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Sunday, May 10th, 2015

Officer in Freddie Gray case demanded man’s arrest as part of personal dispute

Author:     Jon Swaine and Oliver Laughland
Source:     The Guardian (U.K.)
Publication Date:     Friday 8 May 2015 16.43 EDT
 Link: Officer in Freddie Gray case demanded man’s arrest as part of personal dispute
Stephan:   This is what I have been waiting for. It was clear to me from the beginning that at least one of the officers involved with Freddie Gray's death had to be a bully and a thug, and it was just a matter of time until evidence of that came out. And now it has... in a British newspaper. Why is that, do you think? Why is this coming out in non-U.S. media? Where is the corporate American media? Just asking. As you read this story ask yourself: How is it possible that a man with the background of Brian Rice could be a front line serving senior officer of police? And what else do you think will come out as this investigation continues?
Baltimore police Lieutenant Brian Rice, Credit: Reuters

Baltimore police Lieutenant Brian Rice,
Credit: Reuters

NEW YORK — The most senior Baltimore police officer charged over the death of Freddie Gray used his position to order the arrest of a man as part of a personal dispute just two weeks before the fatal incident, prompting an internal inquiry by Baltimore police department.

During an erratic late-night episode in March, Brian Rice boasted he was a Baltimore police lieutenant and warned “heads will roll” if officers in a nearby city did not “go arrest” his ex-girlfriend’s husband, according to a police report obtained by the Guardian.
Brian Rice
Lieutenant Brian Rice Photograph: Reuters

The incident is the latest in a series revealed by the Guardian that policing experts said raised questions over Rice’s ability to perform his duties as a supervising officer and the Baltimore department’s decision to keep him on front line patrols.

Two weeks later, it was Rice who initiated the arrest of Gray after the 25-year-old “made eye contact” with the lieutenant in a west Baltimore street and ran away. Gray was chased and subjected to […]

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