Freddie Gray not the first to come out of Baltimore police van with serious injuries

[Ichingcarpenter]

But Gray is not the first person to come out of a Baltimore police wagon with serious injuries.

Relatives of Dondi Johnson Sr., who was left a paraplegic after a 2005 police van ride, won a $7.4 million verdict against police officers. A year earlier, Jeffrey Alston was awarded $39 million by a jury after he became paralyzed from the neck down as the result of a van ride. Others have also received payouts after filing lawsuits.


For some, such injuries have been inflicted by what is known as a "rough ride" — an "unsanctioned technique" in which police vans are driven to cause "injury or pain" to unbuckled, handcuffed detainees, former city police officer Charles J. Key testified as an expert five years ago in a lawsuit over Johnson's subsequent death.



Christine Abbott, a 27-year-old assistant librarian at the Johns Hopkins University, is suing city officers in federal court, alleging that she got such a ride in 2012. According to the suit, officers cuffed Abbott's hands behind her back, threw her into a police van, left her unbuckled and "maniacally drove" her to the Northern District police station, "tossing [her] around the interior of the police van."

"They were braking really short so that I would slam against the wall, and they were taking really wide, fast turns," Abbott said in an interview that mirrored allegations in her lawsuit. "I couldn't brace myself. I was terrified."


http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-gray-rough-rides-20150423-story.html#page=1

[joshcryer]

1. One of my brothers had one of those "rough rides."

He couldn't believe it was happening, and I won't get into details, but it was a long way (from one state to another). He told us about it and he's kind of a serial exaggerator so we just thought he was exaggerating. After hearing about these cases I called him to talk about it. It's a very real thing. Fortunately he was not injured. This is an insane policy and police who have done this need to get jail time for vehicular assault.

[qwlauren35]

2. Definitely for real.

I talked to a cop's wife about this last Saturday. She called it a "nickel ride". Not sure that lets the arresting cops off the hook, but if that's what happened, they need to go after the driver.

[Ichingcarpenter]

3. This is more than ''the driver'' its

endemic of the system that the police practices.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

4. ^ n/t

[Egnever]

5. You didn't think he was did you?

[Ichingcarpenter]

7. No but this shit isn't reported on TV

in context ............... so................ did you think I don't know what's going on?

[Egnever]

8. TV is garbage

I stopped watching it long ago. As far as I am concerned TV is nothing more than a propaganda tool when it comes to news these days. MSNBC included.

Sadly it works.

You can always tell when the TV is bleating some nonsense cause immediately there are 20 different threads on it here.

[malaise]

6. It's torture

plain and simple

[Stuart G]

9. I think that this will get picked up, if some of our media friends help

I do think that some media look at Democratic Underground for leads, then whoever sees a story will do more research on a problem and report it..Perhaps Thom Hartman, Ed Shultz, or Rachael sees this (or their staff) and does a report. Perhaps then it will get wider coverage......

.. So, that is how the reasonably healthy prisoner Freddy Gray became the dead person Freddy Gray ....and some of the rioters probably or perhaps are survivors of such rides..sounds like a terrorizing experience..meant to be by the cops..

The cops decided to give their captor...a rough ride..turned bad...and the cops who drove that car knew what they were doing..murder.
'

[malaise]

12. That it has happened before tells me all I need to know

It is deliberate policy - maybe that's what has to stop.

[Stuart G]

13. Kick this again...more than cameras, these cops need prison time....no text

[ellenrr]

15. media look at DU for leads??!! LOL

whatever you're smokin' I want some.
whoa, thanks for giving me a good laugh this morning.
some people are really puffed up with their own importance, but this takes the cake.

[Stuart G]

20. No, I really think that some people in media have their staff look here

It is so obvious why that should be done. There are many people here that search all over for stories and links. It is what we do. Now, if I were someone who had a staff, and a news TV program, and was fair minded, wouldn't I ask my staff to check DU daily for stories. I would. .........

.because if a couple hundred people are searching all over for news, and we put the links up for others to link to, then it would save some time for a staff member to check here from time to time..for example..whoever on staff posts the Thom Hartmann posts, probably looks around for other ideas for stories

I am not saying we are more important than we are, but one might say, we could save someone time looking for news..

[Ichingcarpenter]

10. The Brutality of Police Culture in Baltimore... The Atlantic

What's crucial to understand, as Baltimore residents take to the streets in long-simmering frustration, is that their general grievances are valid regardless of how this case plays out. For as in Ferguson, where residents suffered through years of misconduct so egregious that most Americans could scarcely conceive of what was going on, the people of Baltimore are policed by an entity that perpetrates stunning abuses. The difference is that this time we needn't wait for a DOJ report to tell us so. Harrowing evidence has been presented. Yet America hasn't looked.

I include myself.

Despite actively reading and commenting on police misconduct for many years, I was unaware until yesterday that the Baltimore Sun published a searing 2014 article documenting recent abuses that are national scandals in their own rights.

A grandmother's bones were broken. A pregnant woman was violently thrown to the ground. Millions of dollars were paid out to numerous victims of police brutality.

And almost none of us noticed!

So I join all who say that protests in Baltimore should remain peaceful, and I will continue to withhold judgment about Gray's death until more facts are known.

But I also insist that Baltimore protests are appropriate regardless of what happened to Freddie Gray, as is more federal scrutiny and intervention. Although much was rightly made of Ferguson's racially unrepresentative local leadership, the presence of a black mayor and a diverse city council has not solved Baltimore's police problem, partly because the DOJ responded to revelations of epidemic brutality with less than the full-scale civil rights probe that some residents requested and because Maryland pols have thwarted reform bills urged by city leaders.

There are so many good reasons for locals to be outraged...............................


article goes on with tons of examples and payouts by the police.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/04/the-brutality-of-police-culture-in-baltimore/391158/

[malaise]

14. I read this last night

This is a national crisis

[Ichingcarpenter]

16. which is why I put here to read it an't just about van rides

“Riots” aren’t random occurrences. They’re a reaction to structural oppression.

[malaise]

17. Yes - institutional racism is systemic

and omnipresent.

[Glimmer of Hope]

11. I guess we need video cameras in police vans too.

[Jesus Malverde]

18. This....nt

[global1]

19. K & R

Kick and recommend. This brutality has got to stop.

[Ichingcarpenter]

21. More abuses: Over the past four years, more than 100 people have won court judgments or settlements

UNDUE
FORCE


The city has paid about $5.7 million since 2011 over lawsuits claiming that police officers brazenly beat up alleged suspects. One hidden cost: The perception that officers are violent can poison the relationship between residents and police.


Over the past four years, more than 100 people have won court judgments or settlements related to allegations of brutality and civil rights violations. Victims include a 15-year-old boy riding a dirt bike, a 26-year-old pregnant accountant who had witnessed a beating, a 50-year-old woman selling church raffle tickets, a 65-year-old church deacon rolling a cigarette and an 87-year-old grandmother aiding her wounded grandson.

Those cases detail a frightful human toll. Officers have battered dozens of residents who suffered broken bones — jaws, noses, arms, legs, ankles — head trauma, organ failure, and even death, coming during questionable arrests. Some residents were beaten while handcuffed; others were thrown to the pavement.

And in almost every case, prosecutors or judges dismissed the charges against the victims — if charges were filed at all. In an incident that drew headlines recently, charges against a South Baltimore man were dropped after a video showed an officer repeatedly punching him — a beating that led the police commissioner to say he was “shocked.”


worth the read:

http://data.baltimoresun.com/news/police-settlements/