4:15 p.m.
Attorneys representing people arrested during this week's violence and looting are frustrated that suspects are being assigned bail they believe is exorbitant.
Many of those charged can't pay it, and may spend months in jail awaiting trial.
In several cases Wednesday, Assistant Senior State's Attorney David Chu asked that bail be revoked.
Among the first cases was 28-year-old Gerard Anderson, who faced charges of malicious destruction and felony burglary.
Linda Ramirez, an attorney working pro bono, argued Anderson was going to a grocery store to get food, not to loot. Ramirez said her client wasn't identified as a person who damaged the store's windows. She wanted his bail set at $25,000.
The judge wasn't swayed and set bail at $100,000, with the first $500 in cash.
Asked if he had anything to say, Anderson replied, "I'm good."
___
3:15 p.m.
A White House spokesman is reflecting on the video of Toya Graham, saying the Baltimore mother who chased her son away from a riot with police represented "a powerful expression about the role that parents can play."
"The thing that resonated with me is — was her expression that she was concerned about her son facing the same fate as Freddie Gray," spokesman Josh Earnest said. "And while I'm sure that it was not the immediate reaction of her son to feel like she was looking out for his best interest, there is no doubting that her reaction was one that was rooted in her concern for his safety and his well-being and her love for her child."
A clip of Graham smacking her son around has become very popular on television broadcasts and social media.
The riots started after the police-custody death of Freddie Gray.
___
2:40 p.m.
Police say they arrested 35 people, including one juvenile, after the city imposed a curfew.
Capt. Eric Kowalczyk (koh-wall-check) says more than 100 people are still waiting in jail to be charged in the riots Monday night. He says police have a 48-window to charge them or else they will go free. About 100 people who were also arrested have been charged.
He says the backlog has occurred because officers have to fill out documents and do other work to file the charges. He says if people are released, they may face charges later after officers review video and social media.
The unrest occurred on the day of Freddie Gray's funeral. He suffered critical injuries while in police custody.
___
2:15 p.m.
In what promises to be one of the oddest spectacles in major-league history, the Baltimore Orioles are playing the Chicago White Sox in a stadium with no fans.
Media is buzzing over Wednesday's deserted game. The press box is full, but the grandstands are vacant. TV camera crews line the field and are stationed outside the ballpark.
Officials closed the game to the public because of safety concerns after riots broke out this week, sparked by the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray. He suffered spinal injuries in police custody.
Before the first pitch, the public address announcer at Camden Yards announced the playing of the national anthem, informing "ladies and gentlemen" what was to follow. A recorded version of the song played.
The game then began, with the usually teeming concourse barren and concession stands locked up.
__
1:40 p.m.
The Baltimore mayor is defending her response to the unrest, saying when the protests turned violent, she knew the city needed help from the National Guard.
Asked about Gov. Larry Hogan saying he didn't get calls back from her as the riots unfolded Monday afternoon, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said state officials were part of the operation the entire time.
"When he has people right there in the (emergency operations) center with us, the notion that he didn't get a call back from me directly and that was of concern, that's absurd when you have people in the room," she said Wednesday as schools reopened and tensions eased in the city.
Rawlings-Blake is a Democrat who took office in 2010. Hogan is a Republican who was sworn in earlier this year.
People in the city have been demonstrating since the arrest of Freddie Gray, who died after suffering spinal injuries in police custody.
___
Attorney General Loretta Lynch is decrying the rioting in Baltimore, calling it "senseless acts of violence" that were counterproductive.
In remarks at the Justice Department, she said while the city is in some ways a symbol of the issues the nation has been talking about when it comes to police use of force against black men, it is more than that. It is a city that police are trying to protect, and that peaceful protesters are trying to improve, she said, while "struggling to balance great expectations and need with limited resources."
Lynch, the former federal prosecutor for portions of New York City, was sworn in Monday to replace Eric Holder, becoming the first African-American woman to serve as the nation's top law enforcement official.
People in Baltimore have been angry over the death of Freddie Gray, a black man who suffered critical injuries in police custody.
___
1 p.m.
A few dozen protesters have gathered outside the office of Baltimore's top prosecutor to demand swift justice in the case of a black man who died in police custody.
Organizers say they are rallying in support of State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby, who took office in January and pledged during her campaign to address aggressive police practices.
Police have said they will turn over their report on the death of Freddie Gray to Mosby's office on Friday. She will then face a decision on whether and how to pursue charges against the police officers who arrested Gray. Six officers have been suspended during the investigation.
Gray's death from a spinal injury while in custody has led to protests, rioting and looting.
The protesters chanted "No justice, no peace!" and "This is what democracy looks like!" They say the city needs to return to peaceful protests.
___
12:40 p.m.
The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra has played a free outside concert in the city as tensions appear to be easing after the riots.
The symphony played around lunchtime and dozens of people gathered and sang the national anthem as the orchestra played along. The concert is part of the city's efforts to return to some sort of normalcy after rioters looted stores and burned businesses on Monday night.
A weeklong nighttime curfew started on Tuesday and there were very few problems. Protesters have taken to the streets because they are upset over the police-custody death of Freddie Gray.
___
11:15 a.m.
After the curfew was lifted in Baltimore, rush-hour traffic began flowing through downtown, including at an intersection where demonstrators and police had faced off Tuesday night.
There were about 15 officers in riot gear protecting a check cashing business that was trashed.
Elsewhere, schools were reopened and tensions seemed to ease, but the Baltimore Orioles are going to host a baseball game in the afternoon with no fans because of the unrest in the city.
