The Guy Inside the Police Van

20th Precinct NYPD station on West 82nd street

On a scorching hot summer day back in the late 1990's, I was walking east along West 82nd street towards Columbus Avenue on the Upper West Side in Manhattan when I heard this faint banging noise.

Back then I fancied myself a "serious writer" and I often left my apartment on the next block on West 81st street to take a break and walk around and think, or clear my head after long hours sitting at my desk.

Now I tend to be a bit of a cerebral creature by nature, and the linear logic of  New York streets enabled me to walk around the Upper West Side on auto-pilot while my mind was miles away; not unlike a trance of sorts.

So I was bopping along in my own world as I was walking past the 20th Precinct station of the NYPD (pictured above) when this hollow banging noise caught my attention; I was across the street from the station in just about in the exact same position from where the photo above was taken.

I turned and noticed one of those NYPD police prisoner transport vehicles double-parked in the street, and there was a group of two or three cops just standing there about ten feet behind it talking amongst themselves.

I was across the street and I couldn't hear what they were talking about, but it didn't appear as if it was anything urgent, one of them was smiling and they looked to be sort of just shooting the breeze.

Then I heard the banging again, and I stopped because I could hear that it was someone inside the back of the van banging on the metal wall; like he was pounding to get someone's attention.

Now it wasn't a "van" with windows like you see officers riding around in, it was a prisoner transport van with solid walls on the back section where the people were kept.



The vehicle seen in the photo above isn't the exact same kind of vehicle I saw, but it was very similar, except the rear section was larger; but it had a similar chassis with double-tires on the back like the one in the photo.

I searched for photos online, but it was at least 17 years ago and the NYPD is now using different vehicles to transport prisoners and suspects.

When I stopped, I noticed how hot it was outside, it was humid, there was no breeze and the sun was beating down on the section of the street where the van was stopped and the engine was off; so there was no AC or anything - the guy banged on the wall again, and I heard his muffled voice from inside.

"Yo man, c'mon, it's hot in here!" he said, his voice sounded exhausted and pleading. He wasn't rude or anything, and I could tell he was African-American. I stood there looking at the van, trying to imagine what it was like in that confined metal interior space with the sun beating down and no circulation.

For the first time, I notice a couple of other local residents nearby in front of their Brownstones listening to the man's voice inside the van too. The group of officers behind the van saw us watching and seemed to shift uncomfortably, suddenly one of the cops walked closer to the rear of the van called inside.

"Take it easy." he said, "We'll be leaving in few minutes and I'll turn the AC on."

The man inside grumbled about something, but he seemed to quiet down. I don't know how long the van was parked there, and it's possible the cops were there waiting to pick up another person to be transported - it was hot out so I don't think they were just standing there for their own health.

As I walked off towards Columbus Avenue, I couldn't get the sound of the guy's voice inside the van out of my head, even though I never saw him. Questions kept ringing in my head, What had he done to be in there? Where were they taking him? Had he eaten, or had something to drink? Did his family know he was in there? 

Even though I was only there a couple of minutes, I never forgot his voice or the sound of him banging on the wall of the van; a faceless human being in distress. Not life-threatening, but distress none the less.

Baltimore PD Officer Caesar Goodson

As you may have figured, I share that brief story because I'm still troubled about the news that Caesar Goodson, the Baltimore PD officer who was driving the van that Freddie Gray was fatally injured in, was found not guilty and acquitted.

My point in sharing that story, was simply to try and illustrate that an individual who's locked in the back of a police van has his or her life in the hands of the police.



So if that person is hot, or cold, or needs to use the bathroom, they're at the whim of the police.

Or, in the case of Freddie Gray, if someone is injured and needs medical assistance, and they weren't injured before they were placed inside the van by the police, then that's the responsibility of the police as well - so from a legal standpoint, I'm confused as to how the court doesn't hold any of these officers legally responsible.

If you're reading this you've probably already heard the news reports about the acquittal, so I only want to say that there's something deeply troubling about the fact that it appears none of the police officers in this case are likely to face any kind of legal repercussions for the death of Freddie Gray.

Freddie Gray wasn't rich, or famous, or perfect for that matter; he certainly had a police record.

But on that day back on April 21, 2015 he hadn't done anything to warrant his arrest and there's still no adequate explanation for why he was actually detained and put in the van in the first place.

