David “I-Can-Say-Nigger” Simon

In all the ways that count most to Black people David Simon unequivocally embodies the absolute worst of what is known as the “white moderate” male in the United States. Although his infractions are numerous, what draws the most ire is Simon’s casual and frequent use of “nigger” and “nigga”.

The most noteworthy incident in question occurred (not surprisingly) in the Trump era with Simon tweeting “Hannity my nigga!” on Monday 19 September 2016. It was a tongue-in-cheek greeting between two white men in response of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump’s announcement of a planned outreach effort to engage Black voters.

Although a firestorm ensued, it was not the first time that David Simon poked the bear by saying that word.

The disparaging racist language earned him a short-term suspension from the app, but not after days of defending himself. During that time Simon dug in his heels, claimed artistic freedom, and addressed his detractors as “hall monitors.” Sonja Sohn, the Asian/Black actor who portrayed Kima on HBO’s The Wire, was one of the few who came to his defense.

Screengrab taken on June 20, 2022 Twitter

White moderates have been the bane of activists toiling about in the struggle demanding the end of white supremacy even before Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King wrote about his in exasperation in a letter from the Birmingham jail in 1963. The audacity of white men who as King noted have not seen “hate filled policemen curse, kick, brutalize and even kill your black brothers and sisters with impunity” to suggest a more palatable way to be treated as a full citizen that should come as a birth right.

FILE — In a Jan. 14, 2010 file photo David Simon looks on during a panel discussion in Pasadena, Calif. It was announced Sept. 28, 2010 that Simon is among 23 recipients of the year’s MacArthur Foundation “genius grants.” (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello/file)

When dripping from white lips, the dark stain that comes word “nigger” triggers the blood memory of violence, angst, subjugation. While Simon relishes its artistry, he simultaneously riles the sensibilities of our ancestors even 60 years after King’s admonishment. No federal holiday commemorating the end of enslavement championed by a white moderate cis gendered male president can provide a respite from the likes of David Simon and his devoted legion of outspoken white male fans.

What is insufferable though about the creator of the 20-year old cop drama is his “whitesplaining” to Black people how his artful use of the word is not of the offensive variety. It is this audacity that shifts the responsibility for peoples’ recoil squarely back on their Black shoulders. It’s satire, he proclaimed frequently, evoking the “fuck ’em if they can’t take a joke” axiom.

Weeks after initially posting and defending his choice, Simon displayed a small measure of introspection with two tweets on September 20, 2016: “Don’t see it as an imprecise choice, but do I wish I tried another tack to insult Fox’s racial hegemony? Sure.” Long after Trump lost his re-election bid, and with the benefit of hindsight, David Simon responded, but not with an apology. “Stand by it as an answer to a white racist…” Simon Tweeted on June 20, 2019. The tweet remains live today on Elon Musk’s Twitter even after the murderous death of George Floyd and the immergence of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Truth is, Simon knows his white male privilege. The wrists slaps were factored into his calculation for all chances he took once he left the DMV for Baltimore. He spoke on his world view to graduates of his alma mater, Chevy Chase-Bethesda High school, knew it too when he spoke at the 2012 graduation:

“Certain things were assumed for my life. The guardrails were all there. The airbags all worked. I might come through with a few dents and scratches, I might screw up here and there, but by and large, the risks I was asked to take were for the most part moderate and plausible. I was going to have to work some, and get a little lucky, sure. But for real, I grew up in Montgomery County, Maryland. I mean, damn. Nice work if you can get it.”

Simon’s Revoked Hall Pass

Simon was given an inch of rope and thought he was a cowboy. “Nigga” stopped being something a Black character said and something the white David Simon tossed around carelessly. For introducing the Stringer Bell and Omar to the world, David Simon was given a temporary pass similar to the one Samuel L Jackson extended to Quentin Tarantino.

Actor Michael K. Williams as “Omar” publicity photo for The Wire.
Undated. Uncredited.

Simon’s temporary pass for saying that one word was identical to the laminated one former president Bill Clinton stores along with an emergency condom in his pocket. The pass was granted to Simon to use poetically in telling our stories; Clinton was offered one for playing the Saxaphone on Arsenio Hall’s late night talk show. Both white men have shown that all passes extended should be hereby immediately revoked. No white male moderate American should be issued another pass in the future.

Before the Fox News dust up that got tongues wagging, Simon took “nigger” out for a test run on Twitter two months earlier. No one barely noticed. Using the same tactics, Simon donned the persona of former president Richard Nixon and attacked the policies of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump:

“…let’s clamp down on the hippies and the niggers and the eggheads who are fucking us up”
David Simon, Twitter July 12, 2016

Since his coat was not severely pulled for that transgression in September, Simon put on the equivalence of Black face and started the shuck and jive routine against Hannity – this time for a larger audience.

The Washington Post made Simon’s transgression palatable to its white moderate readership when it rhetorically presented Simon’s defenders’ point of view that Simon has carte blanche to use the word because he wrote artful television shows in the realism prism depicting multi-dimensional Black characters.

If you’re not black you shouldn’t be saying “Nigga”. Plain and simple… If you can omit ‘faggot’ and ‘bitch’ from your vocabulary then why is it so hard and strenuous for you to omit ‘nigga’?
Malcolm-Aimé Musoni, HuffPost.com September 26, 2015

Racism and misogyny rest comfortably within Simon’s wheelhouse. It’s been pointed out that the reasons white males bristle over the n-word is explicitly because it’s off-limits to them. Hollywood writer/producer/actor Quentin Tarantino famously penned the word “nigger” as dialogue for himself to utter on screen.

On his personal blog, on the day commemorating Juneteenth in 2013, Simon wrote about data mining, specifically cell phone’s metadata and peoples’ right to privacy in an essay that he titled The “Nigger Wake-Up Call.” It is painfully clear that the joke went over Simon’s head. Paul Mooney’s running gag is about Blacks who are suddenly jarred into reality after believing they had achieved post-racial equality.

Simon usurped Mooney’s comedic genius for the shock value of merely using the word. What is the point of having the pass, if you don’t use it, eh David?

Simon’s ability to write authentic dialogue reflective of his immersion into Baltimore’s street culture as an observer allows him extreme latitude in his personal interactions to call people “nigger” or “nigga”. In this case, he used the latter, a distinction he made without commenting on the difference between the two.

“Simon’s works have made him a sort of elder statesman regarding the intersection of race, politics and socioeconomics in America
Cleve R. Wootson Jr, Washington Post. September 20, 2016.

Simon himself rejected the idea that he has a pass to use the n-word indiscriminately. He wrote on Twitter (which oddly enough is akin to him saying the words from his own mouth) on October 7, 2016: “And if I used the term on AA, hand me my head. Satirically, on a white con man claiming rep of AA interests? Hey.”

