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RUSH: We obviously start in Baltimore today with the Baltimore state attorney, Marilyn Mosby, a press conference a little over an hour ago, announcing that six officers are going to be charged with varying degrees of second-degree murder and manslaughter in the transportation death — ah, ah, ah — in the death of Freddie Gray.

Now, many people are wondering what is really going on here. I would like to explain to you. I would like for somebody else to explain to you in one sound bite what is going on here. This is yesterday and the National Action Network president, the Reverend Al Sharpton, speaking with reporters. This is really what you need to know.


SHARPTON: We need the Justice Department to step in and take over policing in this country. In the 20th century, they had to fight statesÂ’ rights to get the right to vote. WeÂ’re going to have to fight statesÂ’ rights in terms of closing down police cases. Police must be held accountable.

RUSH: We need a national takeover of policing in this country, and that is what is happening. If you’ve heard the term “social justice” bandied about over the course of your life and wondered what it really meant, aside from another way of expressing liberalism, the press conference today by Ms. Mosby, the state attorney, pretty much defines social justice as opposed to real justice.

We all have random thoughts on this, and it’s very early. There’s some things here that are peculiar, contradicting. All week we’ve been treated to stories in the media about a rough ride that Freddie Gray had in the van. She didn’t even reference that once. And what we have here essentially, I mean, if you strip it all down is the police officers who’ve been charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter basically are being charged with that crime for failing to strap Freddie Gray in a seat belt in the back of the police van.

Now, the seat belt law for prisoners in a van, the law requiring them to be secured in a police van, I found out looking it up — I mean, I’ve been feverishly trying to find things out this morning before the program began — is relatively new. I even had some people tell me that the police officers involved might not have even known about it, it was so new. And an interesting angle of all this — well, first let’s listen. We’ve got some sound bites here. This state’s attorney is focused, she is passionate, she is no nonsense. If you didn’t hear any of her press conference, we have three sound bites that will explain or give you an idea and set up what is next to come, so here’s the first of the three.

MOSBY: The findings of our comprehensive, thorough, and independent investigation, coupled with the medical examiner’s determination that Mr. Gray’s death was a homicide, which we received today, has led us to believe that we have probable cause to file criminal charges. (cheering)


RUSH: Now, you heard the cheering there, and it’s important to note that. It is important to note that the crowd gathered around cheered and the city is cheering. She gave the city of Baltimore, many of the people in the city of Baltimore, what they wanted to hear today, and here’s the next bite. We’ll just run these things by you and then have at it.

MOSBY: To the people of Baltimore and the demonstrators across America, I heard your call for “no justice, no peace.” Your peace is sincerely needed as I work to deliver justice on behalf of this young man. To those that are angry, hurt, or have their own experiences of injustice at the hands of police officers, I urge you to channel the energy peacefully as we prosecute this case. I’ve heard your calls for no justice, no peace. However, your peace is sincerely needed.

RUSH: Remember that bite. We’ll come back to it here in a couple of quick seconds. But here is the final sound bite that encapsulates this.

MOSBY: Last, but certainly not least, to the youth of this city. I will seek justice on your behalf. This is a moment. This is your moment. Let’s ensure that we have peaceful and productive rallies that will develop structural and systemic changes for generations to come. You’re at the forefront of this cause, and, as young people, our time is now. (cheering)

RUSH: Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Hold on here just a second. The cause? She’s a state’s prosecuting attorney. State attorney. Some people call ’em district attorney’s. She’s the state’s attorney here, and she’s got a bunch of people working under her that will actually try the case. By the way, in case you’re wondering, the reason we didn’t play sound bites of her reciting the charges, it would take from now until the end of the half hour. She went through every possible charge for all six of these cops, and it would take from here until 12:30. It would take me 15 minutes maybe to run through all that, and we just don’t have that kind of time.

You just have to understand, they’ve had the book thrown at them, these six cops. Second-degree murder, negligent homicide. I mean, they’ve thrown everything at these guys, and that is also an interesting point. But before we go back to sound bite number two, “Last but not least, to the youths of this city, I will seek justice on your behalf.” Remember, we’re talking social justice here. I think the legal system — What Reverend Sharpton meant here in the first sound bite, I’m gonna go ahead and say this. What Reverend Sharpton is talking about is looting the legal system. When he talks about a national takeover of policing in this country, he’s talking about looting the legal system.