But while he was in the van his neck was broken, not because of an accident, but because the BPD officers who arrested him failed to secure him in the seat belt in accordance with proper procedure, and the driver intentionally gave him what's known as a "Rough Ride".

It's well known that if a suspect or individual is uncooperative, rude, or acts up with police, they'll arrange for him or her to get a "rough ride" to the station.

It's also known as a "joyride", "cowboy ride" or a "screen test" in reference to the fact that the unsecured individual will get slammed into the metal screen that separates the back of some police transport vehicles from the front where police officers sit.

Freddie Gray

It means the driver of the police van will intentionally slam on the brakes, jerk the wheel, run over potholes or accelerate in such a manner as to cause the person in the back to be thrown around into the walls - that's why Freddie Gray's neck was broken so severely he went into a coma and died.

That's not some kind of administrative error, an accident, or a mistake - it's an intentional act, and an innocent man died because of it while he was in the custody of the police.

The fact that there will be no legal repercussions because of that is troubling on a number of levels, and as Jean Marbella and Scott Dance wrote in an article for the Baltimore Sun on Thursday, this case has much larger implications for community policing, officer conduct and the ability of the judicial system to hold police officers accountable for intentionally injuring or killing innocent people in custody.

As Ebony Elliot, a 39-year old resident of the Sandtown neighborhood of Baltimore where Gray was killed told Baltimore Sun reporters in an interview:

"If everyone would care, not just in this moment for Freddie Gray, but for human life itself, the world would be a better place."

Unfortunately Officer Caesar Goodson didn't see Freddie Gray as a human back on April 21, 2015.

To Goodson, he was just a guy inside the police van.

Time And Time Again

Baltimore cop William Porter must testify 

It was a mixed day for the growing nationwide grassroots movement to curb the systematic excessive use of force against unarmed African-American citizens by members of law enforcement.

Trials for the six Baltimore Police Department officers charged in the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray last April had been held up over the second court case involving William Porter.

The 26-year-old BPD officer was the first of the six cops to be tried in Baltimore back in December over his failure to properly secure the unarmed Gray into the back of a police transport van with a seat belt according to police training and guidelines.

Porter faced charges of second-degree assault, involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment and misconduct in office, but after two weeks a divided jury failed to reach a decision and Circuit Court Judge Barry Williams declared a mistrial on December 16th; he'll be retried in June.

Prosecutors had sought to compel Porter to testify against the other five BPD officers charged in Gray's death and the case went to the Maryland Appeals Court - today they ruled he must testify, opening the door for the other five trials to begin.

BPD officer Caesar Goodson, top right, on trial next

With the court's ruling today, first up will be the trial of 45-year-old BPD officer Caesar Goodson, as the driver of the van most directly responsible for the "rough ride" that caused Freddie Gray's spine to be almost severed, he'll face the most serious charges including second degree depraved heart murder and two different charges of manslaughter by vehicle.

If not for Porter's attempt to avoid testifying in court against the other five officers, Goodson would have faced trial in January.

There's no question that, like anyone else in this nation charged with a crime (or crimes), each of these officers deserves their right to a fair trial by jury; but the city of Baltimore needs some kind of closure in this case in order for the rebuilding of trust between the police, city government and the community to begin.

It's not just Baltimore either, the country needs closure in this case too.

Remember, Freddie Gray was an unarmed citizen who was never actually charged with any kind of legal infraction or crime.

Plus the attorneys for the six BPD officers had already delayed these trials with frivolous efforts to move the trials out of Baltimore based on the shaky claim that their defendants couldn't receive a fair trial in Baltimore due to the publicity generated by the actions of the defendants themselves.

LAPD's finest 

An absurd legal assertion, one based in large part on race, that's often been used by police officers facing trials or charges in order to lessen the likelihood of their being found guilty by trying the case in front of a "more sympathetic jury."

The change of venue was successfully used back in 1992 in Los Angles to move the trials of LAPD officers Laurence Powell, Stacy Koon, Theodore Briseno and Timothy Wind (pictured left), who were charged with the severe beating of motorist Rodney King, from LA where the beating occurred, to the predominantly white community of Ventura County; where their acquittal set off some of the most horrific riots in U.S. history.

Powell and Koon later faced trial in federal court on charges that they violated Rodney King's civil rights and we found guilty in a trial that was held in the city of Los Angeles.

But at least they actually faced a trial.