It should be noted also, that Simon uses African American, AA, and black (not capitalized) without any clear distinction of why. Journalists abide by AP stylebook which requires capitalization of Black as a race and the distinguishes African American as applying to both race and ethnicity, but are not interchangeable.

“Simon is no longer just a journalist or a writer: he’s become a de facto translator for middle class audiences looking to understand elements of black America.”
Lanre Bakare, “Go home, David Simon. Without Justice in Baltimore, there can be no peace. The Guardian.com 28 April 2015

The Enemy of my Enemy is a Friend Fallacy

Pinpointing the extent of Simon’s supposed allyship requires the dexterity of Simone Biles. For instance, in July 2019 when Donald Trump blasted west Baltimore as “rat invested” and placed blame squarely on then Congressman Elijah Cummings, Simon lashed out at Trump and called him a “racist moron.” Simon’s defense of his adopted city has ingratiated Simon into many locals’ good graces.

However, in 2015 when Freddie Gray was killed in custody of the Baltimore Police Department, Simon seemed more aligned with law and order than the community marching in the streets. In fact, once Baltimoreans took to the street as an uprising against racial oppression was brewing, Simon penned a plea for an end to direct action.

President Barack Obama “interviews” David Simon on police culture in 2015. The president, seeking Simon as a potential ally, probed Simon for ways to change the culture of policing by seeking out ways to encourage historically racist institutions to see the humanity in the people and communities affected by their presence. Simon suggested maximum prison sentencing as a solution.

“White people — even those who speak up about black causes, like Simon — don’t have the social capital to throw around the n-word in everyday speech,” said author Jody Armour as quoted by the same 2016 Washington Post article.

Enter the Wu-Tang

If David Simon stopped saying “nigger” his family would starve. He is royally compensated many times over for putting “nigger” on a page. Unscientifically, David Simon has written the word hundreds (if not thousands) of times.

His seminal work, The Wire ran for six seasons and has a loyal fan base. During its 10-year heyday, his internal voice must have tried out every iteration of that word’s pronunciation. But Simon says he’s never “said” the word. (If he read any of his scripts out loud, merely playing the percentages, he has surely said “nigger”).

“Nigga, is you taking notes on a criminal fucking conspiracy?! The fuck is you thinking, man?”
“The crown ain’t worth much if the nigger wearing it always getting his shit took.”
“Fuck them West Coast niggers, cause in B’more, we aim to hit a nigger, you heard?”
“This motherfucker be killing niggas just to do it. You see? Nigga kills motherfuckers just cause he can. Not cause they snitching, not cause it’s business, but just because this shit comes natural to him. Man, Little Kevin is gone! This nigga don’t feel nothing!”

Not to split hairs, but an argument could be made that there’s a world of difference between writing dialogue for a “gritty” “urban” television drama and when someone uses their personal Twitter account to flaunt their pass to their 334,000 followers gained as a result of their Hollywood celebrity status. The former is economic, the latter is all ego.

As the rapper Method Man (who portrays Melvin Wagstaff in season two of The Wire) of the Wu Tang Clan drops a verse in the 2014 hit CREAM:

Cash rules everything around me
C.R.E.A.M., get the money
Dollar dollar bill, y’all

Before there was beaucoup money to be made in a cinematic depiction of Black Baltimore, there was the use of “nigger” in Simon’s journalism career at the Baltimore Sun.

Simon’s literary success was sparked by shadowing Black people’s daily struggle of existence in West Baltimore as a journalist. He culminated the experience not by lobbying for resources, but by writing a 1997 book The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood that he co-wrote with Baltimore Police Department (BPD) detective Ed Burns.

Simon’s first book mentions “nigger” 47 times and “nigga” four.

The book was made into a critically acclaimed HBO six-part mini-series The Corner, directed by Baltimorean Charles “Roc” Dutton, who is Black. Residual checks keep coming. In contrast, odds are that the Black youth he shadowed in order to craft a realistic creative expression are in jail, prison, on parole or probation.

On DavidSimon.com, he lists two charities as “worthy causes“: The Ella Thompson Fund and The Baltimore Station as well as one scholarship fund. Simon wrote it is “probable that [donations to the organizations listed] will directly address an issue locale or dynamic that we dramatized.”

The Sun Rises on The N-Word: David’s Early Years

It is difficult to pinpoint with any degree of accuracy exactly when David Simon began taking a liking to the word tied to generational oppression of a people from African descent.

As is the moderate’s want to ask “where are his parents?, Simon admits the complexities of race was not a matter discussed at all in his house. In the next (and final) part of this series, the genealogy of Simon is explored putting into historical context some of the influences that undoubtedly shaped his world view.

Once the college grad from the Washington DC suburbs was dropped into Baltimore in the early 1980s, it was no doubt a culture shock. It would be totally understandable if the word “nigga” being tossed around like crime scene tape sent the cub reporter on the cops beat into full blush.

What was Baltimore to a kid from Montgomery County? It was another world, another America. Maybe not all of the city, but those quadrants that had been left behind…
David Simon, Graduation remakes, Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School June 4, 2012

Simon’s first few years as a working journalist at the Baltimore Sun was an extension of his self-proclaimed college years – lazy and uninspired. From 1982 through 1984 the assignments were routine, and the reporting was generic; the combination offered little by way of opportunity to hone a writing style.

There were glimpses, though. Simon shone a sympathetic light on libertarian Warren Eilerston who beat federal criminal charges for refusing to pay federal taxes in August 1983. Also, in 1985, Simon deftly covered a shift in BPD policy after the public balked at the lack of transparency after a string of police shootings where the officers were either not identified to members as part of a “news blackout” and/or the officer refused to give a statement to investigators.

It would not be long before Simon’s byline would be inked above the word “nigger” published in the city’s paper of record. The subject of the 1988 story was a 51-year old resident of Baltimore’s Cherry Hill neighborhood who worked as a barmaid in 1963.

It was the occasion of the 25th anniversary of a murderous hate-crime where Hattie Carroll was caned to death by 24-year old William Santzinger for not bringing a white man’s drink fast enough in a downtown Baltimore bar.

Racially motivated murder of Hattie Carroll by caning. The Afro. 10 February 1963

In the 1988 story about the death of Hattie Carroll, Simon showed both his burgeoning talent for a narrative style of journalism. The man who killed Carroll for not bringing him his drink quick enough had spent the evening terrorizing the wait staff at the hotel. He called one woman a Black bitch. He also hit several people with his cane during the “Spinster’s Ball” a charity event attended by Baltimore’s society elite.

It was also perhaps Simon’s earliest recorded use of the word “nigger”. It was printed for no good reason. For that, the Baltimore Sun should apologize.

The word set in a line and paragraph all to itself.