That’s what they’re gonna do. They’re sick and tired of what they think is this never-ending bias and prejudice and racism. They’re sick and tired of the way the cops treat them, and in their minds they’ve tried to work peacefully. They’ve supported Democrats, they’ve voted Democrats, they’re in a Democrat town, but damn it, nothing’s working. We’re going to have to take over. And that’s what he’s talking about.


So he’s talking about looting the legal system, national takeover of policing. She comes along and starts talking about the cause. One and one equals two. “This is a moment, this is your moment.” What, the charging of six cops? Or the death of Freddie? What is the moment? “Let’s ensure that we have peaceful, productive rallies that will develop structural and systemic changes for generations to come. You are at the forefront of this cause, and as young people, our time is now.”

Now, some may think that all she’s doing is asking for calm and making that part of the moment, that justice equals calm. And that could very well be. But I think that there’s a lot more going on here. Now, back up to the previous sound bite. “To the people of Baltimore and to the demonstrators across America, I heard your call for no justice, no peace, your peace sincerely needed. To those that are angry, hurt, or have their own experience of injustice at the hands of police officers –” See, it’s an agreed to and accepted presumption. From the state’s attorney in Baltimore we have the stated assumption that police departments are biased against African-Americans, totally unfair, including in cities that are run by elected Democrats.

Now, one of the interesting things I saw, I went to one of the networks, it might have been CNN, they went to find men on the street, men and women on the street after the state’s attorney’s press conference to ask ’em what they thought. There was this old crusty African-American guy who wasn’t buying it. He didn’t believe a word of this. He said — I’m paraphrasing — “Are you kidding me? All of these charges? They don’t intend to pursue all of these charges. They’re never gonna take all of these charges into court. You can’t fool me. This is just charges. This is just designed to stop the rioting.”

This old codger thinks that what this whole thing today was was a giant attempt by local authorities to tell the rioters that they are gonna bury these guys, they’re gonna charge ’em with everything they can, we got it handled, now stay home. And this old crusty codger said, “I am not gonna believe any of this ’til I see it in court. And I’m not gonna believe any of this until I see convictions. I’m not buying into any of this yet.” He wasn’t totally doubting. He wasn’t totally suspicious. I mean, there were some things he liked about it, obviously, but I’m just highlighting his suspicions about what’s really going on here. And he does have a point.


I mean, they’ve thrown the kitchen sink at these guys. Second-degree murder, what do we have here? We have a guy that was caught doing something of a criminal nature with a long rap sheet, and he’s put in the back of a police wagon, and at some point says he can’t breathe and at some point is severely injured, and we don’t know who, when, where, why. And the paddy wagon did not take him immediately for medical attention, didn’t take him to a hospital when he said he couldn’t breathe and was in pain. They stopped two or three places to pick up more prisoners, do other things.

They didn’t strap him in with a seat belt, and they finally got him to where he was going, and from that we got negligent homicide. We have second-degree homicide, I mean, that’s barely scratching the surface of what these six cops have been charged. And no, the racial component of the cops was not announced or revealed. I don’t know how many of ’em are black, white, if any are either/or. Don’t have any idea. They didn’t announce that. They said that the medical examiner has determined here that the death was a homicide.

Now, I wanted to find out what second-degree murder is in the state of Maryland, and I found it at a website called PriceBenowitz.com, Maryland homicide lawyer. “Second degree murder, covered under Maryland Criminal Code § 2-204, makes it illegal to commit any murder, even if it was not premeditated, willful, or deliberate.” Okay? So we can conclude from that that murder is illegal in Baltimore, Maryland.

“The distinction between second degree murder and manslaughter is in the intent. Therefore, a second degree murder must be intentional.” This is from the Maryland criminal code. “For example, accusations made by the State that a defendant murdered another person in a fit of unplanned rage would likely result in second degree murder charges.” Now, the Maryland code doesn’t spell these things out. It’s the consensus from several sites here.

But how can anybody claim that these officers were intentionally trying to kill Mr. Gray by not putting a seat belt on him or not going immediately to the hospital or wherever? I mean, as best I’ve been able to find here — second-degree murder versus manslaughter — second-degree murder, must be intentional. And not all of the cops have been charged with it, but I think three or four were.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Yeah, yeah, I know. Yeah, a lot of people think that the overcharging here — and it is overcharging. I mean, it’s incredible, the number of charges. I’m telling you, it takes her 15 minutes to recite… That may be a little long. It took her 10 minutes recite all the charges of all six cops. Some people think, “This is not a prosecution. This is a sacrifice,” and that’s essentially what the old codger that I heard on CNN was essentially saying.