As was widely reported earlier today, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara issued a statement that federal prosecutors would not seek criminal charges against NYPD officer Richard Haste in the 2012 shooting death of  unarmed black teenager Ramarley Graham.

According to Bharara's statement as reported in the New York Times, NYPD officers from the Street Narcotics Enforcement Unit of the 47th Precinct became suspicious of the 18-year-old Graham as he was walking near a bodega in the Bronx because of the way he adjusted his pants.

They followed the teen to his home in the Bronx, and pulled up to the door as he was going inside; he saw the cops and slammed the door.

NYPD officer Richard Haste

The officers forced their way inside and officer Haste confronted Graham in the hallway of the house with his gun drawn and demanded the teen put his hands up.

The scared teen ran into a bathroom and Haste, claiming he felt fear that the teen had a gun, fired a single shot into the bathroom killing Graham.

Graham didn't have a gun, but there was a bag of weed in the toilet he'd desperately tried to flush.

The teenager's grandmother and six-year-old brother were both inside the house when the shooting occurred.

Today on NPR I listened to an interview with Ramarley Graham's mother Constance Malcom as she reacted to the news that no charges would be filed against the police officer who killed her unarmed son.

It wasn't easy to listen to.

She understands that her son died not because her son had a gun, he died because a police officer says he thought her son had a gun - and that thought, that erroneous belief based on fear, is enough for him not to face any legal consequences for taking the life of a teenager who was running from the cops because he had a bag of weed on him.

As far too many cases have taught us, that's a scenario that's played out far too often in this country; the things an officer fears, be it true or not, grants an almost limitless legal discrepancy for violent, even deadly behavior.

This decision not to file charges against Richard Haste illustrates the importance of the decision of the Maryland Appeals Court today to compel William Porter to testify in the trials of the officers accused in the death of Freddie Gray.

It's an important legal point sure, but the larger point, and more importantly the message it sends, is a judicial system saying that legal technicalities, or comparatively obscure points of law cannot be more important than members of law enforcement taking responsibility for taking the life of a person who was unarmed and not committing a crime.

During the interview earlier, Ms. Malcom had some pretty choice words for the NYPD Police Commissioner and the NYPD's police culture - she called the decision not to file charges against her son "a slap in the face".

Her words were a haunting echo felt by many around the nation and the world:

"Time and time again, you see it over and over, this officer walks free, they get a pay raise, they get a promotion and nothing has been done to them. This is sending the wrong message. Even in your own home you're not safe anymore."

A Riot By Any Other Name?

The Baltimore riot of 1861

The episodes of violence and property destruction that gripped the city of Baltimore today were unfortunate for the idea of civil disobedience, but it's happened before.

Many times.

The Baltimore Riots of 1861, which broke out on April 19, 1861 when Union troops being transferred to Washington, D.C. were attacked by mobs of Confederate sympathizers and pro-slavery activists who lived in the city at the outbreak of the Civil War, left some sixteen people dead and dozens more injured.

Not only would those riots lead to some of the first deaths of Federal troops in the Civil War (four soldiers of the Sixth Massachusetts Militia were killed by pro-Confederate mobs on April 19th) the ensuing disorder on the part of Baltimore officials would lead President Lincoln to suspend the writ of habeas corpus in order to arrest and hold Confederate sympathizers and secessionists and restore order to the city.

After the violent attacks on the Federal troops (who were simply making their way to another rail station) mobs attacked and destroyed the offices of a German language newspaper, Baltimore Wecker,  as William Schnauffer the publisher was a staunch supporter of the Union; he and the editor Wilhelm Rapp were forced to flee the city for their own safety.

So in the midst of what's going on now in Baltimore, some historical perspective helps to put things in context.

Since 1807 there have been at least nine different riots in the city of Baltimore, including the aforementioned riots in April, 1861, riots associated with the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 and rioting that took place in April of 1968 in the wake of nationwide outrage over the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4th.

And here again on April 27, 2015, a day that was supposed to be a day of mourning for the family and friends of Freddie Gray instead sparked more violent reactions just hours after hundreds attended a packed funeral service.

Too many of the television reports I saw on what were constantly labeled "the riots" today focused exclusively on the worst parts of the civil disorder that affected parts of the city; officers hurling tear gas canisters, looters pouring out of a CVS store that was later engulfed in flames and shots of police arresting rioters.
 
It's hard to tell from the images of disorder and looting constantly being recycled by mainstream media outlets, but there were also hundreds of people participating in peaceful protests across the city of Baltimore today.
 