It had no voice or quotation marks. It was David Simon’s voice caressing the word “nigger”:

David Simon, “The Case of Hattie Carroll, Baltimore Sun, 7 February 1988

The Sun really had no journalistic rationale for printing the racial epitaph gratuitously added by David Simon. The only context provided was that while visiting Charles County, the home of the man who killed Carroll, Simon supposedly witnessed the word’s wide use among whites in southern Maryland’s rural communities. Simon included in his story an unidentified white man (supposedly granted anonymity) from Charles County who wished “black people the best of everything, really.”

From that point in 1988, Simon took leave from The Baltimore Sun again and spent a year embedded with the Baltimore Police Department as its intern. His experience shadowing Baltimore Police Department (BPD) was memorialized in a 1991 book, that was later made into a television show for NBC, Homicide, Life on the Street. “Nigger” appears five times in the book; there’s no mention of “Nigga.”

Nor was [BPD] the most tolerant environment in which to come of age; there were cops twenty years younger who reacted to what they saw on the streets by crawling into a psychological cave, damning every nigger and liberal faggot to hell for screwing up the country
David Simon. Homicide A Year on the Killing Streets 1991

Simon’s “Nigger” Code

David Simon, much like the police he covered while a cops reporter in Baltimore, has somewhat of a code that dictates how he uses the word.

“Nigger” or “nigga” it seems is not something Simon feels that he say verbally out loud, in public. If he writes it out (in a tweet or essay), he is not restricted. However, he will take pause before he uses “my nigga” in writing if its directed to someone Black.

If it’s written as satire or in the voice of a persona he is co-opting, then he can pretend to be Black and use the word, but only direct it towards someone who is white.

The code allows Simon to write the word for characters to say as dialogue. He is also able to have a narrator describe someone as a nigger. Simon is the sole arbiter as to how many times he can write the word and if it is offensive. He believes his pass is unlimited.

Simon has not made any distinction between ending the word with an “r” or an “a”. But as stated earlier, his book The Corner uses “nigger” 10 times more frequently than “nigga”.

“David Simon is the blackest white man I have ever known. What he wrote was clearly ironic, and entirely at the expense of the whitest white man on the planet. I see no foul.”
Gene Weingarten, Washington Post columnist and Simon’s writing partner.

Sorry, Not Sorry

What seems most clear about Simon’s code is that he should never apologize when he uses it.

David Simon said that if he did delete the Hannity tweet he feared that in the void someone would claim that “I used the phrase to do anything other than to ironically mock someone’s actual co-opting of racial status [emphasis added] in order to advance their racist candidate.”

Let’s unpack the statement. First, he is arguing that if deleted, saved screenshots would also disappear from this known dimension thusly preventing him from pointing out the original context. Next, he insists that he was being ironic in mocking a white man who Simon believes to be racist by engaging him with a racially explosive word. In turn, no one focused on Hannity’s “co-opted racial status” but much of the world took Simon to the woodshed for his wanton use of a racist term. Now, that’s ironic.

Dear Apologetic Racists: Call out racism today and save tomorrow’s apology

When someone apologizes for a lengthy and horrid past of appalling racist behaviors, as did the editorial staff at the Baltimore Sun newspaper recently, it simply begs the question of when they actually stopped being racist.

In a full-page mea culpa published in the paper on Sunday February 20, 2022, the Sun editorial staff explained in their view, they have been and honorable and service-oriented journalistic institution over much of their 185-year history. (Please clap) The editors insisted that there must be recognition for the Sun providing light for ~~all~~ [white people].

After a healthy amount of self-aggrandizing about their “important role” of “uncovering corruption” and “enlightening communities”, the Sun’s editorial board ultimately apologized for the paper’s role in the oppression of Blacks “for decades.” On occasion, the Board would have us believe, they stumbled into a vat of white supremacy leanings, and for that, they want Blacks to know, they are truly sorry.

If they wanted to demonstrate their grasp of how white supremacy works, the Apology would have recognized that their actions over centuries, (not decades as they admitted) stymied the aspirations of the entire United States of America.

This writer’s response is not to interrogate ad nauseum whether the Apology is sincere, sufficient (it isn’t) or whether it missed the mark altogether. Instead, what follows is an assessment of the editorial board’s lack of understanding of the philosophical and practical aspects of white supremacy, and its insidious nature. In doing so, this response is designed to illuminate how an apology too long delayed is an apology denied.

“The Sun sharpened, preserved and furthered the structural racism that still subjugates Black Marylanders in our communities today.”
From “We are deeply and profoundly sorry: For decades, The Baltimore sun promoted policies that oppressed Black Marylanders; we are working to make amends” Baltimore Sun editorial staff’s online Apology February 18, 2022

Any conversation about the ethics of US journalism or literally anything concerning Baltimore must begin with a discussion about racism. The Apology has many shortcomings and oversights worth addressing, but this particular response largely focuses on two specifics: first, the editors failed to with any earnestness address how today’s editorial decisions are tainted by its ongoing and current culture of white supremacy. (To clarify the Sun’s actions were not merely across decades but occurred over the course of two centuries.)

Secondly, before there can be any reconciliation between the paper and the larger community of the human race (clearly not just Blacks were injured by their actions) they have to confront some extremely hard truths that involve the man who could be called the H. L. Mencken of our times, Sir Lord of Potty Mouth Misogynistic Twitter rants David Simon, creator of HBO’s “The Wire”.

There is no honor in apologizing generations after the death of a man once his private diaries revealed him to wedded to principles of white supremacy. How long must the country wait until there is enough cover for the Sun to disavow Simon’s public embrace of the most horrible word used to subjugate and perpetuate racial division?

David Simon, former Baltimore Sun reporter
and general curmudgeon, on Twitter daily

H. L. Mencken, former Baltimore Sun reporter
and general curmudgeon, deceased

In the beginning, there were racists

If ethical qualms about racist people running a city’s newspaper of record would shutter doors, there would not be a paper in the entire United States. Racism is coded in the country’s DNA. The Sun’s editors traced its racist heritage back to the paper’s 19th century founder Arunah S. Abell. Abell created the paper and immediately began stoking “the fear and anxiety of white readers with stereotypes and caricatures that reinforced their erroneous beliefs about Black Americans,” wrote the editorial Board.

Also, as in accordance with American tradition, the proud white supremacist passed along his views to his children. The heirs worked in various aspects of the paper up to eventual leadership positions creating generational wealth by oppressing generations of Blacks. The Abell family’s control of the Sun papers lasted for 150 years, and its influence continues until this day.

