Notes from Maryland: The Perils of Electing a “house Negro”

Determining a “real one” from a “house Negro” is no easy task.

Maryland, by virtue of being the most northern of the country’s southern states, is uniquely positioned to tackle the challenge of ascertaining the validity of one’s card, especially if that person is seeking election as representative of an oppressed people.

Since the gubernatorial election is mere weeks away pitting Dan Cox (R), who has displayed sympathy towards white supremacist ideology against neophyte Wes Moore (D) a Black graduate of Johns Hopkins, it is Baltimoreans’ solemn duty to peel back the layers on the Black man selected by primary voters to impede Cox’s path towards the state’s governorship.

Blacks are unfairly burdened by dual loyalties when attempting to navigate the minefields of combating white supremacy and pursuing political aspirations. In Wes’ case, his origin story has left him vulnerable to critique about his authenticity; Moore enjoys favorable press considering weeks before the election he has been a no-show at the candidate conference and has declined debates. He essentially is playing the I’m Black, vote for me (because the other guy is a white devil) card.

Less Is Known About Wes Moore

Westley “Wes” Watende Omari Moore, an author, motivational speaker and military veteran from the DMV (or maybe even the Bronx, but definitely not from Baltimore) is brand new to politics and has no record to stand on or defend. For someone constantly in the limelight, there is very little known about his politics or his world view beyond talking points.

The grandson of Cuban and Jamaican immigrants gained celebrity status from authoring the biographical 2010 book: The Other Wes Moore, Two Fates. Wes once aspired to be an NBA star and president when he was a teenager. He has come closer to commander and chief than lacing it up against Steph Curry. His Curry is slated to produce a feature film based on the book.

Gov Larry Hogan(R) and Candidate Wes Moore (D) 19 August 2022. Facebook Screengrab.

In 2006-07 while working as an investment banker in New York, Wes served as an assistant to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in George W. Bush’s administration. Although the selection as a White House fellow was seminal moment, Wes claims not to be beholden to either party’s ideology nor does he speak often about either Condi or W. Wes supported Hillary Clinton in the 2008 primaries over the eventual winner, Barack Obama.

Moore is leading in the polls, unlike the last Black man who captured the Dem’s nomination for the state’s executive chair. In the 2018 election, former head of the NAACP, Ben Jealous lost badly to incumbent Larry Hogan who greatly benefited from positive press endorsements and a lack of media scrutiny. Born in raised in California, Jealous’ mother is a native of Baltimore. Jealous’ parents, real ones by any measure, were activists in the monument city during the height of civil rights movement.

Baltimore has a proud history of laudable civil minded leaders that shepherded the city away from its Confederate-leaning roots: Rev. Harvey Johnson, Thurgood Marshall, Lillian Carroll Jackson, Juanita Mitchell, Carl Murphy, Walter P. Carter, Pete Rawlings, and Kurt Schmoke come to mind. The power couple of Willie and Victorine Adams were legendary for their realness. In comparison, Johns Hopkins surgeon and Donald Trump confident Ben Carson (a Detroit native) who Baltimore embraced like one of her own, is someone we would like to forget.

Oreo, Coon, Stepin Fetchit are some of the more incendiary terms tossed around when Blacks reach a status of visibility in established white-led institutions. Being called “house nigga” is the accusation most relevant to the Maryland experience thanks to Johns Hopkins.

Screengrab. The Atlantic January 2019 (L to R) Donald Trump, Darrell Scott, Ben Carson

HUD Secretary Ben Carson is imminently qualified to be a House Negro, but remains as unqualified as ever to lead HUD
Keith A. Owens, Michigan Chronicle, 17 August 2017

Understanding the past can help frame today’s dilemmas. When used improperly “house nigga” can be disparaging and downright disrespectful, but in Maryland’s case it’s a literal interpretation of what happened in elections in the not-so-distant past.

Maryland’s first documented political “house nigga” died in 1981 at age 91. His name was J. Alvin Jones and his grandfather, James Jones, was enslaved by the wealthiest man in the state (at that time) Johns Hopkins.

Puppet and Puppeteer

Being a Black voter is exhausting. Beyond the normal work of analyzing candidates’ platforms and separating the bluster from actual policy, Blacks have an additional burden that stems from institutions of white supremacy using Blacks as front men. It happened with J. Alvin Jones.

Because of the lack of real power afforded to minoritized people in systems dedicated to upholding white supremacy, Blacks must ascertain whether the person is authentically representing the interests of the Black community or if candidates are merely puppets and simply executing the white man’s bidding.

Ebony magazine featured J. Alvin Jones in a December 1959 article that included a photo (pictured below) of then-governor James Millard Tawes standing behind Jones casting a great shadow. The governor is pointing out a window overlooking Mount Royal station in central Baltimore where Jones’ eyes is transfixed.

The photographic depiction of “house Negro” has never been captured so clearly.

Ebony Magazine. December 1959. Google Books.