Their demands for answers in the death of Gray while in the custody of the Baltimore Police Department were largely drowned out, and their non-violent actions overshadowed by the actions of roving smaller groups of outraged (mostly young) people damaging police vehicles, causing damage to local businesses (and in some cases looting) and in several areas of the city, hurling bottles rocks and other items at police in riot gear.

But as a Twitter user named Afro State of Mind observed a little while ago, despite all these reports of rioting and property destruction, no one's spine was severed.

During the course of the day I kept hearing the same report about a Baltimore Police officer who was injured in the riots and was "unresponsive."

Yet the Baltimore Police Department's own Twitter account released this statement via Twitter within the last 90 minutes: @BaltimorePolice "We have received several media inquires asking if we have an officer who was injured and in grave condition. THIS IS NOT TRUE."

Riots tend to fuel reactionary and inflammatory rhetoric on both sides of the issue, as different groups seek to use the imagery to fit a narrative.

April 27th protests over Freddie Gray's death in Oakland, CA

Given the media's tendency to distort what's actually happening on the ground in the interest of ratings, it's quite understandable that some might see what's happening in Baltimore as anarchy, but it's actually not.

What's happening in Baltimore is part of a growing national opposition to, and outrage over the unchecked excessive police use of deadly force in this nation that too often claims the lives of poor African-American and Hispanic men and boys.

It's easy to look at a burning store, or a police car on fire and label what's happening in Baltimore as simply "rioting".

But look at the photo above, that's a photo that was posted on Twitter earlier this evening of street protests taking place in Oakland, California right now; it's early evening Eastern Time as I write this.

What you see in that photo are diverse groups of people taking part in the same organized protests going on in Baltimore. These are Americans united in opposition of unchecked police use of deadly force.

These are Americans outraged at the idea of a man's neck being severed in police custody who are demanding an end to the abuse of police power seen most recently in South Carolina and in Tulsa. 

I'm not condoning the destruction of property in Baltimore or anywhere else for that matter.

Personally, on this day when the nation's first African-American Attorney General was sworn into office, I think there were far more effective peaceful ways of civil dissent that could have been used to bring media attention to the Freddie Gray case and bring pressure to bear on the city of Baltimore to hold the officers involved in this young man's death accountable.

People from different age groups, religions, economic backgrounds, races and nationalities are tired of it.

They're tired of a nation whose political leaders used inflated rhetoric to point the finger at human rights abuses in China, Syria, Iran or Russia; while in this nation the Department of Justice doesn't even keep accurate data on the death of Americans killed by police - making it even harder to know exactly how many innocent people are killed by members of law enforcement.

Politicians in Washington wag their fingers at accounts of ISIS members killing innocent civilians in countries thousands of miles away from the United States, while less than an hour's drive from the nation's capital, members of the Baltimore Police Department are seen on tape dragging Freddie Gray into a police van as he screams in agony; only to be found with a severed neck about an hour later.

So no one wants to see people venting their outrage on a CVS store, but remember there are over 7,600 CVS stores in the United States; a CVS can be rebuilt and the shelves restocked.

Freddie Gray's life was taken, that's irreplaceable.

And for many people in Baltimore and around the nation, that's unacceptable.

So perhaps a "riot" is simply a matter of perspective. Maybe those images of Baltimore being shown on television are not simply a bunch of crazed lunatics running around burning stores and police cars.

Maybe what you see are Americans who believe in the right to due process who are determined not to see Freddie Gray's life reduced to a concocted police story, a botched investigation and a bogus trial.

Maybe what you see in Baltimore and other cities are Americans determined to see that Freddie Gray's voice is heard in a court of law, even though he can't be there to testify.

After all, if the Boston Tea Party, or Abraham Lincoln suspending habeas corpus during the Civil War, or Daniel Ellsberg giving The Washington Post and The New York Times copies of a classified Defense Department study of the Vietnam War, or some black students sitting at a lunch counter  teaches us anything, it's that sometimes laws must be broken.

Not to "riot" or cause chaos; but to challenge authority in order to enforce the larger concept of the rule of law.

That's what was at the heart of many of the previous "riots" that have taken place in Baltimore since 1807 - that's what's at the heart of what is happening right now.

  

30 Minutes in Baltimore - The Death of Freddie Gray

Freddie Gray, 25, died Sunday

Brooklyn. Queens. Philadelphia. Cleveland. Ferguson. Chicago. Miami. San Francisco. Los Angeles. Charleston. Tulsa.