“[Edwin F. Abell] was regarded as a safe and steadfast champion of the South’s inherited rights, her best traditions and material welfare”
From Baltimore It’s History and It’s People, Clayton Coleman Hall, 1912

Both sons, Edwin F. and George W, steered the mantle of the growing publishing behemoth to reach across the globe with foreign bureaus. There’s money in upholding white supremacy. It seems that Maryland’s unique positioning as a border between freedom and involuntary servitude coupled with Baltimore’s growing Black population was an especially lucrative position to hold.

“The Sun’s bigotry hurt its business”
From The Apology, Baltimore Sun editorial Board February 20, 2022

The 150-year period of family control over the privately-run paper was more than enough time to secure the generational wealth to the A. S. Abell family. By 1986, Sun was sold to the Times Mirror group for $600 million (a value of $926 million today).

White-washing the stain of white supremacy

Turns out a century is more than enough time to turn a penny paper into a near billion-dollar money making machine. Doing so while simultaneously cementing within the Sun a culture adhering to the basic tenants of white supremacy was most likely an unintended consequence. In preparation for the Apology, the editors should have read “How to be an Anti-Racist” by Ibram X Kendi and “White Fragility” by Robin Diangelo.

As the Board noted, the Sun’s hiring practices are atrocious for a predominately Black city. Regrettably, the Sun did not include an announcement to “go a different direction” with its leadership. Had its publisher and editor-in-chief since 2016, Trif Alatzas decided that coinciding with the Apology – now was the time to spend more time with his family – the paper would have garnered some goodwill points towards revealing hard truths.

The past Is not dead. It’s not even past

Consistently carrying the water for white supremacy leaves a stain as indelible as indigo ink on freshly picked cotton. Some of the paper’s most blatant racist actions in the 19th and 20th century were enumerated in the Apology for the world to see:

Advertising rewards offered for returning back to their enslaver people seeking freedom
Advocating the prevention of Black citizens to vote
Advocating keeping neighborhoods racially segregated “redlining”
Not hiring a Black reporter until the 1950s (and too few ever since)
Ignoring multiple and frantic calls to address police brutality spanning generations

“The paper’s prejudice hurt people…it hurt the nation as a whole by prolonging and propagating the notion that the color of someone’s skin has anything to do with their potential or their worth to the wider world.”
From The Apology, The Baltimore Sun Editorial board February 20, 2022

Mencken with children of the Johnson family in Booth Street. 1929

The venerable Henry L. Mencken was an author, Sun reporter, columnist and editor and also a well-known racist and vocal supporter of Johns Hopkins Hospital’s eugenics programs that included forced sterilization of lower-class women and incarcerated men.

Necessary Truths

The “profound” apology (for which they are “deeply ashamed” specifies incidents from the past with consequences that reverberate to the present. The editors catalogued much of its wrongdoing that occurred between the 1857 Dred Scott Decision through Mencken’s racist reign and up until it lambasted political correctness in the 1950s for denying that the atrocious Birth of a Nation movie simply depicted the sentiments of its time.

“The Baltimore Sun frequently employed prejudice as a tool of the times.” The most recent event mentioned was a 2002 editorial dismissing the qualifications of Michael Steele, a candidate for Lt. Governor beyond simply being a token Black man.

Omnipresence of white supremacy

Recognizing racist behavior, for many has become the relatively easy part in wake of the murder of George Floyd. However, dismantling systems of white supremacy is really hard work, and the Sun has a long road ahead. Grappling with dismantling apartheid systems, South Africa gave the world a lesson in the way forward: exhaustively recognize specific truths and then foster pathways that would permit reconciliation.

In 2022, as the influence of newspapers are at record lows and the Sun’s finances are in dire straits, the Sun outlined their regrets and offered a way forward. The paper demonstrated its commitment by “atoning for the paper’s past wrongs regarding race” with a bulleted list of action item which include:

Lauch a reporting team to tell more Black stories
Establish a community engagement committee
Build a database of sources that could be called upon to diversify voices
Hire fewer white people and more “people of color”

Mere hours after its Apology, the Sun announced a about a half dozen new hires. The goodwill garnered by the Apology was immediately tempered by an exchange on social media:

Screen grab from Twitter on February 26, 2022

Denouncing David Simon as the way forward

There’s likely no correlation (certainly none that could be proven) between two Maryland events: H.L. Mencken’s death in January 1956 and David Simon’s birth in February 1960, but that’s no reason to refrain from making the argument that Simon is more likely than not, Mencken reincarnated.

Sealed until 25 years after he died, the contents of Mencken’s diary published in 1989 was discovered to be filled with hate speech that included anti-sematic rants that shocked even his closest friends who immediately distanced themselves from him. Many spoke openly about their disdain: ″The diaries are almost sick. I mean he hated everybody,″ said Gwinn Owens, a former editor and columnist on The Evening Sun whose father, Hamilton Owens, was a long-time Sunpapers editor and friend of Mencken’s, as reported by the Associate Press.

“… it is impossible to talk anything resembling discretion or judgment to a colored woman. They are all essentially child-like, and even hard experience does not teach them anything.″
From Menken’s diary, dated September 1943

The Sun’s response was to back Mencken as being colorful curmudgeon and double down by immortalizing his words by placing a colorful quote on the wall of the newsroom. The desicion to ride or die with Menken is a clear reflection of how entrenched white supremacy’s roots were dug in deep at the Sun. In the Apology, the Sun reiterated the numerous times they could have recognized or distanced themselves from Mencken and for that they apologized.

No one comes close to Mencken’s legendary status at the Sun. David Simon although has surpassed him. The creator of HBO’s critically acclaimed show The Wire has elevated Simon into the pantheon of television greats. He prefers to his misogynistic and crude comments to be enjoyed during his lifetime and posts frequently on social media and not privately in a diary.

Simon joined the Sun in 1983. By 1988 the young reporter had spent a year embedded within the notoriously corrupt Baltimore City Police department. His experience led to the publishing of his book, “Homicide, A Year on the Killing Streets.” The book and subsequent Hollywood productions catapulted David Simon to the rarefied air that in his mind apparently allows him to use the most profane and racist word known to Blacks.

The young reporter was granted unprecedented access to Baltimore police. One could only imagine just what it took for Simon, a truth-seeking journalist, to be able to forge a bond of trust with various members of a department known for its secrecy due to its over- reliance upon unconstitutional and racist behaviors. It’s worth noting that no exposé of police wrongdoings surfaced as a result of his “investigative reporting”. A few police officers were given acting roles on Simon’s Hollywood projects though.

With the city reeling because of the ineptitude of the police department at a annual price tag of half billion dollars, some have wondered what role Simon’s work has had on the city’s notable violent nature since he came on board The Sun. In January 2022, Lara Bazelon wrote about the numerous misconduct lawsuits against many of the men Simon cozied up to for New York Magazine.

