Wednesday, April 29, 2015

The Blasphemy Of Freddy Gray

By Victor J. Ward

Freddy Gray is dead because of his irreverence.

Here is what I have read and heard: Gray made eye contact with a police officer. Gray started to run. The police gave chase and caught him. Gray did not resist arrest. Witnesses report that Gray's leg seemed to have been injured. The police handcuffed Gray and put him into the back of a police van. The police took Gray to a hospital. Gray's family said that Gray was treated for three broken vertebrae and a crushed voice box. Gray died from the injury to his spine. At least one doctor said that Gray's type of spinal injury usually occurred in severe car accidents.

After I heard a person reporting on the story, I had to rewind it and listen again.


Eye contact?

Eye contact?

Eye contact?

This man made eye contact with the police and for that he is dead?

When I first heard the story, I thought of two things:

When I taught 7th Grade, it was not uncommon for Student A to roll his/her eyes at Student B. Or, Student A would give a "mean" look to Student B. This was called "mean-mugging."

If Student B got mean-mugged, it was on: B vs. A and A vs. B.

During a mean-mugging, A wants to engage with B. A wants to show his/her superiority. A wants to fight B. The mean-mugging is a non-verbal invitation to fight.

But, that's not what happened here. Gray did not mean-mug the police. If he had, he would not have run. Instead, he would have stood his ground and defied the police to do something to him.

I might mean-mug the police but Gray? Not a chance.

No, what Gray did was much worse than mean-mugging. There is a passage in the Bible that says:

"But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' "

The tax collector averted his eyes out of fear and respect.

The tax collector showed reverence.

Freddy Gray did not.

Gray had the audacity to not only look at the police officer, but, gasp, to make eye contact.

What would happen if a person saw the face of God? Exodus 33 has the answer:

God told Moses, "You cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live."

The police officers that killed Gray believe that they are deity. No one can see them and live.

Some have raised the issue of Gray's arrest record. Here are some of the highlights of said record:

July 2007 -- possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute
August 2007 -- giving a false statement to a police officer
August 2007 -- possession of marijuana
August 2007 -- possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute
February 2008 -- possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute
March 2008 -- possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute
March 2008 -- possession of a controlled substance
July 2008 -- possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute
August 2012 -- possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute and a violation of probation
September 2013 -- Distribution of narcotics, possession of a controlled substance, second-degree escape
January 2014 -- possession of marijuana
August 2014 -- possession of a controlled substance
December 2014 -- possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute
January 2015 -- possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute
January 2015 -- Fourth degree burglary, trespassing
March 2015 -- Malicious destruction of property

In another account, I saw that he had a Burglary charge in May 2008 and a stolen property charge in May 2014.

Criminal Procedure forbids District Attorneys from using a defendant's/suspect's arrest record as proof against the defendant. Arrest records are meaningless because a person could be arrested for anything. Convictions carry weight; arrest records do not.

If Gray was such a horrible individual, why wasn't he in prison? Why had the Baltimore PD and the Baltimore DA allowed such a violent criminal to terrorize the good people of Baltimore?

Most of the "crimes" that Gray committed should not be crimes. His actions don't reveal evil character. Instead, they show that he had initiative and perseverance and drive. Gray would make a fantastic salesperson.

I was once arrested. The charge? Assault with a deadly weapon.

In fact, here are some of the things that I could have been arrested for:

Driving under the influence
Conspiracy to commit Burglary -- several counts
Larceny -- several counts
Assault with a deadly weapon
Battery
Terroristic threats
Dumping
Possession of marijuana -- several counts
Possession of marijuana with intent to distribute (Note that the charge is not "sell" but "distribute")
Making false statements to a police officer


What's one of the differences between Gray and me? For most of the stuff I did, I didn't get caught.


Finally, what caused Gray's death? I don't know, but I have a guess:

I went to Cal. Every now and then, some friends would drive into San Francisco. We all piled into Rob's covered pickup truck and took a trip across the Bay. We routinely packed 10 or more people in that back.

One time after we had returned to Berkeley, Rob started taking people home. Berkeley uses road obstacles to prevent drivers from going in a certain direction.

Rob, however, was tired. So, instead of going the long way around the obstacle, Rob decided to go over the obstacle.

As he went over, my head went up -- and slammed against the roof. I have never been that hurt before while riding or driving in a car.

There was no visible damage to the truck.

I surmise that these officers handcuffed Gray and put him in the back of their van. Then they proceeded to drive through the streets of Baltimore, running over every road obstacle that they could.

After a period of time, this type of beating took its toll on Gray's body. He eventually succumbed and died from his injuries.

The police beat Gray to death without ever lifting their hand to strike him.

Victor J. Ward  first came across libertarianism by reading Murray Rothbard's Ronald Reagan: An Autopsy and Walter Block's Defending the Undefendable. He holds a law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law and an MBA from Santa Clara University.

2 comments:

  1. This type of mistreatment has a common name: nickel ride. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=nickel+ride

    ReplyDelete
  2. "I surmise that these officers handcuffed Gray and put him in the back of their van. Then they proceeded to drive through the streets of Baltimore, running over every road obstacle that they could."

    A witness has stated that Gray had a severe spinal injury from a cop kneeling on the back of his neck while he was face down. The injury was apparent because he couldn't stand and was carried to the van and thrown in before the nickel ride started.

    The witness says that he recorded the arrest on his cell phone.

    ReplyDelete