“Hey, I don’t believe any of this ’til I see it in court. They just throw all of this, all the charges, and half of these charges ain’t gonna make it to court. They’re just doing this to keep us off the street,” is what he was saying. It follows along with the idea that this might be a sacrifice, not a prosecution; that the city leaders are sitting in their closed boardrooms discussing what to do. Because, folks, it was just yesterday we were told that this report would not be made public.

Remember that?


We were told that there was not gonna be any information forthcoming. There was gonna be a report issued but they weren’t gonna release any of it, and that didn’t sit well with the community. People started questioning in the media. “What do you mean you’re gonna issue the report but you’re not gonna tell anybody what it is?” People started getting nervous. Many people in authority said that the report was not gonna be made public. That was just yesterday.

We had a story on the front page of the Washington Post where a second prisoner in the van said he didn’t see the cops do anything. It just looks like Freddie was bouncing around in there. Then that guy has asked for the record to be corrected. “Wait a minute! Wait a minute!” The headline of this story is he “fears for his life,” and he’s recanting it. Now (paraphrased), “Hey, anybody that says that I think Freddie was in there trying to kill himself, what kind of sense would that make?”

He’s walking that back. But nevertheless, there’s all kinds of stories from yesterday that make what happened today curious. Independent Journalism Review: “Baltimore Medical Examiner Reveals a Striking New Detail About How Freddie Gray Really Died.” From the Independent Journalism Review story: “While many have suggested that GrayÂ’s death was due to police negligence, the medical examiner didn’t find any proof backing that narrative.”

That’s yesterday. The Independent Journalism Review — reported by Channel 7, ABC News in Baltimore — says, “[T]he medical examiner didn’t find any proof backing that narrative.” Today we were told the medical examiner found evidence of homicide. So something happened overnight.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: And welcome back. Welcome to Open Line Friday, hosted by me, El Rushbo: your guiding light through times of trouble, confusion, murkiness, tumult, chaos, looting — not just of stores, but of the legal system — yes, and even the good times. Since it’s Open Line Friday we’ll get to calls in the first hour of the program. I try to do that anyway. It rarely happens. I mean, I go in with the best of intentions at the outset of every program. 800-282-2882.


So, look, “Baltimore Medical Examiner Reveals a Striking New Detail About How Freddie Gray Really Died.” This last night, yesterday. “ABC News 7 reported on how Gray wasn’t injured during his arrest and the way he sustained his fatal injury…” This is the Independent Journalism Review yesterday. “While many have suggested that GrayÂ’s death was due to police negligence, the medical examiner didnÂ’t find any proof backing that narrative.” I mean, this was reported yesterday. It’s all we have to go on.

Today the state attorney said that the medical examiner’s determination was that the death was a homicide. What happened between yesterday and this morning’s press conference? “An investigation into the death of Baltimore resident Freddie Gray has found no evidence that his fatal injuries were caused during the videotaped arrest and interaction with police officers, according to multiple law enforcement sources.

“The sources spoke to ABC 7 News after being briefed on the findings of a police report tuned over to prosecutors on Thursday as well as preliminary findings made by the medical examiner’s office. Sources said the medical examiner found GrayÂ’s catastrophic injury was caused when he slammed into the back of the police transport van, apparently breaking his neck; a head injury he sustained matches a bolt in the back of the van.'”

That’s yesterday. Now, according to what Ms. Mosby said today… Correct me if I’m wrong out there, but I didn’t hear her say that the cops got in the back of the van and started throwing Freddie Gray around. She didn’t even allude to “the rough ride,” which was all we were hearing about yesterday. Well, now, this is a heck of a report here from yesterday, ABC News in Baltimore quoted by the Independent Journalism Review.

And then today, the state’s attorney goes out there and tells a completely different story. Now, don’t misunderstand. What she did today is the record. I’m not… I don’t want to get caught in this trap where the exit polls mean more than the real polls, the real votes. That’s not what I’m doing here. But, I mean, somebody sourced this stuff yesterday. These people in the media just didn’t report this stuff out of the cloud.

