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Baltimore Police Commissioner Charged For Not Paying Taxes, Faces Jail Time

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(DCNF) Baltimore Police Commissioner Darryl De Sousa has been charged with failure to file his federal taxes and faces jail time, according to a CBS Baltimore report Thursday.

De Sousa, 53, was charged with three misdemeanor counts of failure to file a U.S. tax return. He faces a maximum sentence of one year in prison and a $25,000 fine for each separate charge of the three counts, according to the report.

Authorities said De Sousa did not file his federal tax returns while working with the Baltimore Police Department in 2013, 2014 and 2015.

Deputy Police Commissioner Gary Tuggle told The Baltimore Sun that he didn’t have any information about De Sousa being charged. “I know zero about it,” he said.

Despite De Sousa’s salary of close to $210,000 a year, he still allegedly did not pay his taxes. (RELATED: Baltimore’s Police Department Is A Complete Disaster)

“I fully admit to failing to file my personal Federal and State taxes for 2013, 2014 and 2015. I did file my 2016 taxes and received an extension for my 2017 taxes,” De Sousa said in an email to The Daily Caller News Foundation. “I have been working to satisfy the filing requirements and, to that end, have been working with a registered tax advisor.”

De Sousa admitted he is embarrassed and said he accepts full responsibility.

“To be clear, I have paid Federal, state and local taxes regularly through the salary withholding process,” he continued. “While there is no excuse for my failure to fulfill my obligations as a citizen and public official, my only explanation is that I failed to sufficiently prioritize my personal affairs. Naturally, this is a source of embarrassment for me and I deeply regret any embarrassment it has caused the Police Department and the City of Baltimore. I accept full responsibility for this mistake and am committed to resolving this situation as quickly as possible.”

Written by Henry Rodgers. Follow Henry Rodgers On Twitter

Police Accountability, Police State

Freddie Gray Autopsy: Homicide By ‘High-Energy’ Impact

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Baltimore – The autopsy of Freddie Gray, the 25-year-old black man who died while in police custody in April, reveals that he suffered a “high-energy injury” to his neck and spine.

The Baltimore Sun obtained a copy of the autopsy results, and reported that the state medical examiner concluded Gray’s death was a homicide, rather than an accident, “because officers failed to follow safety procedures through acts of omission.”

Gray was arrested on April 12 in Baltimore after he made eye contact with a police officer, and then stared running in the opposite direction. He received the “high-energy injury” that left his spine 80 percent detached from his neck and put him in a coma during his time in police custody. After not receiving proper medical attention, Gray died on April 19.

The medical examiner compared Gray’s injury to a person diving headfirst into shallow water and noted that while Gray was loaded into the van on his stomach, and his wrists and ankles were shackled, he was not belted in, which put him “at risk for an unsupported fall during acceleration or deceleration of the van.”

The report concludes that Gray’s death was “not an unforeseen event,” and that when a “vulnerable individual was injured during operation of the vehicle,” the injury would likely be fatal “without prompt medical attention.”

The circumstances that led up to Gray’s death resulted in protests across the country, and six Baltimore officers faced criminal charges. State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby announced that Gray’s death had been ruled a homicide on May 1.

The “Baltimore Six” is comprised of Officer William G. Porter, Lieutenant Brian W. Rice, Officer Edward M. Nero, Officer Garrett E. Miller, Sergeant Alicia D. White and Officer Caesar R. Goodson, Jr.

Goodson, the officer who was driving the van Gray was transported in, faces the most severe charges, including misconduct in office, manslaughter by vehicle (criminal negligence), manslaughter by vehicle (gross negligence), involuntary manslaughter, second-degree assault and second-degree depraved-heart murder.

On May 21, Mosby announced that all six of the officers have been indicted by a grand jury in Baltimore. The officers responded by pleading “not guilty” to the charges, and a trial will be held in October. The Baltimore Sun noted that the case will be presided by Judge Barry G. Williams, “a former city prosecutor and civil rights litigator with a no-nonsense reputation.”

Civil Liberties, Editor’s Pick, Featured, Government Accountability, Government Corruption, Police Accountability, Politics, US

Report: Thousands Of Suspects In Baltimore Arrests Required Medical Attention

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The mysterious death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray, who was denied medical attention and died from a severe spinal injury while in police custody, has led many to question how often suspects obtain injuries from their encounters with police officers, and how many of them receive proper medical care.