People in Baltimore have been angry over the police-custody death of Freddie Gray. They have marched in the streets for more than a week and riots unfolded Monday, the day of Gray's funeral.
___
9:30 a.m.
Justice Department officials say they have met with the family of Freddie Gray, who died of a spinal injury days after being taken into police custody, and with an injured police officer who remains hospitalized.
The department says the meetings happened Tuesday.
Justice officials also say representatives from a specialized office that mediates conflict between police departments and communities are also in Baltimore and met with residents who shared concerns about a lack of trust in law enforcement.
Separately, the department says the results of a federal review of the Baltimore Police Department's use of force practices are expected to be announced in coming weeks. The department also has begun a civil rights investigation into Gray's death.
___
9 a.m.
Looting, fires and gunfire broke out overnight in Ferguson during protests in response to the death of a black man in police custody in Baltimore.
Several dozen people gathered Tuesday night on West Florissant Avenue, the site of several protests last summer and fall following the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was black and unarmed, by a white Ferguson police officer.
The protests were more subdued Tuesday evening in Baltimore, where a curfew was imposed. Rioting shook the city Monday following the funeral for Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who died of a spinal injury days after being taken into police custody.
In Ferguson, there were reports of two people being shot late Tuesday and early Wednesday, though it wasn't immediately clear if the shootings were linked to the protests.
A gas station was looted. Trash cans and a portable toilet were set on fire. People threw rocks at police cars.
There were no reports of officers being injured.
___
8:30 a.m.
A mother who was recorded hitting her 16-year-old son after she saw him throwing objects at Baltimore police says that she just wanted him to be safe and that his actions were unacceptable.
The video of Toya Graham, a Baltimore mother of six, was taken Monday as riots broke out in the city. The clip has become popular through social media. On Wednesday, she appeared on "CBS This Morning."
Graham says her son told her Sunday night that a group would be meeting at a mall Monday afternoon. She headed there when she heard that schools were closing early.
At the mall, she saw police and helicopters. She stood on the same side of the street as police with shields as teens threw bricks at the officers.
"I was like in awe. It was like, 'oh my God' ... to see my son come across the street with a rock in his hand. I think at that point I just lost it," she said.
She says that if her son had wanted to stay home to go to Freddie Gray's funeral, she would have allowed that. The 25-year-old died of a spinal injury days after being taken into police custody. The riots erupted hours after the service.
___
7:40 a.m.
President Barack Obama says the Baltimore riots show that police departments need to build more trust in black communities.
In an interview broadcast Wednesday on "The Steve Harvey Morning Show," Obama says his heart goes out to the Baltimore officers who were injured by rioters. He says there's no excuse for that kind of violence and that Baltimore police showed "appropriate restraint."
But he is calling on police departments "to hold accountable people when they do something wrong." He says Attorney General Loretta Lynch is reaching out to mayors to let them know what resources are available for retraining police and providing body cameras to hold them accountable.
And Obama says problems will continue if the response is only to retrain police without dealing with underlying social issues such as poor education, drugs and limited job opportunities. He says tackling those problems will require a broader movement.
___
6:30 a.m.
A citywide curfew in Baltimore ended at 5 a.m. and the morning rush is getting underway with traffic flowing on most streets downtown. There are still a few road and lane closures around police headquarters and around Pennsylvania and North avenues, where demonstrators have been congregating and a hotspot for rioting Monday night.
Local television showed a large police presence at that intersection and the CVS pharmacy in that neighborhood that burned in Monday's riots being boarded up on Wednesday morning.
Also, schools are set to reopen Wednesday morning after they were closed in the wake of Monday's riots. In a letter to the city school community on Tuesday, schools CEO Gregory Thornton thanked the students who avoided violence and law-breaking on Monday. But he also condemned students who participated in the riots, saying they will be held accountable.
___
12:40 a.m.
For the people arrested in Baltimore under the state of emergency, there could be a longer wait than usual to see a District Court official.
Normally, state law requires that people arrested without warrants appear before a court official within 24 hours of their arrests.
But as part of the state of emergency declared Monday by Republican Gov. Larry Hogan following unrest in the city, the governor extended the period to no later than 47 hours. That's according to a letter he sent Tuesday to Judge Barbara Baer Waxman, the administrative judge for the Baltimore District Court.
"This exercise of my authority is necessary to protect the public safety and to address the more than 200 arrests that were made by Baltimore Police Department and other law enforcement officials," Hogan wrote in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press.
___
12:12 a.m.
At midnight Tuesday, Baltimore police arrested one man wearing a Wu-Tang Clan T-shirt for violating the 10 p.m. curfew near the scene of Tuesday night's demonstration.
Police placed him in plastic handcuffs and arrested him without incident.
The man, who declined to give his name, said while he was being arrested that he was out at that hour because he had car problems. He said no animosity toward the officers.
"They're doing their job," he said.
Officers placed him in a prisoner transport van and told him they were taking him about 2 miles to Central Booking.
___
11:40 p.m. Tuesday
Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts says a citywide curfew seems to be working.
Batts told a news conference shortly before midnight Tuesday that only 10 people had been arrested following the 10 p.m. curfew, including seven for violating the curfew. He said two people were arrested for looting and one for disorderly conduct.
Batts said he was pleased with the efforts of dozens of community organizers, clergy and neighborhood activists who urged residents to remain calm.
"The curfew is, in fact, working," Batts said. "Citizens are safe. The city is stable. We hope to maintain it that way."
Officials called for the 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew following riots that started hours after Freddie Gray's funeral Monday. He died after being injured in police custody.
Loading...
Source: Top Stories - Google News - http://ift.tt/1zenpmb
0 comments:
Post a Comment