Somebody gave them this information that they ran with and published yesterday. Here in the Baltimore Sun: “Gray Suffered Head Injury in Prison Van, Sources Familiar with Investigation Say.” Now, this version… Again, this is yesterday. The Baltimore Sun does its best to preserve the rough-ride angle and to downplay the he-was-trying-to-harm-himself angle. They have no curiosity about the position of the bolt in the van that the story I just read to you says the bolt in the van hit his head.

They got evidence of that, and that’s what caused his death. The Sun, they don’t wonder why the second prisoner never mentioned the van ride being rough. They still claim Gray was handled roughly during his arrest, despite the two videos to the contrary. And like the rest of the Drive-Bys, The Baltimore Sun never reports the racial makeup of the rest of the six officers. We still don’t know that. Well, somebody..

But it has not been officially reported.

Why is that?

I mean, in Ferguson, Missouri, that’s all that mattered was the racial makeup of the cop. In New York on the Eric Garner case, that’s all that mattered, right, was the racial makeup of the cops. But they’re not telling us the race or races or the sexual orientations or the sexual preferences or the party registrations of the six cops involved here. So I’m just saying that it is an amazing flip to have all of this stuff reported yesterday and attributed to the medical examiner and “sources high up in the police department,” to today.

So what happened overnight? What happened here? Let me share with you again audio sound bite number four. This is what happened yesterday and overnight.


SHARPTON: We need the Justice Department to step in and take over policing in this country. In the 20th century, they had to fight states’ rights to get the right to vote. We’re going to have to fight states’ rights in terms of closing down police cases. Police must be held accountable.

RUSH: Well, that’s what happened, a Justice Brother showed up. Reverend Sharpton showed up and started shepherding the mayor through her press conferences. The Reverend Sharpton showed up and started shielding the mayor and advising the mayor on her press conferences, and the Reverend Sharpton shows up and basically says, “We’re going to have to fight states’ rights in terms of closing down police cases. Police must be held accountable.”

Sharpton comes into town and basically says he starts talking about the need for a national takeover of policing in this country. Looks like, I mean, if you just put two and two together here, looks like something happened along those lines. Here is a brief list of charges announced by the state’s attorney, Marilyn Mosby. “Officer Caesar R. Goodson Jr.: Second-degree, depraved-heart murder; involuntary manslaughter; second-degree assault; manslaughter by vehicle … misconduct in office.

“Officer William G. Porter: Involuntary manslaughter; second-degree assault; misconduct in office. Lt. Brian W. Rice: Involuntary manslaughter; two counts of second-degree assault; manslaughter by vehicle (gross negligence); two counts of misconduct in office; false imprisonment. Officer Edward M. Nero: Two counts of second-degree assault … two counts of misconduct in office; false imprisonment. Officer Garrett E. Miller: Two counts of second-degree assault; two counts of misconduct in office; false imprisonment.

“Sgt. Alicia D. White: Involuntary manslaughter; second-degree assault; misconduct in office.” Warrants were issued this morning around 9:30 or ten o’clock for the arrest of the officers, and it was at that point that Marilyn Mosby said, “‘To the people of Baltimore and the demonstrators across America, I heard your call for “No justice, no peace,” your peace is sincerely needed as I work to deliver justice on behalf of this young man.'”

“No justice, no peace.”

That’s not her phrase.

“No justice, no peace” can be traced back to the Justice Brothers, and I think actually the ownership of the phrase belongs to the Reverend Jackson and was quickly appropriated by fellow Justice Brother, the Reverend Sharpton. “The officers could face up to 20 years in prison for the charges. … The Baltimore Police Fraternal Order of Police No. 3,” the cops’ union, “issued a letter to Mosby Friday morning on behalf of the officers involved saying that the death was not the officers’ faults and they also requested a special prosecutor citing conflicts of interest with Mosby’s office.”

The conflict of interest supposedly is that Marilyn Mosby herself is very, very closely linked with the lawyers and family of Freddie Gray. The letter that she got from the police union says, “Each of the officers involved is sincerely saddened by Gray’s passing. They are all committed police officers who have dedicated their careers to the Baltimore City Police Department. And that has been lost in all the publicity.

