Mayor issues State Of Emergency in Baltimore

[K. Reyes]

You know im gonna side with cops here, I am not racist and hang out with black people weekly so plz dont accuse me of it. Whats going on in Baltimore is ridiculous. It's all a bunch of guys thinking street cred is more important then there own lives or others. And they call the cops racist because they wont let them do whatever they wanted and arrest a black person because they're acting out trying to show off in front of there friends or family. Black people are now being treated the way they are because of there history of breaking laws and terrorizing the cops when they try to stop them. You know i think cops should drop the rubber bullets and go back to using real bullets.

[Cozad]

You know im gonna side with cops here, I am not racist and hang out with black people weekly so plz dont accuse me of it. Whats going on in Baltimore is ridiculous. It's all a bunch of guys thinking street cred is more important then there own lives or others. And they call the cops racist because they wont let them do whatever they wanted and arrest a black person because they're acting out trying to show off in front of there friends or family. Black people are now being treated the way they are because of there history of breaking laws and terrorizing the cops when they try to stop them. You know i think cops should drop the rubber bullets and go back to using real bullets.

those 2 bolded statements are not consistent. not to mention you back it up with 'i have black friends' which is pretty much the stock defense by most racist people. you may think you are a cool hip dude that treats everyone equal, but when you imply there is an inherent difference in the races that predispose one to committing more crime than another, then you have missed the bigger picture.

fyi i don't condone rioting either, but your post just makes me squirm on the inside. and barring any serious thought provoking responses, i will bow out of the thread as i see this getting very ugly very fast.

[J. Hill]

I saw one mother who did not like it. She liked it even less when she found her son there with the crowd. She slapped him back to the car to take him home. There is no excuse for rioting. They destroy property and hurt innocent people. Did you notice they looted a Drug Store? wonder who gets the drugs. Some people will use any excuse to steal from others.

[J. Ascencio 1st MRB]

America is once again in turmoil

Streets in Baltimore looked like a war zone early Tuesday after a night of riots, fires and heartbreak.

"Too many people have spent generations building up this city for it to be destroyed by thugs who -- in a very senseless way -- are trying to tear down what so many have fought for," Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said.

Security beefed up after looting, fires engulf Baltimore

Buildings and cars across the city were engulfed in flames. About a dozen businesses looted or damaged. At least 15 officers were wounded, six of them seriously, the police commissioner said.

Late Monday night, CNN crews saw looters breaking in through the roof of a Baltimore liquor store. They were tossing bottles and cans of alcohol onto the street below.

All this came just hours after the funeral for Freddie Gray, who died of a severe spinal cord injury while in police custody.

Gray's family denounced the violence.

"I want y'all to get justice for my son, but don't do it like this here," his mother told journalists.

Gray's twin sister, Fredericka, said she couldn't understand the riots.

"I don't think that's for Freddie," she said. "I think the violence is wrong."

The destruction was so bad that children can't go to school Tuesday.

Officers seriously injured

Six Baltimore police officers were seriously injured in Monday's violence, Police Commissioner Anthony Batts said. He said many of the instigators appeared to be high school students.

"I think they thought it was cute to throw cinder blocks at police," Batts said.

Video showed police in riot gear taking cover behind an armored vehicle as assailants pelted them with rocks.

More than two dozen people have already been arrested, Baltimore police Col. Darryl D. DeSousa said.

There were no immediate reports of injuries among the rioters.

Senior center engulfed in flames

An enormous fire broke out at affordable housing center for seniors. It was just months away from opening.

Pastor Donte Hickman of the Southern Baptist Church, which owns the facility, said 60 units of senior housing were lost.

The mayor said it's not clear whether the fire was related to riots, as the cause of the fire is under investigation.

Regardless, the loss has been devastating.

"My eyes have been filled with tears," Hickman said. "Someone didn't understand that we exist in the community to help revitalize it."

State of emergency declared

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard. The mayor of Baltimore said every possible resource was being deployed to "gain control of this situation."

Rawlings-Blake said the city will impose a mandatory curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. daily, effective for one week starting Tuesday night.

She stressed that the city already has a mandatory curfew for young people -- 9 p.m. ET for children under 14, while teenagers 14-16 have to be inside by 10 p.m. ET on school nights.

Baltimore mayor in the spotlight

'Credible threat' to officers

Earlier Monday, Baltimore police said they had received a "credible threat" that gangs were teaming up to "take out" officers.

It did not say where the information came from, nor did it say whether the threat was tied to the recent death of Freddie Gray.

"The Baltimore Police Department/Criminal Intelligence Unit has received credible information that members of various gangs including the Black Guerilla Family, Bloods, and Crips have entered into a partnership to 'take out' law enforcement officers," police said. "This is a credible threat."

