In the United States, there have been many cases made against police regarding excessive brutality that has led to death and severe injuries. A young man named Freddie Gray was a victim of this supposed police brutality.
After Gray was put into the squad car, the police neglected to buckle him in. This caused Gray to develop a major injury to his spine. He died a week after the injury happened. According to the Baltimore Sun, the police officers who arrested Gray are being charged with second-degree murder. People have taken to the streets of Baltimore to voice their outcry against Gray’s ‘unfair’ death.
Senior Mitchell Weber believes otherwise. “There are a lot of questions that need to be answered; at the very least the arresting officers committed negligent homicide by not buckling him in.”
People are tearing the Baltimore police force apart in attempt to gain this information. Many people do believe that Freddie Gray was killed because the cops are racist, but that has not been proved. Weber said, “After so many police brutality cases being outed in the news, the black population cannot help but notice a trend.”
Individuals who are not from Baltimore participated in the riots. At first, the protests were not so violent. However, it is hard to maintain a peaceful protest.
Weber stated that a peaceful protest could be a simple march or a stand in front of the town hall. He also mentioned there is nothing wrong with a protest; if done correctly, it can help raise awareness about a certain topic.
Even with violent riots happening, there are those who continue to protest peacefully. However, peaceful protesting is not acquiring the attention many of the protestors desire, since the media has focused all its attention on the violence.
Riots such as these have been increasing in US and there is fear that they will continue to increase in the future. There has been the idea of having police wear cameras, which is highly controversial. Weber said, “The use of cameras will protect both the cops that are doing their job right and victims of brutality.” Weber also mentioned that the using cameras would be very pricey. However, if cops were to wear cameras, there would be no question on what actually happened. Weber added, “There will always be injustices, and there will be people who react with violence. I hope that changes are made to make it more difficult for cops to carry out misconduct so they will not worsen, ”
According to the Baltimore Sun, it was the State Attorney who chose to have the cops arrested. She said that Gray had been “ïllegally arrested”. After her announcement, the people celebrated and the riots ceased, which caused a lot of relief to Baltimore.
http://www.redstate.com/2015/04/29/cnn-brookebcnn-veterans-causing-baltimore-riots/