“All death is tragic. And death associated with interaction with police is both shocking and frightening to the public.” And I can’t help but go back to this old codger on the street that CNN found that didn’t believe any of this. He thought, “All these charges? These charges aren’t gonna end up in court. You wait and see. These charges are just to keep us quiet. I’m paraphrasing what he said.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: I mentioned moments ago that the police union in Baltimore has not alleged, but they have referenced that there may be a conflict of interest between Marilyn Mosby, the state’s attorney, and the family legal representation of Freddie Gray. Here’s what it is. The Freddie Gray family lawyer is the ponytailed Billy Murphy. He’s got a cute little two-inch ponytail. He’s a bald-headed guy, got male pattern baldness. You’ve seen him out there.


Over the course of many years in cable TV he’s been a respected guest, during OJ and any number of other cases. You may not know who I’m talking about now, but if you saw him you’d recognize him. Cute little two-inch ponytail back there. You can only see it, you know, on a side shot. He’s their lead attorney. There’s no question that the Gray family cannot afford him, but he’s their attorney. He was among Marilyn Mosby’s biggest campaign donors last year when she ran for state’s attorney.

He donated the maximum amount allowed (which was four grand) in June, which is fine. Don’t misunderstand. I’m not alleging anything here. Mosby campaigned just a few months ago. She’s only been in office for four months. She campaigned on the premise of getting the police under control. She ran unopposed in the general election. In other, the Republicans didn’t even try. She did not have a Republican opponent.

It wouldn’t have matter if she had.

The Republican wouldn’t have gotten enough votes to actually count. She is married to a city councilman, Nick Mosby, and that is the near conflict that the Baltimore police union is alleging is relevant here. So the question now is, “Will all of these charges…?” I mean, they are just voluminous, the second-degree murder, the manslaughter, unintended this, intended that, malfeasance over here, not caring about something over there.

I mean, there’s a long list of charges for all six of these cops. Will that quiet the unrest? Will that quell the uprisings? Because many people think that that’s what this is really all about. ‘Cause I’m telling you, I went through this in the first hour, but you go back and you look at the news yesterday, and none of what was gonna happen today was reported, and we were told that what did happen today was not gonna happen.

But then the Reverend Sharpton of the Justice Brothers arrived and everything changed, and the Reverend Sharpton (we played the sound bite earlier) is now saying, essentially, “You know, we tried! We have tried working with the police all over this country, and it isn’t working. It isn’t helping. We are still the victims of injustice, and there isn’t any social justice going on out there.”

And the Reverend Sharpton says that basically what we need is a takeover, a national takeover of policing in this country, which they’re doing with the help of Obama. Every one of these police departments… Ferguson. They tried New York City. But there have been 15 or 17 police departments after various incidents of some controversy nature, the Justice Department under Eric Holder went in, said, “You guys want federal assistance? You want federal money? You’re gonna have to reform your police departments under our guidelines.”

The federal guidelines choke these police departments, and they really have no choice. I mean, the Feds, the DOJ comes calling and tells you the way it’s gonna be or you don’t get any money, well, that’s because nobody has any money. So that’s the way it ends up being, and this is how Obama and the left are changing the structure and the definition, the intent, the overall purview of police departments.

The objective is to rein them in, is to really restrain them, because the presumption under which all this is happening is it’s the police departments who are guilty. It is the police departments all over the country who are responsible. Now including Baltimore and Sharpton talking about the need now for a takeover. Did you see where Obama has said — after this incident, after all the rioting that’s gone on in Baltimore this week.

Obama said the first thing he wants to do is plant himself on a beach and start drinking out of a coconut shell. And then after that he wants to go back to community organizing, which kind of surprised me because I didn’t know he ever stopped. Community organizing. What is community organizing? Community organizing, there’s another word for it. It’s agitating, and that’s what he said he wants to go back to.

That’s where he thinks he’s had the most impact. Well, before he became president. Last night on Your World With Neil Cavuto, Leland Vittert, Fox reporter, was doing a segment on the unrest in Baltimore and played a clip here of his attempt to ask the mayor questions about her actions during the Baltimore riots. Her name is Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. You will hear in this sound bite the Justice Brother, Reverend Sharpton. Number five, starting at number five.

VITTERT: What do you have to say to the businesses who are moving because of your order to stand down?

SHARPTON: Could you excuse us one minute?

VITTERT: You don’t have anything to say?

SHARPTON: Can you — can you — can you excuse us?