Reinforcements coming in

Up to 5,000 law enforcement officials will be requested from the mid-Atlantic region to help quell the violence in Baltimore, Col. William Pallozzi of the Maryland State Police said Monday night.

And authorities say about 1,500 members of the National Guard have been deployed.

Maryland State Police ordered an additional 40 troopers to Baltimore to join the 42 troopers already sent there Monday afternoon to assist city police. Since last Thursday, more than 280 state troopers have provided assistance in Baltimore.

"Today's looting and acts of violence in Baltimore will not be tolerated," said Hogan. "There is a significant difference between protesting and violence, and those committing these acts will be prosecuted under the fullest extent of the law."

New attorney general speaks out

Just hours after she was sworn in, Attorney General Loretta Lynch decried the "senseless acts of violence" in Baltimore.

She said the Justice Department "stands ready to provide any assistance that might be helpful."

"Those who commit violent actions, ostensibly in protest of the death of Freddie Gray, do a disservice to his family, to his loved ones, and to legitimate peaceful protesters who are working to improve their community for all its residents," she said.

'They don't deserve this'

Monday's violence came the same day as Gray's funeral. The 25-year-old was arrested on April 12 and died one week later from a fatal spinal cord injury.

"I am sure that the family is concerned, and I am positive that they are against what is beginning to develop here in town," said Billy Murphy, an attorney for the Gray family.

"They don't deserve this any more than Freddie Gray deserved it," he said about the injured officers.

The mayor said the city doesn't deserve what has happened, either.

"It is so frustrating that people think that this makes sense -- to destroy our community," she said. "People who live there that are already hurting are going to be the ones that pay."

[Melnyk 1st MRB]

Still non of this shit is comparable to the stuff that happened in Ukraines capitol with the peoples battle vs the corrupted government and the Berkut police. Now that was a war zone, this was a while back but some of the photos look real scary, like some of the ones posted previously. I just recently saw a photo of the Berkut police actually crucifying a civilian. Thank god we have a a proper police force that kept the Baltimore incident from getting to far out of hand, or it would be another ferguson.

[K. Reyes]

Hmm yea some other countrys over the edge. Ive seen videos of Iraqis getting there heads sawed off and being pushed off a 10 story building. Makes me glad the US isnt so barberic. And just to avoid complaints, I'd like to apoligize for some of the statements i made in my last post if they seem offensive.

[Marsden 1st MRB]

In the event of rioting and extreme violence against the populace by subsects of said populace I believe Martial Law to be completely acceptable. While the Baltimore PD needs to answer for what occured with the individual who died in their custody; this behavior makes no one but the community pay. Additionally it gives credence to use of heavy handed tactics by police forces as re-inforced by Reyes' initial post's ending statement

You know i think cops should drop the rubber bullets and go back to using real bullets.

This is never an acceptable route in today's society. Especially not for a country that attempts to claim to be at the forefront of any aspect of civilization. The blanket approval of lethal force by Officers of the Law has been removed and regulations tightened for a reason. Use of lethal force even in warranted situations serves only to increase tensions between the populace and Law Enforcement; not to mention between the populace and the government as a whole. We need to implement more effective less lethal, as there is truly no such thing as truly non-lethal ordnance for crowd control; if you hit someone who has a pace maker or artificial heart valve with a stun gun you'll fry their heart; catch someone in the temple with a beanbag fired from a shotgun or rubber pellet from a rifle and they are probably going to have brain hemorrhaging and potentially a fractured skull, for situations were there are large groups of aggressor's who are not acting in a logical way. I don't care what your position is; breaking into an establishment; robbing it and then destroying the property can have no logical backing.

[J. Hill]

Turns out the guy may have injured himself in the back of the van taking him to jail. Another prisoner in the back claimed to hear him banging against the walls in the van. If the Police heard it, they should have stopped and restrained him more. I have had to do that several times when I was an MP in the Army. Once even to another MP we picked up from the Civilian Police. We were there to protect everyone, not just the general public or ourselves. Those we arrested were treated with respect the majority of the time. Sometimes we had to use further restraints to protect them from themselves.

[K. Reyes]

Doing some more reasearch and reading another news article it looks like most of the cops involved had a dark past. One of the cops had his guns confiscated in the past due to making threats towards his sons mother.

[J. Hill]

their mistake was just putting him in the back on the floor and not putting him in a seat with the seat belt on. If they stopped suddenly, he would slide forward and smash his head against the wall. Probably what broke his back. sliding around in the back. very careless of the police to do that.

[K. Reyes]

Yeah, Fine example of power hungry cops abusing there powers. He may have fought with them but thats no reason to be careless of his safety. If you have a taser use it. And if they hadn't been charged and were released instead, That city would've been burned to the ground.

Edited May 3, 2015 by Reyes 1st MRB