Freddie Gray: What other local media outlets are saying
FREDDIE GRAY: National and state leaders of the Black Caucus plan to call on the U.S. Department of Justice to launch a comprehensive investigation of potential civil rights violations by the Baltimore City Police Department, Erin Cox is reporting in the Sun. “We want a complete federal investigation,” said state Sen. Catherine Pugh, a Baltimore Democrat who is also president of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators.
- Top officials in Baltimore City acknowledged Friday that Freddie Gray was not treated properly when he was arrested nearly two weeks ago but said they are still investigating the severe spinal injury that appears to have led to his death, Peter Hermann and Ovetta Wiggins of the Post report. Gov. Larry Hogan has asked Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford and former state Del.Keiffer Mitchell, who is from Baltimore, to serve as his liaisons to Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake with regard to the investigation of Gray’s death.
- U.S. Rep. Elijah E. Cummings said the unrest late Saturday that followed hours of peaceful protests over Freddie Gray’s death was caused by a “few people, mainly from out of town.” Cummings, a Maryland Democrat who represents Baltimore, said many in the city deserve credit for remaining peaceful in the face of great frustration over Gray’s death, writes Yvonne Wenger for the Sun. The 25-year-old died April 19, a week after sustaining a spinal cord injury while in police custody.
- Baltimore City Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts and Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake called forcalm late Saturday as more than 1,300 police officers worked to take control of the city after agitated protesters incited violence after a day of peaceful marches, Mark Puente and Erica L. Green report for the Sun.
- With Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake blaming “outside agitators” for the violence at Saturday’s Freddie Gray rally, Baltimore City Police tonight released the names of 35 people arrested in connection with the unrest. Nearly all of them are from Baltimore City, Fern Shen and Mark Reutter report for the Baltimore Brew.
WHY FREDDIE GRAY RAN: The editorial board of the Sun seeks to answer the question: Why did Freddie Gray run? He had been arrested a number of times in the past on relatively minor drug charges and other piddling offenses, like having “gaming cards, dice.” Did that make him a bad person, a shady character? His friends and neighbors say no. What it makes him is all too typical in a neighborhood where generations of crushing poverty and the war on drugs combine to rob countless young people like him of meaningful opportunities.
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