VITTERT: Nothing to say to business owners? What about the police who were injured?

WOMAN: Excuse us, sir.

VITTERT: I’m sorry, excuse me —

SHARPTON: (shoves Vittert)

VITTERT: Hey! Why can’t we ask questions? Why can’t we ask questions?


RUSH: Now, you didn’t see it, but Vittert got shoved there. He got pushed back a little bit. The Reverend Sharpton said, “Can you excuse me one minute?” “You don’t have anything to say?” “Can you — can you just excuse us?” “Nothing to say to the business owners? What about the police that were injured?” “Excuse us, sir.” “I’m sorry, excuse me — Hey! Why can’t we ask questions? Why can’t we ask questions?” Sharpton was shoving him out of the way.

Here is the mayor, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, explaining her path to power.

BLAKE: Went to the best high school in the city, Western High School. Went to the best college that I could get to, Oberlin College. And when I got there, I said, “If I’m going to be of service, I need to know a few things. I need to know how government works,” so I studied government, “and I need to know economics.” I took 3-1/2 years of economics. I don’t even like economics!

AUDIENCE: (laughing)

BLAKE: But I said, “I have to learn it if I’m gonna be of service.” Then when I left there I went to law school. Why? Because I thought it was important training for the work that I intended to do for my city. And as soon as I got out of law school, I ran for city council. And why? Because I. Love. This. City.

RUSH: What’s missing here? As you listen to her basically recite her resume and her education history, what is missing? She went to “the best high school in the city,” and then she went to Oberlin. Oberlin, by the way, that’s Lena Dunham’s alma mater where the fake rape happened that didn’t happen. Oberlin College is one of the most left-wing — and that’s saying something — universities in the country.

She says, “I needed know how government works, so I went to a class. I studied government. I had to know how government worked.” Okay, what are you gonna be taught about government and how it works in a classroom with a bunch of instructors at the most liberal university in the country, or one of them? Well, whatever you’re taught, you learn it all in the classroom. And then economics.

“I knew I needed to know economics, but I don’t like economics. I hate economics. But I knew I had to learn it if I’m gonna be of service.” So she learned economics, in the classroom at one of the most left-wing universities all across the fruited plain. And then after learning about government and then after learning about economics — all on campus — she then went to law school ’cause she figured that the work she intended to do for her city and her community she would have to know law.

So she went to law school and another bunch of classrooms, and as soon as she got out of the classroom, she ran for city council. Why? Because she loves the city. What’s missing is any… Just like Obama! What’s missing with Obama? What’s missing with everybody in the Obama cabinet? What’s missing with every high-ranking individual in the Obama Regime? Experience in the real world. I don’t like using the term “private sector.”

I actually think it’s a negative. I think when low-information voters hear “private sector,” they think it’s a bunch of Wall Street people talking about technical things and that is not for them. The economy! They have no real world and day-to-day life. Whatever she learned in the classrooms at Oberlin College is what she has taken to the mayor’s office, and now she has graduate school with the Justice Brothers. That would be the Reverend Sharpton.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Back to the phones. This is Thomas in Fairfax, Virginia. I’m glad you waited, sir. Great to have you on the program. Hello.

CALLER: Oh, thank you. Longtime listener. I’ve been in tune with everything that’s been going on in Baltimore, I used to live there. Nice town. I just wanted to bring your attention to another avenue that they’re missing here with the person who died while under custody. When I was doing my residency back up in Ohio in the Air Force, there was a young male that came into the emergency room, 21, 22-year-old male came in. He wasn’t military, but we took care of military and nonmilitary, but he had come into the emergency room complaining of some neck pain and some tingling.

We did a CT scan and, lo and behold, this guy was walking around for about 10 days with a C2 crack or hangman’s fracture. Didn’t even know it. Somebody could have come up to him and just knocked him on the head, he would have been completely paralyzed. And he had no idea. He’d been walking around with this thing for ten days. We found out he had been in a car accident ten days prior to coming into the emergency room. He didn’t seek help the first time, which is kind of amazing, but it was just literally by the luck of whatever that he didn’t end up completely paralyzed prior to coming into the emergency room.

RUSH: And so the question you have is, what could Freddie Gray have been doing in the days ahead that might have injured himself in ways not even he knew?