The Baltimore Sun reported that according to records obtained through a Maryland Public Information Act request, the Baltimore City Detention Center has “refused to admit nearly 2,600 detainees who were in police custody” between June 2012 and April 2015, with intake officers citing injuries such as “fractured bones, facial trauma and hypertension.”

While the records obtained by the Sun redacted the names of the detainees, the report used the story of Salahudeen Abdul-Aziz as an example of what many suspects endure. Abdul-Aziz was denied entry to Baltimore’s detention center after he was brought in by police with a broken nose, a fractured face and other injuries. He went to court, on the claim that he had been beaten by police and then arrested, and he was awarded $170,000 by a jury in 2011.

In Gray’s case, he was arrested on April 12, after he made eye contact with Baltimore Police Lieutenant Brian Rice, and then took off running. Rice, who had been suspended from the Baltimore Police Department and had his guns confiscated twice for mental health issues and for reported stalking, harassment and threats of violence, pursued Gray and arrested him, claiming that he was carrying an illegal knife.

Both a picture of the knife Gray was carrying, and an explanation behind the cause of the severe spinal injury that led to his death on April 19, have yet to be made public.

State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby announced on May 1 that the knife Gray was carrying was legal, that Gray was arrested illegally, and his death was ultimately ruled a homicide. Six officers have been charged for Gray’s death and they were all released on bonds ranging from $250,000 to $350,000 the same day.

Gray, who was healthy prior to his arrest, is suspected to have severed his spine during the 45 minutes he spent in a police transport van, which made four stops on its way to the jail. According to Mosby, at least five of Gray’s requests for medical attention were not answered by officers.

The Baltimore Sun reported that after investigating over 100 lawsuits against Baltimore city police officers, where the city “paid more than $6 million in court judgments and settlements,” it found that “dozens of residents accused police of inflicting severe injuries during questionable arrests and disregarding appeals for medical attention.”

While some criminologists and law enforcement experts say that suspects often fake injuries to avoid being put in a jail cell, the Sun noted that they also say Gray’s death “shows that police lack adequate training to detect injuries.”

A. Dwight Pettit, an attorney who has sued many Baltimore officers over the last 40 years, told the Baltimore Sun the data proves that the officers don’t really care about their public.

“It goes to demonstrate the callous indifference the officers show when they are involved with the public,” said Pettit. “Why would they render medical care when they rendered many of the injuries on the people?”

On Wednesday, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake announced that she has asked the Department of Justice to investigate the city’s police force for the practices of excessive use of force and civil rights violations.

Civil Liberties, Government Accountability, Police Accountability, Police State, US

Breaking: Officers With Freddie Gray Made “Fourth, Undisclosed” Stop

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Baltimore, MD- On Thursday, the Baltimore Police Department handed over their investigation into the arrest and death of Freddie Gray to the State’s Attorney, Marilyn Mosby. The report was handed over a day earlier than expected. Mosby, who has been on the job for 100 days, will face a critical decision of whether or not to pursue criminal charges against any of the six Baltimore police officers involved in the arrest of Gray on April 19th, 2015.

Meanwhile, Baltimore Police also released information today that they have learned of a fourth stop made while Gray was in custody that was previously unknown. Last week, authorities had said there were three stops: the first to put leg irons on Gray, the second “to deal with Mr. Gray” (an incident, he said, that remained under investigation) and the third to pick up a prisoner in an unrelated matter.

According to investigators, they learned of this fourth stop from a privately owned surveillance camera. There is no word yet on what that video of the fourth stop shows.

The first comes from a relative of one of the officers involved in the arrest. She told CNN the officer thinks Gray was injured while he was being arrested — before he was put inside a police van.

The second is an account from a prisoner who was in the same police van, as published in The Washington Post. The prisoner reportedly told investigators he thought Gray “was intentionally trying to injure himself.”

Featured, Police State, US

Breaking: State Of Emergency Declared In Maryland, National Guard Activated

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Baltimore, MD- CBS Baltimore reports that Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan has declared a state of emergency and placed the National Guard on alert in response to the violence and turmoil in Baltimore:

“Today’s looting and acts of violence in Baltimore will not be tolerated,” Hogan said in a statement. “In response, I have put the Maryland National Guard on alert so they can be in position to deploy rapidly as needed. I strongly condemn the actions of the offenders who are engaged in direct attacks against innocent civilians, businesses and law enforcement officers. There is a significant difference between protesting and violence and those committing these acts will be prosecuted under the fullest extent of the law.”