J. Alvin Jones’ single term as state senator in 1958 started under the direst of circumstances: at the behest of party bosses. Jones’ soul qualification was that he was an educated Black man that had no baggage from a previous run for office. Before party boss “Jack” Pollack spearheaded his campaign when Jones was 69 years hold, Jones had spent his adult life with patronage jobs on the federal, state, and municipal levels.

Blacks, wary of the political machine, never embraced Jones the way they did the first Black elected in 1954 Delegate Harry Cole (who preceded him) or Verda Welcome (who defeated him) who both received grassroots support. The Black voter registration drives were working.

Pollack was Baltimore’s first Jewish boss, and during the 1940s and 1950’s the city’s most powerful boss. Operating from a base in the northwest part of the city, he picked and elected candidates to the state legislature, City Council, judgeships and the judicial clerkships.
Washington Post, 18 March 1977 “Baltimore Buries Once-Powerful Boss“

Although it was not publicly reported and few Blacks likely knew in the 1960s, Jones’ grandparents had a cozy relationship with the wealthiest of white city’s financiers one hundred years prior, straight off the tobacco plantations – The man Johns Hopkins himself.

Sad. J. Alvin lost his senate seat in a contested primary that signaled the weakening of Pollack as a Democrat party boss in the city of Baltimore. The first Black woman elected, Verda Welcome denounced any association with organized political leaders suggesting any Black who did was a puppet. “I am that man’s worst enemy,” Welcome was reported as saying in a November 1, 1962 Baltimore Sun article. Morgan State University students at the gathering made it clear that any Black politician backed by Pollack or accepted the fund-raising money Irvin Koven, another leader in the city’s Jewish community, was to be distrusted.

Welcome’s enemies were more than haters, they were homicidal. Struck by two bullets, the North Carolina native, survived an assassination attempt in April 1964, midway into her first term. Five men associated with the Democratic party were charged with conspiracy to kill the woman who gathered grassroots support to obtain her seat; four were convicted. The bullet to Welcome’s back and heel certifies her “real one” status. Her tenure in the state house lasted 25 years.

So many have given so much to squander if the candidate will not be answerable to the Black community’s concerns, especially by a Black man who moves comfortably within the higher echelon of the Johns Hopkins power brokers.

Six Degrees of Johns Hopkins

J. Alvin Jones was born to John “Johnsey” Jones and Hattie Taylor on 20 November 1889. He was their only child. In 1913 he graduated from University of Pennsylvanian a private school in Philadelphia. After serving in WWI, he married Clara Baptiste of Pennsylvania and had two sons, J. Alvin Jr and Jerome. He had no known grandchildren.

His sons were not known to have served in public office, but enjoyed patronage jobs in the city. Picture below, J. B. Jones, was a city housing manager, and later oversaw the mass relocation of Black residents as part of the city’s “urban renewal” programs from his office in West Baltimore.

Jerome Baptise Jone obituary, 28 April 1970 Baltimore Sun

Straight from the Literal and Figurative Planation

Maryland’s new constitution of 1864 prohibited slavery. J Alvin’s father “Johnsey” was born a free person in 1866. J Alvin’s grandfather’s status under the new Constitution transitioned from being enslaved by multi-millionaire Johns Hopkins to being employed by him.

Clifton Mansion. The summer home of Johns Hopkins in Baltimore.

J Alvin’s grandfather, James Jones. was born in Virginia in about 1820. He was enslaved by the Tayloe family in Virginia and during a visit, Hopkins took a liking to James and brought him to Baltimore. James’ inclusion on the 1870 census kick-started the debate over the veracity of Hopkins’ PR machine that promotes him as an abolitionist.

Johns Hopkins, railroad magnate and banker, derived forced labor from James Jones for nearly four decades in the industrial port city of Baltimore. There were zero crops that needed harvested, only wine to be poured and dinner parties to host. Hopkins, from a family of Quakers, was wealthy enough to pay good wages for servants to run his bathwater and clean his bedsheets as he admired the artwork that adorned his Saratoga St winter home and his Clifton Mansion summer home.

1860 Federal Census for Johns Hopkins the president of Merchant Bank worth $2 million

After emancipation James stayed on as Hopkins’ servant. The city’s cantankerous bachelor banker/political influencer remembered Jones in his will with a $5000 payday in 1873 (roughly $130,000 in today’s valuation). Formerly enslaved men in Baltimore with no other marketable skill and lacking a formal education crowded almshouses or other penal institutions.

Jones, his wife Elizabeth (both identified as “mulattos”) and their children lived a quiet life in a house they owned with white eastern European immigrants as neighbors – outside of the strict racial redlines that kept Blacks in substandard housing. James continued to work as a servant/waiter up until he died in 1893.

1870 Federal Census for James Jones and wife Elizabeth, both unable to read or write

J. Alvin attended Douglas High School and later the Ivy League University of Pennsylvania school and graduated with an engineering degree. The WWI vet worked patronage-provided government jobs on the federal, state and city level before Pollack selected him to defeat Cole. Once his short-lived political career was over, Jones returned to work in a variety of civil service jobs and generally lived the remainder of his life in obscurity.