CALLER: I think they need to hire some sort of detective and look into, you know, the days prior to him getting arrested and see if there was any such incident that could have occurred that would have resulted in this. If they can’t find a really good reason for him to have gotten it while under custody —

RUSH: Well, now, it’s interesting — (crosstalk)

CALLER: — pre-existing injury.

RUSH: The state attorney made a point of saying she was not gonna release the evidence. After telling us how transparent her office is — she really did — she said we’re not gonna release the evidence. There’s no grand jury here. I mean, yesterday, I’m telling you, yesterday they weren’t gonna issue a report. Al Sharpton shows up, I don’t know if it has anything to do with it, but it looks odd. Sharpton shows up, the next day, today, they vomit everything they’ve got and they just throw charges at these six cops that nobody had any idea were coming.

Now, maybe, I don’t know, you haven’t seen the patient, obviously. But when I heard that he came out of that police van with his spinal cord 80% broken or separated, I immediately started wondering what happened inside that van? How the hell does something like that happen? And we don’t even hear about a rough ride today.

CALLER: So they were certain that he was showing signs of the injury after he got out of the van.

RUSH: Well, when I saw him being dragged to the van he was complaining of being in a lot of pain, and it looked like his legs were not functioning well when they were dragging him to the van, at least in the video. The video doesn’t show the cops doing anything to him. They’re not attacking him or any of that.

CALLER: Right.

RUSH: He wasn’t secured with a seat belt and they’re punishing these guys for that, even though that is a relatively new, I mean, like last week implemented rule.

CALLER: Right.

RUSH: So I don’t know how you break 80% of your spinal cord.

CALLER: I’m not sure which one — you know, it sounds like he obviously had a cervical fracture. I’m not sure which one. I haven’t seen the report, but it can actually happen where you can actually have a preexisting fracture and walk around with it unbeknownst to the person who had it. Like I said with our patient, it was about ten days prior to him presenting himself to our emergency room that he actually had a C2 or what they call a hangman’s fracture, had no idea he had it, and he was so lucky he didn’t become paralyzed just in the interval.

RUSH: Okay, now, I’m told that Freddie Gray did get into that police van under his own power. So while they were dragging him — he was dragging his feet on the ground when they were trying to get him in the van, and I don’t know if that was his lack of cooperation. But I did see the tape. My reminder here is correct. He did launch himself into the back of the van, his legs were working fine. That’s on two different tapes. So something happened in the van. But no cop was in the back of the van.

CALLER: Yeah.

RUSH: And they didn’t talk about a rough ride today.

CALLER: The only other thing to note, again, I don’t know what cervical vertebra was fractured, but how long was he in custody before he died? Was it a couple days?

RUSH: No. No. It was minutes or half hour, minutes.

CALLER: Oh, okay. Yeah, I don’t know. I mean, it could have been — they do need to look into this —

RUSH: Well, the defense attorneys will. The defense attorneys will do everything you’re suggesting here. They try to look back into every day prior to this incident to find out just what Freddie Gray had done, what had maybe happened to him, where he was. These are serious charges, and they’re gonna have to be defended against, and the cops union will come up with good lawyers for these guys. But this is just — I don’t know. This is, folks, another example of how you really have to fight. It’s just hard. You have to fight getting caught up in the daily media narrative or soap opera.

Here I am caught up in it by telling you what was being reported by ostensibly serious news organizations yesterday. Not fly-by-night, obscure websites. That they didn’t have any evidence, that the medical examiner couldn’t find any evidence of homicide whatsoever, that they weren’t gonna release the report. We go from that in less than 24 hours to six people committing second-degree murder, manslaughter, what have you. Again, I’m drawn back to that old guy on the street who doesn’t believe it, thinks it’s all for show. But that’s to be understood, too. He’s old enough, probably, not to trust anybody in government or in the police department no matter what their race is.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: I misspoke about that. Freddie Gray died, ladies and gentlemen, he died a week after being arrested after having surgery. I got confused when I was talking to the Air Force surgeon in answering a question of his, I was thinking strictly about what the state’s attorney was saying that happened in the van and all the charges. He died a week later, which, a week after the trip in the paddy wagon and after surgery, and it’s homicide.

Here, grab audio sound bite 25 or 26, just to put an exclamation point on a couple things stated recently. First, Bobby Rush on the House floor today during general speeches. He’s just excited as he can be about Marilyn Mosby, the state’s attorney who announced the charges against the cops today.

