimore will pay
$6.4 million in taxpayer dollars to the family and estate of Freddie Gray, the 25-year-old
man who sustained fatal neck injuries while in police custody last April. The
incident resulted in several nights of protests and rioting and six cops have
been charged with his murder.
He died from a broken neck allegedly caused
by a “rough ride” in the back of a police van following his arrest. The officer who was driving the police van has
been charged with second-degree murder. Three other officers are charged with
manslaughter and two with assault.
Now, maybe this was a wrongful or even an intentional death
for which the city is liable and maybe it wasn’t, but one thing is certain: the
officials are proposing this settlement long before all the evidence is adduced
and the public knows what happened and who is responsible. The police officers
accused in the case haven’t even been tried yet. There hasn’t even been a civil
lawsuit filed yet.
This "should not be interpreted as a judgment on
the guilt or innocence of the officers facing trial," says Mayor
Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. “This settlement is being proposed solely because
it is in the best interest of the city.”
Well, if the
officers aren’t guilty of wrongfully or intentionally causing Gray’s death,
then the city isn’t liable, and if the city isn’t liable how can it be in the
best interests of the city? If the cops weren’t legally responsible then there
is no reason on Earth for the taxpayers to have to shell out $6.4 million. Even
if this was a wrongful death, are the damages to the estate really $6.4 million?
“To suggest that there is any reason to settle prior to
the adjudication of the pending criminal cases is obscene,” said Fraternal Order of Police president Gene Ryan.
Gray was raised
in a fatherless home by his mother who couldn’t read, was on welfare and addicted
to heroin. He was unemployed at the time of his death. In school he read at a
level four grades behind. He had a lengthy criminal record having been arrested
18 times, mostly for narcotics offenses.
Assuming this were a legitimate wrongful case death for
which the city was liable, the total damages wouldn’t come close to $1 million
much less $6.4 million. He was unemployed. No one depended on him for support. He
wasn’t supporting his mother. But she will receive $5.6 million in the
settlement. His father, who had abandoned the family long ago, will get
$640,000. The remainder of $400,000 will be paid to the estate.
In short, the taxpayers of Baltimore are screwed again.
Well, the taxpayers always get screwed, so no surprises there.
ReplyDeleteAs far as how the settlement can be good for "the city," we are talking about the city GOVERNMENT, and I can think of one way in which shelling out $6.4 million would be good for them:
There are likely extant or threatened boycotts of Baltimore over the Freddie Gray incident. The city is likely losing, or stands to lose, conventions and other large tax revenue producers over the matter. And the potential tax revenues they're losing might well come to far more than $6.4 million.