Ken Berwitz
What a wonderful time to live in Baltimore.
Crime – especially violent crime – is skyrocketing, hotel bookings are down, conventions which were to have been in Baltimore have moved elsewhere….
….and now we have the brilliant Mayor of Baltimore, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake – the one who gave looters, rioters and arsonists “space to destroy” – agreeing to make Freddie Grays relatives multi-millionaires in a cash settlement.
Doubt me? Can\’t believe your eyes? Then read this excerpt from Yvonne Wenger and Mark Puente\’s article in the Baltimore Sun:
The Rawlings-Blake administration plans to pay FreddieGray\’s family $6.4 million as a settlement for civil claims in hisarrest and death – an extraordinary payment in a lawsuit against city police.
The settlement – which is expected to be approved atWednesday\’s meeting of the city\’s spending panel – will be paid out over twoyears, according to the mayor\’s office. The five-member board is controlled byMayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.
The payment is larger than the total of more than 120 otherlawsuits broughtagainst the police department for alleged brutality and misconduct since 2011.
No trial has taken place. No facts have been presented in any court of law. We do not even know whether there is evidence that the injuries which killed him were self-inflicted (a witness claimed he did, and there are reports that, while in custody, Gray intentionally tried to injure himself in the past). But millions will be paid out anyway.
Hey, it\’s not as if Baltimore needs the money.
Congratulations to the voters of Baltimore. Enjoy Ms. Rawlings-Blake and prosecutor Marilyn Mosby to the fullest. They are what you wanted, and they are what you got.