The Sun should have been first to that story, but it is not too late for them to examine how “elite” officers become “untouchable.” If sincerity is at the heart of the Apology, then addressing the contributions David Simon has had as an embedded reporter to the bullet proof cover the department has enjoyed in avoiding accountability would be a clear indication of their intentions.

If the Sun were to speak hard truths to and about David Simon, it would certainly put a crack in the foundation of white supremacy that the Sun is built upon.

Twitter suspended Simon. Many have taken public stands against his language on social media. The Sun can begin atoning for the sins of its father and finally exorcise the ghosts of A. S. Abell by breaking its silence. Editors need only to summon the brashness and evoke the spirit of Mencken himself and speak truth to the powerful David Simon.

Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired: What That White Woman Say About Black Women?

What’s crystal clear is that veteran local news anchor Mary Bubala didn’t call ex Mayor Catherine Pugh a nigger.

Nor did she sexualize Stephanie Rawlings-Blake’s appearance, nor did she give the slightest hint suggesting SRB wasn’t smart enough for the job.

Never, ever did Bubala even utter Sheila Dixon and pickaninny in the same sentence.

But if she had said any of these things the conversation in public and private spaces would have been much different. So now people, black and white alike, are confused about what all the hubbub is about.

Because it intersects race, gender, and class issues in Baltimore, it’s really about a lot of things. And accordingly, the local media got it mostly wrong.

All Kinds of Wrong

Screenshot (2517) — Former WJZ news anchor Mary Bubala

What Had Happened Wuz

With a black journalist on set of WJZ TV as a guest, Dr. Kaye Whitehead, who is an award winning documentary filmmaker and university professor, Bubala asked whether it was time to move away from black woman as mayoral candidates considering the failures (in Bubala’s opinion) of each of the three: Sheila Dixon (resigned), Stephanie Rawlings-Blake (did not seek re-election) and Catherine Pugh (resigned).

Social media exploded. Journalists from a professional association (BABJ) dedicated to mentoring and establishing standards for their members drew first blood:

Screenshot (2515)

Not Everybody Is Mad Tho

I’m going to talk to my people first. People, my people:

Catherine Pugh’s side hustle was a breach of trust. I heard ya’ll say: she sold #HealthyHolly books and got a half million dollars? Damn girl!

But this isn’t a “don’t hate the player, hate the game” type of scenario.

Gaming the system became an art form for us ever since the US defaulted on our 40 acres and a mule.

Sometimes, we know, we just gotta get ours. But in Pugh’s case she was the system, and took an oath to make the system work for the same people she swore to protect and lift up. Then she allegedly used her position to line her own pockets.

What Catherine Pugh Did Wrong

True you might say, Cathy’s game was not as strong as all the white male mayors who have likely done worse. You might also say she broke the cardinal rule: she forgot who she was, who she was playing with, and flew a little to close to the sun. You might even say Pugh deserved to be forced to resign i.e. fired for being so blatant with her ratchetness.

Privately I hear you say Sheila and Cathy made us look bad and maybe we need to go back to white male leadership. But when I really listen, I hear ya’ll’s pain. As notable journalist Lisa Snowden- McCray said recently on a WYPR broadcast: “It’s sad”

We are embarrassed and ashamed. Wearily, we become more than willing to return to pointing fingers at “the man” and grumbling about how he is keeping us down.

We don’t get that many chances. Which is why Mary Bubala’s comments stung.

Baltimore City has had “ …three female, African-American mayors in a row…Is it a signal that a different kind of leadership is needed to move Baltimore City forward?” – Mary Bubala

Across racial lines, sympathy for 15 year veteran CBS affiliate news anchor Mary Bubala is palpable and growing. A change.org petition has been started to get her back on the air.

What’s Really Wrong is … With Journalism

My source for taking the pulse of Baltimore is my mom. Larry Young hasn’t talked about it on his show as I sit here writing, so of course, she didn’t know anything about it. She lives in senior community and the gossip spread through there like a California wildfire. So I showed her the Sun article.

According to the sage woman who raised me (and I’m paraphrasing):

[Bubala] said what she felt. What’s wrong with that? All the callers to Larry Young feel the exact same way, and they’re black. People want to move way from black leadership, because the three mayors were failures. We had our chance, according to my mom. She shouldn’t get fired. Everybody is saying the same thing. The Pugh ordeal was so over the top. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Understandably, the Loyola of Maryland professor, Dr. Karsona “Kaye” Whitehead prefers to discuss what can be learned from the bias displayed as discussed in a May 8 Baltimore Magazine interview.

I’m willing to accept that Mary Bubala’s apology that it wasn’t her best day, and she wasn’t as artful as she would have liked. I’ll even give her a pass for allowing an opinion slip into her questioning.

Tricia Bishop, The Baltimore Sun

Audra Swain, WJZ Gen Manager

I am no way excusing WJZ’s decision to not permit Bubala to offer her apology on air or effectively engage in dialogue with the public she has served for 15 years for an utterance that will stain her career. Audra Swain, pictured above right, is WJZ’s general manager.

Likewise, there is absolutely no pass for the Baltimore Sun in treating the story as one of her firing and not one about the role of journalists, their ethics, duty to objectivity and struggles with bias. The editorial staff, namely Tricia Bishop (above left) continues to miss the point as it makes it an ideological difference in calling the conversation a left wing vs right wing debate.

There should be an apology to residents of Baltimore by both WJZ and The Baltimore Sun. However, I kind of expect one from the former that precede’s Bubala’s likely return, but I won’t hold my breath waiting for anything close an acknowledgment from the latter.

8 Seconds: Baltimore Police Breaks Silence on Day of Det. Sean Suiter’s Death

Det. Sean Suiter was shot in the back of his head on November 15, 2017 and died the next day of the injuries associated with that single shot. Officers who responded to the scene, loaded him into a patrol car in attempt to save his life. Save his funeral, none of his brothers in blue have been heard from.

Inexplicably, neither BPD or the FOP union have made frequent appeals for tips from the public to solve the confusing and dead-end case. Nor has the robust city and the police department’s public relations team persisted to keep this open case in the hearts and minds of the public. Quite the contrary, Det. Suiter has taken on a “he who must not be named” quality.

suiter memorial — Makeshift memorial for Det. Sean Suiter in the lot where he was shot.

The city’s newspaper of record, the Baltimore Sun on March 22 offered readers an update on the Suiter investigation. It did so with the controversial use of a heavy dose of anonymous sources. Although the sources were not named, most assume they are Baltimore Police officers willing to break their silence on the cold case. The article focused on debating a popular theory within the department of suicide.

Using five unnamed sources presumably close to the investigation, veteran Baltimore Sun reporters Kevin Rector and Justin Fenton used unorthodox methods in order to update a public thirsty for details.

