I haven’t spent any time discussing the death of Freddie Gray. Sadly the rate at which police officers kill people in this country is so high that it’s difficult to cover these incidents without feeling like you’re just repeating what you’ve said a thousand times before. But those wonderful neocons have given me something to sink my teeth in. Their love of “tough on crime” has, once again, lead them to dig up whatever excuse they can find to justify the officers’ actions. To this end they have latched onto Freddie’s rap sheet (read the comments for maximum face palm):
His arrest record includes at least 18 arrests:
- March 20, 2015: Possession of a Controlled Dangerous Substance
- March 13, 2015: Malicious destruction of property, second-degree assault
- January 20, 2015: Fourth-degree burglary, trespassing
- January 14, 2015: Possession of a controlled dangerous substance, possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute
- December 31, 2014: Possession of narcotics with intent to distribute
- December 14, 2014: Possession of a controlled dangerous substance
- August 31, 2014: Illegal gambling, trespassing
- January 25, 2014: Possession of marijuana
- September 28, 2013: Distribution of narcotics, unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous substance, second-degree assault, second-degree escape
- April 13, 2012: Possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute, unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous substance, violation of probation
- July 16, 2008: Possession of a controlled dangerous substance, possession with intent to distribute
- March 28, 2008: Unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous substance
- March 14, 2008: Possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to manufacture and distribute
- February 11, 2008: Unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous substance, possession of a controlled dangerous substance
- August 29, 2007: Possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute, violation of probation
- August 28, 2007: Possession of marijuana
- August 23, 2007: False statement to a peace officer, unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous substance
- July 16, 2007: Possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute, unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous substance (2 counts)
How is this information relevant to the case at hand? It’s not. Except to neocons. They tend to believe that once you’ve been found guilty of a crime, whether it be a real crime or a made up victimless “crime”, anything an officer does to you in the future is justified. Due process, you see, is not a thing neocons hold especially dear.
In their zealous attempt to smear Freddie’s character in order to justify what happened to him the neocons have failed to bring up the rap sheet of the officers who interacted with him. From what I’ve found the only thing Freddie did was run away from a gang of armed men with a history of violence. That’s just common sense. But officers, like dogs, tend to chase anything that runs away from them. When some officers caught up with Freddie they assaulted and then kidnapped him. Why? Because he was in possession of a switchblade, which is one of those victimless “crimes”.
Not only did the officers assault and kidnap Freddie but they almost certainly have a long history of kidnappings, extortion, assault, and armed robbery if not more. Their job description might as well be extort money from the populace and beat or murder anybody who fails to pay their protection money to the state. Freddie’s rap sheet is small potatoes compared to the rap sheet of the average officer “just doing their job.”
If you want to condemn rioters for destroying the property of people who had nothing to do with Freddie’s death that’s fine. But dragging out a dead man’s rap sheet while ignoring his kidnappers’ rap sheets in order to criticize people committing an entirely unrelated crime is not the proper way to make a valid argument.