BOBBY RUSH: They thought they would get away with it. That no one would even think to question their decisions, their thrill seeking, their conduct. But thank God there is a woman in Baltimore who said to them, to all the police officers who are like minded such as them, said to this nation, “No more! No more!” Her actions have shouted it out that, black lives do matter, that black lives do matter.

RUSH: I tell you, there’s a Democrat star on the verge of being born here today, and that is Marilyn Mosby. This is Bobby Rush on the floor of the House. You watch, it isn’t gonna be long. You’ll see it in the media first. It will be roundtable discussions from expert media analysts discussing her political future, her political fortunes based on her speech today at the podium at city hall announcing the charges against the cops. Here is Elijah Cummings, a former chairman the Congressional Black Caucasians in the House of Representatives. He is a congressman from Baltimore.


CUMMINGS: We need to establish a new normal. I’ve talked to policemen, I mean, a lot, and they tell me themselves that there are certain police that should not be on the force. And so they’re going to have to help us weed out those folks so that they can be the elite of the elite. One of the things that I’m determined to do and I’m hoping we’re able to do is make Baltimore a model for the nation.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Yes, yes.

CUMMINGS: A model for the nation. We don’t have to follow anybody. We can set the model.

RUSH: There you go, folks, right there it is. “Yes, yes,” you hear the crowd. “We’re gonna make Baltimore the model for the nation. We don’t have to follow anybody. We can set the model.” Well, the model is pretty clear what they want it to be. I’m telling you, social justice versus real justice, you’re watching social justice unfold before your very eyes. You’re watching the looting of a police force, the looting of a justice system in Baltimore going on, a legal looting, if you will. It’s clear. And they’re all excited and happy about it.

No, I’ve not forgotten the question yesterday. I did pose a question yesterday, and I didn’t get an answer and I didn’t answer it myself. I carried it over to today. Let me pose the question again. We’ll deal with it before the program ends. I pointed out some really relevant statistics and followed it up with a really, really relevant question. Yeah, Bobby Rush is a former Black Panther member. It’s ironic as it can be. You’ve got Black Panther member, sixties version, Chicago, Oakland, San Francisco, that whole bunch, they traveled around. Genuine hell raisers.

Now he’s a member of Congress and he’s all excited about Marilyn Mosby. He’s the only man, by the way, to ever defeat Obama in an election. Bobby Rush claims that he left the Black Panthers in 1974. He says they started glorifying thuggery and drugs. Now, how long has Elijah Cummings represented Baltimore? Want to take a stab? The reason I ask is because everybody there has been there forever. And these problems have existed for as long as Democrats have been running the show.

Elijah Cummings has been representing Baltimore for 34 years in the House of Representatives, 17 consecutive terms, and some of those years he was the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucasians. This town is 60% African-American, and they’re acting like they have been the minority in this town for all of these years and they’re finally now just climbing up out of that victim status. They’re finally escaping victimhood. It’s as though somebody else has been holding them back, somebody else has been holding them down. And now they are rising up. And if there’s any rising up, they’re rising up against themselves.

That’s what’s so comical about this, if you can find anything comical. Every grievance they’ve got is a grievance against themselves. (interruption) What’s that? (interruption) Oh. Elijah Cummings has represented Baltimore for 34 years, not all in Congress. He’s been in Congress for 19 years, coming up on 10 terms being completed. But he was in the statehouse before. So a total of 34 years, statehouse and Congress, Elijah Cummings has represented Baltimore.

I know we got some new blood here. We got a new mayor, young mayor, new state’s attorney and so forth, but where do they come from? They come from the embryos of the current leadership, if I dare use that terminology. Well, they do. In other words, there’s no racial conquest here, there’s no racial takeover. It’s not as though the whites have been running this town for years and subjugating and subordinating and mistreating and what have you and “we shall overcome” has finally come to fruition. They’re rising up against themselves.

That’s another thing that’s ironic to me. This would be like, I don’t know, you take any group of people that have been running any business for years and it’s losing money and they’re about to go out of business and they’re blaming it on the customers or blaming it on somebody else. They’re allowed to get away with this, with this hypocrisy and the misstatement of facts and truth. Well, because we can’t hold them to the same standards ’cause of their victim status. They’ve been so oppressed and so forth, so we have to understand. It’s the soft bigotry of low expectations once again.

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