According to Philadelphia’s Action News 6, several police officers have been injured as a result of rioters in the city.

A live feed from Baltimore is ongoing and available to watch here.

 

Drug War, Featured, Government Accountability, Police Accountability, Police State, Politics, US, Videos

“Police Given Weeks To Get Story Straight on What Happened to Freddie Gray”

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Baltimore, MD- Ben Swann reports from the scene of the Baltimore protests following Freddie Gray’s mysterious death after being placed in police custody. Swann interviews the Gray family lawyer who says that the six police officer’s involved in Gray’s death have been given weeks to get their story straight while the family is still waiting for answers to basic questions.

Swann also talks with Reverend R. Owens, a minister who is counseling the family, in an attempt to unravel the events going on in the city.

In addition, Swann reveals new information on one of the six officers who made the arrest of Gray, including information that the lieutenant who chased Gray, twice had accusations of domestic violence made against him by two different women.

RT reporters Anya Parampil reports live from the protests and captures the mood of the demonstrators and Manuel Rapalo delivers the latest information on the timeline leading up to and after Gray’s death.

Civil Liberties, Government Accountability, Government Corruption, Police State, Privacy, US

‘SCANDALOUS’: A Detective Just Revealed Baltimore’s HUGE Secret Surveillance Program

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By Casey Harper

A detective’s court testimony Monday revealed that Baltimore law enforcement is spying on residents at an incredible rate without a warrant — and doing their best to hide it.

Detective Michael Dressel testified that Baltimore law enforcement have used “sting rays”–devices that track personal cell phone data and location–more than 4,300 times with court orders and an undocumented number of times without them, The Baltimore Sun reports.

“This is scandalous,” Tim Lynch, the Cato Institute’s Director for the Project on Criminal Justice, told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “Police agencies have misled the public about how the stingray devices have been used and how often. We need to find out what has been happening in other cities around the country. FBI officials and police chiefs need to come clean about this.”

The testimony came in a murder case where law enforcement used sting rays to find a phone involved in the alleged murder. Sting rays are devices used by authorities that act like cell phone towers, intercepting cell phone signals that would normally go to cellular towers. This allows authorities to track where you are, usually without a warrant and often even without a court order. Some sting rays can even detect information about your texts, calls and emails.

Local police departments obtain these devices from federal agencies but only on the condition that they keep the entire project entirely hidden from the public. In fact, police often drop charges or offer plea bargains in cases related to sting rays when pressured by defense lawyers or judges to reveal how they work.

In one Florida case, prosecutors who had what seemed an open and shut robbery case offered the defendant a plea bargain when pressured on police’s use of sting rays.

They would rather drop the charge than expose the practice. Because of this, how the devices work and how often they are used is one of law enforcement’s best kept secrets.

This latest report in Baltimore is important not just because it reveals how widespread the use of stingrays is, but also because since we know so little about the practice, any tidbit of information is an important window into this widely used and little understood surveillance technology.

Update: An earlier version of this article used inaccurate numbers for the number of times Baltimore police employed the sting ray device.

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Featured, Politics, US

Fox Affiliate Apologizes For Deceitful Protest Video Purporting “Kill A Cop” Chant

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Baltimore- Fox affiliate news station Fox45 of Baltimore has issued an apology for editing a video of chanting protesters at last week’s National “Justice for All” March in Washington, D.C. and reporting that the protesters were chanting “kill a cop”.

“Although last night’s report reflected an honest misunderstanding of what the protesters were saying, we apologize for the error,” read the apology.

Described as an “honest misunderstanding” by Fox45, the two versions of the protest videos convey different meanings. The original footage from C-SPAN is shown below:

In the video above Tawanda Jones, whose brother was beaten to death  in a struggle with Baltimore police last year, can be heard leading a chant:

We can’t stop!

We won’t stop!

‘Til killer cops

Are in cell blocks!

For reasons not explained, Fox45 cut off the last part of the chant when the protesters chanted “are in cell blocks” and reported that the protesters were not saying “’til killer cops are in cell blocks” but were yelling “so kill a cop”:

Fox45 pulled the news segment after being contacted by Jones. In an interview with Jones yesterday evening, she said that she has been protesting the death of her brother “peacefully, respectfully.”

“We’ve been out there 73 weeks, never arrested, never any type of police incidences,” she said. Jones also challenged Fox45’s “honest misunderstanding”in editing the video and told the interviewer “that really gets to me, when you guys edited it and stopped- like, how could that be a mistake? You stopped right there.”