The list of American cities where unarmed African-American boys and men have lost their lives during encounters with members of law enforcement doesn't seem to keep pace with prosecutions of those police officers responsible for unjustified use of deadly force.

Will that change with the city of Baltimore now that the disturbing case of Freddie Gray has been thrust into the media spotlight?

From the terse, guarded statements released by Baltimore PD, it's going to take time to unravel the truth.

The facts are still murky, but as you've probably heard the end result is all too clear; and shocking by any standards of a modern civilized society.

At 8:54am on Sunday April 12th Gray was arrested by members of the Baltimore PD mounted on bicycles before being transferred to a police wagon to be transported to the police station three blocks away.

At 9:24am police called paramedics to the police station of the western district where Gray was found with three broken vertebrae in his neck; a neck injury so severe it almost severed his spinal cord.

He lapsed into a coma and eventually died in the hospital this past Sunday April 19th.

So what happened during the 30 minutes when Gray was locked in the back of that police wagon?

According to an article by Justin Fenton and Jessica Anderson posted on the Website of the Baltimore Sun earlier this evening, the Baltimore police are still being vague about why they arrested Gray in the first place.

In documents filed with the district court, officer Garret Miller states that officers chased Gray after he, "fled unprovoked upon noticing police presence."

Not to be flippant, but given the recent high-profile deaths of any number of young black men at the hands of police, and given Baltimore PD's tense relationship with the largely African-American community it serves, is it really surprising that Freddie Gray ran?

Police statements offer the usual assortment of "facts" typically offered up to justify excessive use of force or a violation of a defendant's rights. We've yet to hear from the four officers involved in the incident; perhaps they "felt threatened".

In a press conference, deputy police commissioner Jerry Rodriguez stated that Gray was in a high-crime area where drug trafficking was known to occur; so not only are some Baltimore residents trapped in a cycle of poverty, their being locked by geographic and economic boundaries in high-crime neighborhoods is in itself, justification for police to stop them. 

Was Freddie Gray criminalized simply for walking around in his neighborhood?

Once he was stopped, police claim to have found a switchblade knife clipped to the INSIDE of his pants pocket; so he was arrested.

Is there any proof the knife was his? If it did belong to Gray, by the police's own statement, it wasn't even visible when they saw him.

And even if it was his knife, if you've watched HBO's groundbreaking series "The Wire" anyone walking through Baltimore's west side would probably be carrying something to protect themselves.

Regardless the police court statement goes on to state that, "The defendant was arrested without force or incident...During transport to Western District via wagon transport the defendant suffered a medical emergency and was immediately transported to Shock Trauma via medic."

Remember, he was arrested three blocks from the station; what were the police doing for 30 minutes with Gray already handcuffed and locked in the back of the police wagon?

According to members of his family who saw him in the hospital last week, Gray's voice box was damaged and his brain was swollen.

Gray's lawyer, William Murphy, Jr., speaking on behalf of the family said, “We believe the police are keeping the circumstances of Freddie’s death a secret until they develop a version of events that will absolve them of all responsibility.”

Until the truth comes out those 30 minutes Freddie Gray spent in the back of that police van are essentially "missing" in time.

At least one of the four Baltimore police officers who've been placed on desk duty knows what happened but unfortunately the wheels of justice turn slowly when it's the word of four cops against a dead black defendant in this nation.

But the wheels do turn. For the sake of justice and the rule of law, hopefully technology (video, CCTV, radio transmissions or cell phone video), science, facts and a visible public outcry will allow the dead to speak.

And while the Baltimore PD will try to vilify him and slander his character, hopefully the media will help remind the public that this victim of such horrific and unexplainable violence was a son, the brother of a twin sister and a friend; a 25 year-old guy who loved to joke around and was generous to those he knew.

The fact that Freddie Gray won't have an opportunity to testify about those 30 minutes in the back of that police wagon is not only a sad measure of the state of law enforcement in America, it offers us insight into how black humanity is perceived - and the value of black life in the 21st century here in the greatest nation in the world.

I think a quote from his distraught sister Carolina sums it up best, “If someone has surrendered and you’ve put the handcuffs on him, what is the point of you beating them?"

That's a question we can ask, but the law enforcement community and the court system in this country is going to have to provide the answer.

And it's going to take a lot longer than 30 minutes.