Baltimore City Police department’s speaks out on investigation of murder of one of its own, Det. Sean Suiter

Source 1

Source 2

Source 3

Source 4

Source 5

Commissioner Darryl De Sousa declined to be interviewed for the article published March 22, 2018. The Top Cop’s last comment on the case came during the week he was confirmed to his post. He announced convening an outside panel in mid February to give fresh eyes to the investigation without giving any details despite pressure from media. Gov. Larry Hogan, and the Baltimore delegation to the Maryland General Assembly who has statutory oversight of BPD were not included in the article.

Other people not interviewed: Any member of Det. Sean Suiter’s family, the Medical Examiner, the doctor who treated him, the ambulance driver who transplanted him

from the wrecked patrol car during the accident, any of the individuals in the accident en route to the hospital, the Harlem Park residents who were affected by the lockdown, the store owner whose surveillance tape was confiscated by BPD, members of the Consent Decree Monitoring team of the ACLU of MD which is requesting body worn camera for that day -or the only eyewitness – Det. David Bomenka – just to name a few.

But in remembrance of time honored words of Sec. of State Donald Rumsfeld, we go to battle with allies (sources) we have, not with the ones we want.

Readers’ anxiety was not assuaged since the reporters took no pains to reveal the qualifications of the anonymous sources they did talk to. However, the reporters insist that the five sources combine to have seen the video, talked to people who have seen it, and also have knowledge of statements given to investigators.

Importantly, The Baltimore Sun disclosed that in preparing for the “Exclusive” its sources did not provide them access to view any of the videos, listen to any audio, or view any written documents or photographs.

Deep Diving In

The one person expected to have the most answers is the partner who was with him at the time, Det. David Bomenka. Regrettably, according to the latest Sun exclusive, Bomenka saw about as much as the rest of us.

He didn’t see the shooting.
He didn’t see the shooter.

The eyewitness then appears to be more of an ear witness. The location Bomenka chose for cover did not allow him to see where his partner was or what was happening around him.

According to the Sun, everything that happened in the vacant lot all took place in about 8 seconds, maybe less.

8 seconds Bennett Place_LI

New News

Suiter and Bomenka split up, and Suiter headed to the lot. It’s not clear why they separated or what was said between the two prior to Suiter walking to the lot. Sources said that video shows Suiter “pacing” near the lot’s opening before heading into the blind spot, gun drawn, the article claims.

Start the 8 second countdown clock at about 4:30 pm: Shots rang out. Bomenka took cover. W Screenshot (443) e can assume all three came in quick order. Bomenka called 9-1-1. Officers arrive on the scene. With back up, Bomenka checks on his partner and finds him face down, struggling for this life. Social media picks up scanner call and alerts the public at 4:41 p.m. that a Baltimore City Police officer has been shot.

Entrance and Exit wounds.

According to a 10 year study by the National Institute of Health in 2012, gunshot wounds related to suicide have very specific characteristics. In all honesty, suicide attempts are not something most people would want to get wrong. This is especially true for “Suicide Theorists” in the Suiter matter. The Sun’s article suggests that Suiter would want to stage his suicide to appear like a homicide in order to provide benefits for his family. Having a partner nearby, with potential life-saving medical treatment, is one aspect that makes this theory unlikely. The location of the self-inflicted shot is crucial since medical help would likely to arrive within minutes.

Most favorable handgun locations due to effectivenes are as follows: right temple (about 67%), followed by the mouth (16%), forehead (7%), left temple (6%), under the chin (2%), and body region (1%). Even if staging his death to appear a homicide, the back of the head is a difficult and peculiar choice. Suiter would have been just as effective to suggest he was murdered with his own gun with a shot to the forehead. Better yet, he would have used a random gun, not his service weapon if he wanted to fool the cops.

“..the bullet…entered behind [Suiter’s] right ear and traveled forward, exiting from his left temple. The path of the bullet is not typical of a suicide, some note.

–Baltimore Sun, March 22, 2018

Suiter was discovered face down and his gun was located under his body.

The location the weapon after shooting one’s self is pretty predictable. In another National Institute of Heath 1999 study, the location of the gun really depends on the position of the body at the time of the shooting.

“The gun had a greater chance of remaining in the deceased’s hand if the person was lying or sitting when the gunshot wound was received”. In this study, the location of the gun also depends on the gender.

In 69% of the cases, the gun was on or near the body but not in the hand (i.e., touching the body or within 30 cm of the body). The gun was found >30 cm from the body in the remaining 7% of cases. In the case of handguns, the gun was found in the hand in 25.7% of individuals.

Other “new news” include that the initial reports to look for an “injured suspect” was unfounded. The two instances of blood at the scene was was attributed to an animal and from a person they cleared as being not related to the case.

The last clarification the Sun offered was that the bullet that killed Suiter was discovered on Monday, Nov 20, five days after the shooting. It was “embedded in the dirt” in a yet to be disclosed location relative to where his body was found. Results of the autopsy gave investigators insight into where to look for the fatal bullet.

Old News

Det. Bomenka provided a suspect description of a black man wearing a black jacket with a white stripe based on a person he said that he and Suiter both saw 20 minutes before the shooting.
Three shots were fired from Suiter’s gun, including the fatal shot.
Suiter’s clothes were dirty and disheveled clothing suggesting a violent struggle.
Suiter’s radio was still in his hand, although under his body.
Suiter’s voice was heard on a radio transmission.

Finally, Mayor Catherine Pugh was not mentioned in the article, but continues to express confidence in Commissioner Darryl De Sousa. In early March, she mentioned that the panel he is convening to look into BPD corruption would also include Suiter. She recounted conversations she has had with his widow and that the family wants the truth. Still Mayor Pugh nixed the state’s offer of a commission to review corruption related to newly disclosed criminal activity organized by members of BPD’s Gun Trace Task Force.

Suiter worked closely with Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF) officers and was notably scheduled to be a fed witness the day he died. The Sun’s article did not delve into witness intimidation or executions associated with recent trials as potential theories for a motive behind Suiter’s death.

The Shropshire, Wells et als, court case is credited for bringing down GTTF and in January struggled with witness intimidation concerns. The judge took extraordinary measures to restrict cell phone use. A former BPD member who was a Philadelphia police officer and who is currently awaiting trial is being held in custody because of threats. The court determined that Officer Eric Snell had threatened the life of the children of ex-GTTF officer Det. Jamell Rayam when he was scheduled to testify as government witnesses.

If actions fall true to form, BPD will hold a late Friday press conference pronouncing the end of the investigation and the case solved. “We couldn’t find the assailant” they’ll likely say because “Suiter committed suicide.” With those few words, BPD will move toward clearing their record for a dangling unsolved murder of one of its own. It will also leave every resident doubtful that BPD could or should be ever trusted to investigate itself.

