City On Fire - The Gray Pay Day

As I'm driving along 695 earlier today, I hear the radio DJ say that Baltimore City reached a proposed 6.4 million dollar settlement with the family of Freddie Gray. I instantly shook my head and erroneously attempted to rewind the radio station. I thought that I misheard what had just came out of my car's speakers.

The trial of the six cops has barely started yet and we're already throwing millions of dollars at the Gray family? Of course, the mayor justifies the settlement by saying that it's in "the best interest of the city". She also says that the settlement doesn't represent an admission of guilt by any of the parties potentially linked to Gray's death. I'm glad that she doesn't think so. But those who don't have their heads completely up their ass might not see it the same way.

This is just another middle finger to the taxpayers of Baltimore who increasingly find themselves paying more and getting less. That $6.4 million will really be missed when it comes to rebuilding the city after the next round of riots. But, of course, the taxpayers will likely get gang-banged by the City Council when that bill comes due as well.

Perhaps, the city should have waited to see if the cops were actually at fault before they handed over the Mega-Millions to the Grays. And who decides who gets what in these situations. When cops are killed in the line of duty (like the seven last week!), do the cities immediately hand over a multi-million dollar check to the family? Somehow, I doubt it. In mentally unstable cities like Baltimore, the value of a drug slinger's life is more than a cop's. That's the message that was sent today.

It shouldn't come as much of a surprise that the FOP is outraged over the settlement offer. And I certainly can't blame them. The "leadership" of Baltimore, from Mayor on down, continues to screw over the BCPD. If they don't think that this is going to have a detrimental effect on the upcoming trial, they're even more clueless than I thought.

kw