Do we really want to go there? Delving into all of the players in this case prior bad acts?
IMO it would be remiss of us NOT to go there. This man, who should by all rights be in prison himself for his actions, and probably would be if he wasn't protected by other cops, was the man who was kneeling closest to Gray's neck while he was on the ground.
MULTIPLE times, this man has lost the plot, while armed and intoxicated, he's even been carted off to a psych hospital for it. He clearly has major anger issues and it's highly disturbing, IMO, that he's not only still on the job, but has command of other officers to boot.
And this guy just *happens* to be an arresting officer in this case. Where a young man is dragged into a paddy wagon, screaming and unable to stand without assistance, subsequently has died, and the BPD has clearly been trying to cover its own *advertiser censored* from day 1, at times failing quite miserably.
If this man was protected, all through those multiple incidents (and he was, obviously), who's to say he's not being protected now? How and why have documents been leaked, which all happen to undermine the case against these officers? So far we've heard Freddy was suicidal, that he died of a lack of seatbelt... then there was the "friend" of the officers saying Grey was "acting" because he was an informant -- what next?!
Edit: Oh here we go -- now it's been "leaked" that Gray tested positive for drugs. Even if this is true it earns a resounding SO WHAT from me. Drugs didn't sever his spinal cord, did they. What are all these insiders hoping to achieve, by "leaking" all these "facts" (if they are indeed facts.. )? I think it's not hard to see all this is as blatant attempts to make Freddy the villain of the piece.
Utter. Bulldust. IMO.
Maybe if the BPD is forced to admit there's a chance Gray was injured during the arrest -- and dammit, there really is a chance of that, check out info on spinal trauma and how being moved can cause it to become fatal of a sudden --- they'd have to go into the reasons why Lt. Rice is still an employee of the department. let alone in a position of command.
It's not as if there is NOT an atmosphere in which brutality has flourished, in that city.