# WTF Baltimore? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 27, 2015, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-baltimore/718677 "2015-04-27T22:01:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 16
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2015, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-baltimore/718677/301 "2015-05-02T18:28:41Z")
Why were the two bicycle cops charged? Gray’s arrest was filmed. Nobody hurt him then. Gray offered some resistance, and was put in the van unharmed. I assume they returned to patrolling on their bicycles. Why are they getting dragged into this murder investigation? Whatever happened occurred inside that police van. Miles away. That’s what ignited this firestorm. Something happened to Gray during that van trip. He was unharmed getting loaded into it. Dying when he came out. Why were the two bicycle cops charged? photo No brutality here. This was just as he got loaded into the van. [![](http://static01.nyt.com/images/2015/05/02/us/02baltimore-JP-02/02baltimore-JP-02-master675-v5.jpg) ](http://static01.nyt.com/images/2015/05/02/us/02baltimore-JP-02/02baltimore-JP-02-master675-v5.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2015, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-baltimore/718677/302 "2015-05-02T18:38:53Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Why were the two bicycle cops charged? Gray’s arrest was filmed. Nobody hurt him then. Gray offered some resistance, and was put in the van unharmed. [What the fuck](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YV0EtkWyno)? “Put in the van unharmed”? Sure don’t look that way to me. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2015, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-baltimore/718677/303 "2015-05-02T18:43:56Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Why were the two bicycle cops charged? As I understand it, according to the state prosecutor’s office: Lacking probable cause, the three bicycle cops (Rice, Miller, Nero) arrested a citizen who was committing no crime. They used some degree of force to accomplish this illegal arrest–that is, they assaulted him. They violated their department’s standing procedures in the manner in which he was placed for transport. Rice and Miller repeated this negligence during the stop when Gray was removed from the van, shackled, and reloaded. And they failed to respond to Gray’s need and requests for medical attention. Each of these illegal acts and failures of duty contributed to Gray’s death. ---
**Author:** ![rsa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@rsa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsa)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2015, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-baltimore/718677/304 "2015-05-02T18:45:05Z")
[Charges for each cop](http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/01/us/freddie-gray-officers-actions/). According to the above article there were three bike patrol cops charged. > [@](#): > > The three officers failed to establish probable cause for Gray’s arrest. No crime had been committed. The arrest was illegal, Mosby said. Also, reporting that a legal pocket knife was a switch blade. Here are the charges. > [@](#): > > Miller [bike cop #1] is charged with two counts of second-degree assault, two counts of misconduct in office and one count of false imprisonment. > [@](#): > > Rice [bike cop #2] is charged with one count of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree assault, two counts of misconduct in office and one count of false imprisonment. > [@](#): > > Nero [bike cop #3], 29, on the job since 2012, was the third officer on bike patrol when Gray was arrested. Mosby said Nero held Gray down until the wagon arrived. Along with Rice and Miller, Nero failed to establish probable cause for what Mosby called an illegal arrest. Nero also assisted Rice and Miller later in cuffing and shackling Gray. > > He is charged with two counts of second-degree assault, two counts of misconduct in office and one count of false imprisonment. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2015, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-baltimore/718677/305 "2015-05-02T19:01:18Z")
Ok. I can’t see those charges sticking against the bicycle cops. If there was no cause for arrest the usual remedy is a civil suit. Thats pretty common and citizens often get settlements for unlawful arrest. The apparent bad cops here are the cops that transported him. Whatever they did during that unscheduled stop that was caught by surveillance cameras. I think they will get found guilty. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2015, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-baltimore/718677/306 "2015-05-02T19:19:46Z")
The unjustified arrest began the chain of criminal acts, but that wasn’t the bike cops’ only role. A civil suit can’t remedy anything for Freddie Gray now, and in any case it seems that [civil judgments against the BPD](http://data.baltimoresun.com/news/police-settlements/) have been strikingly ineffective in changing their approach. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2015, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-baltimore/718677/307 "2015-05-05T09:06:36Z")
Just for shits and giggles I’ll put this here: [Nation of Islam says Israeli security trained Baltimore cops](http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2015/apr/29/nation-islam-research-group/nation-islam-group-says-israeli-security-trained-b/). Or to translate: “Look at us! We’re still relevant, and not at all insane! Please pay attention to us! Please?” ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2015, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-baltimore/718677/308 "2015-05-05T13:40:35Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Ok. I can’t see those charges sticking against the bicycle cops. If there was no cause for arrest the usual remedy is a civil suit. Thats pretty common and citizens often get settlements for unlawful arrest. Wrongful arrestees don’t usually die. That is not to say the bicycle cops caused his death, but this is not a normal situation. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2015, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-baltimore/718677/309 "2015-05-11T08:06:12Z")
> [@](#): > > Thousands of people have been brought to the Baltimore city jail in recent years with injuries too severe for them to be admitted, newly released records show. > > The records, obtained by The Baltimore Sun through a Maryland Public Information Act request, show that correctional officers at the Baltimore City Detention Center refused to admit nearly 2,600 detainees who were in police custody between June 2012 and April 2015. > > The records do not indicate how the people were injured or whether they suffered their injuries while in custody. However, they do suggest that police officers either ignored or did not notice the injuries. Suspects are constitutionally guaranteed health care before they are booked into jail. > **[Records show thousands of suspects too injured to enter Baltimore jail](https://www.denverpost.com/2015/05/10/records-show-thousands-of-suspects-too-injured-to-enter-baltimore-jail/)** > > Records show thousands of suspects too injured to enter Baltimore jail Must just be a coincidence. ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2015, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-baltimore/718677/310 "2015-05-11T15:01:30Z")
That’s 17.5 people a week for just under 3 years arrested with “injuries too severe for them to be admitted” to jail. This is professional policing right, not some random knucklehead vigilante group? ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2015, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-baltimore/718677/311 "2015-11-15T05:04:43Z")
> [@](#): > > A 27-year-old man who was fatally stabbed Saturday evening became Baltimore’s 300th homicide victim this year, a gruesome milestone for a city that has struggled to curb rampant violence of a kind not seen since the 1990s. > > Four hours later, the tally reached 301… > > Baltimore last recorded this many homicides in 1999, ending a decade-long run that branded the city as one of the nation’s most deadly. [https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/baltimores-300th-killing-this-year-a-violent-milestone-in-a-riot-scarred-city/2015/11/14/448dc4ba-8a1f-11e5-be39-0034bb576eee\_story.html](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/baltimores-300th-killing-this-year-a-violent-milestone-in-a-riot-scarred-city/2015/11/14/448dc4ba-8a1f-11e5-be39-0034bb576eee_story.html) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-baltimore/718677.md?page=15)