Gene Ryan, President of Baltimore's Fraternal Order of Police, has it backwards.
A $6.4 million settlement for the family of Freddie Gray was formally approved... despite complaints from the police union president that the deal was "obscene."
...
"To suggest that there is any reason to settle prior to the adjudication of the pending criminal cases is obscene," Ryan said.
There are so many obscene things related to this case, yet the one thing that was not obscene was the civil settlement. Instead of waiting years and being dragged through the mud and slime, Mr. Gray's family, unlike many others in similar situations, now have a modicum of, if not peace or peace of mind, then at least surety. That is not obscene.
What is obscene is that this death happened at all.
What is obscene is that Freddie Gray, a mentally challenged young man due to lead poisoning, already stolen from by lawsuit settlement vultures, is dead at the hands of public servants.
What is obscene is that what happened to Freddie Gray is not an anomaly, in Baltimore or across the United States.
What is obscene is that we see, again and again on video, that police think it is perfectly fine to beat, taser and shoot people, and we know that what happens on video is repeated far more times, and to an even worse degree, when not caught on a camera phone.
What is obscene is that police have a license to kill, anytime, anywhere, for no other reason than they think that someone might hypothetically have a gun and that this hypothetical gun might hypothetically be drawn and hypothetically fired.
What is obscene is that the settlement money does not come directly out of the Baltimore Police Officers salaries who condone such behavior on the part of their fellow officers and who refuse to prevent such actions or arrest officers who engage in such actions.
What is obscene is that we, alone in the civilized world, countenance such behavior on the part of police and are willing to live in such a society.
What is obscene is that we also countenance similar behavior on the part of prison guards, particularly against the mentally ill, or to any human being.
And what is most obscene is that you, Gene Ryan, and your associates in blue do not consider any of this obscene. That is what is obscene.