Also likely, The Baltimore Sun will regrettably look back on its decision to pave the way for the “suicide” declaration with its use of anonymous sources, And when it’s too late, recognize that in doing so – see its role in delaying justice for Det. Sean Suiter and his family. And Kevin Rector and Justin Fenton won’t have the cover of anonymity.

The Unlikely Tale of Det. John Clewell

Baltimore City Police Department Det. John Clewell is a former U.S. Marine. He is not under investigation. He has not been charged with any crime.

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He is the only sole survivor of the carnage left behind in the now-defunct Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF) where he worked along side some of what surely will go down in Baltimore history, if not U.S. history, is the most corrupt group of law enforcement officers to ever disgrace the uniform. In a Sept 8, 2017 Sun article, he was called (albeit by his lawyer) the only Boy Scout in the group. GTTF members Dets. Daniel Hersl and Marcus Taylor, are presumed innocent unless and until found guilty. Files related to this case can be found on this website’s document pages.

A good place to start with Det. John Clewell’s association with the Gun Trace Task force is with a tracking device.

Testimony from two separate cases has shown officers from Baltimore Police Department have no problem purchasing GPS tracking devices using their own cash, even though the department will issue one – if they plan to use them for legal purposes. Leaving one to assume officers who purchase GPS out of their own pockets could be up to no good. Det. John Clewell used his own personal credit card to purchase a GPS device that helped with an armed robbery and was connected to a murder conviction.

The first case was a drug conspiracy and murder trial. A 19-year old woman from Harford County OD’d on heroin. The prosecutors proved that the woman, struggling with addiction, received the drugs from her friend as they planned to “party”. That friend testified in U.S. District Court that he purchased the drugs from his connect in Baltimore. It’s the connect from Baltimore who was linked to a conspiracy with a BPD detective because they were childhood friends. It is the investigation of the death of this 19 year old woman which led to a wire on Det. Monodu Gondo that brought GTTF to its end.

John Clewell, by way of a tracking device is tied to this sordid conspiracy that ended in a not just that woman’s death, but also more directly to another woman being robbed at gun point.

In order to conduct what was supposed to be a burglary, but ended up being an armed robbery, two BPD detectives (Momodu Gondo and Jamell Rayam) and a drug dealer friend needed to make sure no one was at the house. They used a GPS tracking device to put on the man’s car. That device was bought using Det. John Clewell’s personal credit card. Needless to say, the detectives. and the drug dealer were not very lucky, despite their attempts to make sure the house was empty before burglarizing it. This required ingenuity on their part. Once they awakened a startled woman in her bed, they didn’t bolt and run, they pointed a gun, threatened to kill her and stole whatever they could find. At gun point.

GUN TRACE TASK FORCE — Photo by BPD appears to be at least 5 years old.

This was all able to be carried out because Det. Gondo was monitoring the tracker. “The GPS tracker was bought by John Clewell, of the gun squad. He paid for it with his personal credit card, and paid the monthly fee,” the FBI agent testified, reported by WBAL TV.

The burglary turned robbery was “Plan B” according to Rayam. Initially, the drug dealer who concocted the whole heist idea, simply wanted to murder the man in the car, using the GPS provided by Clewell to track him. Rayam testified, that was going too far and agreed to the burglary instead. It was in this October 2017 trial that Clewell and a tracking device came up in court.

Two weeks of testimony on the second case began on January 23, 2018 spelling out the horrific crimes of the Gun Trace Task Force. It’s commonly referred to as #GTTFTrial on social media. The officers themselves, along with victims alike, described callous and sometime brutal behavior of law enforcement officials behaving like mobsters, leaving residents of sections of the city as if terrorists had free reign.

Through its actions, the GTTF unit showed that it’s pretty easy to skirt the law, when you are the law.

It also became extremely clear to all those watching (except the Mayor and the recently hired commissioner) that the above-the-law attitudes and actions are not exclusive to the small number of officers facing sentencing and charges. No logically-minded person would believe that higher ups at least turned a blind eye to the activity and even more likely, some encouraged it.

Once the indictments were announced on March 1, 2017, members of the task force fell like dominoes: Both squad leaders plead guilty to robbery, extortion and RICO related charges. Sgt. Allers oversaw the team from Summer 2013 to Summer 2016 when Sgt. Wayne Jenkins took over. The pleas fell in this order:

Det. Maurice Ward and Det. Evodio Hendrix (July 2017)
Det. Jemell Rayam and Det. Momodu Gondo (October 2017)
Sgt. Thomas Allers (December 2017)

Sgt. Wayne Jenkins, (January 2018) displaying a flair for the dramatic, held out with his guilty plea mere weeks before his trial was scheduled to commence. It was nearly worth the wait as he plead guilty to expanded charges of dealing drugs and dirt bikes.

In what appears to be divine intervention, the domino not touched is Det. John Clewell, who worked on GTTF under both Allers and Jenkins. So we begin following the path that zigs and zags around Clewell, the only member of the Gun Trace Task Force to not face charges.

Tracing John Clewell Through Tracking Thomas Allers

Clewell joined the department in 2009 and has been suspended since the March arrests of his squad mates. Allers joined in 1996. He became the officer-in-charge GTTF about July 2013.

As reported by Justin Fenton in the Baltimore Sun:

Clewell worked frequently with Allers, the eighth officer charged…Before Clewell and Allers joined the gun trace task force in late 2014, they worked together pursuing illegal guns and drugs on the Southern District operations squad. Both left the gun trace task force in the summer of 2016 to work with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration as city police task force officers. They were working in that role when the first indictments were filed.

Allers has been charged with nine counts of Robbery and Extortion and the indictment alleges that he stole over $90,000.00. Allers faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for the conspiracy, the robberies and for racketeering. In contrast, Det. John Clewell, has not been charged with any crime. He is expected to be witness for his squad member, Daniel “Danny Hersl”. The prosecution expects to rest on Tuesday, Feb 6.

Sgt. Thomas Allers is a family man.

In his detainment hearing, Allers family including his wife was present, according to media reports. The government and the defense had differing views on a letter that Allers penned that each side was using as evidence for their respective views on whether he should be released or held in custody. According to The Sun, the prosecution described the four pages addressed to his wife as a “suicide note” while the defense described it as a “love note to Allers’ wife expressing ‘how much and deeply he cares’ for her and reassuring her that no matter what happened to him, she would be fine.” He was held in custody.

Aller’s indictment references a charge of robbery and extortion when he brought his adult son along. One would be hard pressed to believe then his family did not know of his criminal activities.

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Davon L. Robinson is dead.

Dominos keep falling: One of Allers’ robbery victims is dead. In April 2016, Sgt. Allers went into the man’s house and stole $10,000 from him. His report claimed that a family member 1. gave him permission to enter and 2. gave him permission to search. No warrant was needed. The man, Davon Robinson, called “Wooda” was given drugs and was expected to sell them and repay for the advance. When he did not have the $10,000 to pay, police believe he was shot and killed. Another man is awaiting trial for killing Robinson.

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In 2016, most news recalled his life as a statistic. But he was loved. Wooda’s passion was dirtbikes. Unfortunate for him, Sgt. Allers and Det. Hersl shared a love of (other peoples’) dirt bikes. Robinson’s parents claimed he was constantly harrassed by Baltimore Police officers. With that knowledge, how unlikely is it that the officers’ presence inside of their home was legal? He gripped to his girlfriend that he often was stopped by police without cause, the Sun reported. Money and property were taken without charges.

Mr. Robinson, like countless other city residents, had nowhere to turn when GTTF officers victimized him. That was their power.

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See full obituary here. Davon Robinson Obit

John Clewell: A Part of the GTTF Family

Clewell joined the department in 2009. GTTF is only one of dozens of specialized operations units. At one time or another, these same squad members were together under various units: SES or Specialized Enforcement Section, the Pennsylvania Avenue Initiative, and VCIS or Violent Crimes Impact Section.

For some odd reason, the Baltimore Sun routinely identifies these plainclothes operatives as “elite”. It is not clear if they receive any additional training or held to any higher standard that “elite” would suggest. As part of this “family” it appears that all member enjoyed perks, prestige, and a blind eye from most when their decade-long plainclothes abuses went unheeded, especially by The Sun.

In the second trial, Clewell is expected to testify as a defense witness for Det. Danny Hersl, Illegal use of GPS tracking devices have already been discussed.

Donald Stepp, testified as a government witness that he sold drugs that BPD Sgt. Wayne Jenkins sold to him at a dramatically discounted rate. He testified that he bought burglary and surveillance equipment “off the books” to assist the GTTF squad in committing crimes in and around Baltimore City. One such tale included being in a car with Jenkins when he dropped off one such GPS devices to Det. Danny Hersl.

In a July 2016 case, Det. Rayam swore out an affidavit saying he had watched a suspect for a full day, but told jurors that was a lie. The truth, he said, was that he had placed a tracking device on a car and monitored the car’s movements. John Clewell took part in the traffic stop of a couple leaving Home Depot. No drugs, guns or large amounts of case were found in the car.

After interrogation at what’s being called a satellite BPD office that officers call “The Barn” and others call the old Pimlico Middle school, they drove the pair to their Westminster home in Carroll County. After searching that house and finding no drugs or guns, officers seized cash, but made no arrests. The home owners, Ronald and Nancy Hamilton are suing four officers seeking over $900,000 in damages. They also claim $20,000 was stolen from their home during the search. The Hamiltons have named Rayam, Gondo, Jenkins and Hersl in their lawsuit.

John Clewell is expected to testify primarily to benefit Hersl’s defense. The trial is expected to last until about February 12, once defense begins on February 6.

[update, John Clewell did not testify].

In a summary of the opening days, the Washington Post reported:

As squad members, Evodio Hendrix, Rayam and former detective Maurice Ward testified they routinely ignored constitutional protections and entered homes without search warrants, and stopped people without probable cause — then lied about it. It was common practice, Rayam said, to put GPS trackers on cars illegally to make it easier to follow people the squad intended to rob.

“We would create false reports to cover up the robberies we were involved in,” Hendrix testified.

They would also lie to cover up their mistakes.

Oh, Danny Boy: One of Baltimore City’s Dirtiest Cop Goes on Trial

Detective Daniel “Danny” Hersl is most likely to have his day in court on Monday January 22, 2018 with co-defendant Det Marcus Taylor also a member of BPD’s Gun Trace Task Force.

Charged with racketeering and robbery along with seven other officers, Hersl’s career includes lawsuits, excessive force claims and being a general embarrassment to the department.

In short order, his “brothers in blue” began to flip and change their pleas. By summer a superseding indictment was filed with expanded charges against Hersl. Facing potential damning testimony by citizens and his brothers in blue, Hersl’s defense looks to center itself on: ” It can’t be a conspiracy within the GTTF unit, if the entire department was complicit.”

hersl plea

The Original Indictment (March 1, 2017)*

gttf indictment

GUN TRACE TASK FORCE

*Sgt Thomas Allers was charged separately in August 2017.

The Superseding Indictment (June 2017)

Hersl Jenkins Taylor SuperIndict

Superceding Indictment

Known initials from the seven in the Original Indictment: DH, MT, WJ as well as MG, EH JR and MW and later Sgt T.A. GTTF unit member John Clewell, not indicted is J.C. Unidentified Initials: N.F. , M. Mo, Sgt I, Sgt B, Det 3.

Hersl’s Likely Defense

“Don’t blame my incompetence, blame the people who hired me.” While this mantra worked for the Police Administrative Trial Boards, but a federal courtroom is “next level” to say the least. Every officer who has used some version of this defense for the trials involving the death of Freddy Gray has escaped any punishment. It will ring true, that BPD is a dysfunctional cesspool, but the difference in this trial is the conspiracy and racketeering. Evidence is strong that people were plotting, planning and navigating the system in order to advance their own bank accounts.

Just saying that he knew the GTTF squad was dirty and didn’t want to be placed on it in December 2015 is not a defense. It should be a lively trial. Hersl is a cross between Michael Scott from the office (without the charisma) and Archie Bunker who does all the wrong things for misguided reasons.

Sun’s Coverage on Hersl’s Likely Defense

Widespread Corruption Puts the Department on Trial

In 2016, Taylor learned that the GTTF was under investigation by someone in the Internal Affairs Dvision. Jenkins learned that GTTF was under investigation by someone in the State’s Attorney’s Office and from sources withing BPD. None named.

Daniel Hersl’s brother attempts to sway public opinion in defense of his brother.

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Jerome Hersl Speaks Out in Defense of His Brother

Jerome Hersl makes an appeal to Harford County Council reported in a June 21, 2017 article in The Sun:

Jerome Hersl also claimed publicity surrounding the indictments “caused great stress and potential harm to the families and friends of the police officers due to the possible retaliation from drug dealers. The testimony of 16 drug dealers put seven cops in jail.”

“The drug dealers control the streets of Baltimore,” he said. “Do drug dealers have political boundaries. How long will it be before they control the streets of Harford County?”

Baltimore Family Feels Safer With Hersl’s Arrest

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Danny Hersl in his element after the city took to the streets in protest of the death of Freddy Gray in police custody. Here at North and Pennsylvania Ave. During the day.

danny hersl uprising

Danny Hersl at night pepper sprays citizens and violently arrests a journalist capturing people milling around once a curfew has been in place. The city paid damages to the reporter for Hersl’s actions.

Hersl attacking a journalist

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