The year he died, 1981, the grandson of the former enslaved man from Virginia had truly moved on up as he lived and died in a high-rise apartment in the Charles Village area, a stone’s throw from Johns Hopkins University.

“All skin folks ain’t kin folk”
Melanated peoples since forever

Annapolis has been influenced by those with white supremacists’ ideals since the days before, during, and after Johns Hopkins wielded extreme political power that resulted in a hospital and university in his honor. The path to Annapolis is littered with the Black names discarded by the machine they served: Catherine Pugh, Cheryl Glenn, Nathaniel Oaks, are the most recent casualties. The ethics surrounding Gov Larry Hogan’s questionable, but lucrative business dealings have mostly gone unexamined.

Calling out Frauds

To catapult his name recognition, Wes Moore benefited from people believing he was a “Baltimore native.” Who could not pull for a troubled Black boy of a single mom succeeding despite the challenges posed by being educated in the city’s public schools during in the 1980s crack era? The problem is, he never went to school in Baltimore. Forever on the wrong side of history, The Baltimore Sun editorial board’s stance is that there ought to be more Wes Moores.

Wes Moore, pictured in front of the city landscape where he was not born and raised.

Moore, the author/candidate let the lie stand because he wanted to be seen as a “real one” like the other Wes Moore that he wrote about. Moore calculated ways to avoid suffering the fate as J Alvin Jones. Moore’s gamble is to present himself as a man of the people without having a rigorous debate where he faces the people. Moore declined Morgan State University’s invitation to debate. A single debate is scheduled for October 12th.

Black Republican Trump supporter Herman Cain famously embraced the term “house Negro” and urged author/candidate Ben Carson to do so as well. This followed an opinion published in a Michigan paper shaming Carson as a House Negro who ” forfeited the well-earned status of a brilliant medical career” to gain proximity to power. Cuba Gooding, Jr portrayed Carson in the Hollywood production of his book “Gifted Hands”.

“If being called a ‘house Negro’ is what some of us must endure for succeeding in this nation and thinking for ourselves, then let all of the ‘house Negroes’ stand up and be counted,” – wrote Herman Cain, Black Republican and Donald Trump supporter
Taryn Finley, HuffingtonPost.com 2017

Who gets to rise to the top in Maryland politics may not be groveling for anointment by the party bosses of yesteryear (to be sure the Curran family of old Baltimore still has weight today). In some ways not knowing who may be pulling the strings is even more disconcerting. Diligence in discovering to whom Black leaders may be beholden must remain a priority.

The struggle is real. All Marylanders, regardless of race, religion, or socio-economic status deserve more than someone competent in maneuvering amongst the power elite. If the first Black Governor does not pledge to dismantle the systems of white supremacy, he will be remembers only as the most recent in a long line of house Negroes.

Getting to Know GTTF’s Silent Sergeant: Thomas Allers

GUILTY ON ALL COUNTS: Robbery, Attempted Robbery and Extortion

Sgt. Thomas Allers’ name didn’t often come up during the corruption trial of Daniel Hersl and Marcus Taylor from Baltimore Police’s Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF). It’s certainly not because his crimes are any less egregious. The argument could be made that in many ways, his was worse.

Because the grandfather and veteran did not cooperate with the feds or profess his innocence to a jury, we are left piecing together Allers’ sordid crimes as head of GTTF for three years.

“Allers’ supporters tell [Judge Catherine Blake] he was an upstanding person and officer. The letters come from family members, former colleagues,” wrote Sun reporter Justin Fenton.

The 15-year sentence dropped on Allers showed that the judge was not moved by the pleas for leniency. Not even with an actual BPD detective writing on his behalf. Det. John Clewell, a GTTF squad member also wrote a letter of support, the Sun reported. His son, Trent Allers also wrote an impassioned plea on his father’s behalf, according to the reporter Justin Fenton.

Allers is a tragic figure, his defense attorney would have people believe. Especially dealing with the likes of ex BPD detectives Momodu Gondo and Jemell Rayam, as reported by Baltimore Sun. The attorney claimed Allers became an “alcoholic and developed mental health problems as a result of his experiences as an officer, ” Fenton reported.

None of which ever seemed to be a problem in the eight months between the arrests of the GTTF squad and when the feds came knocking on his door.

For those unconvinced, here are four solid reasons why Allers is in some ways worse than Gondo (seven year sentence) and Rayam (not yet sentenced). Fifteen years is getting off easy when examining the timeline below of his career at BPD.

What’s almost laughable is Allers’ claim that he was tainted by the bad apples around him and only proves that he just might be the one who is rotten to the core.

He was the supervisor. The detectives can’t repeatedly steal money and have Allers sign off on what was seized if their supervisor didn’t take part in the scheme (or organize it to begin with.
It was his squad. He could have pushed to transfer Gondo and/or Rayam.
He tipped off Gondo and Rayam that the feds were snooping, even though he himself was no longer a part of GTTF.
He isn’t cooperating (as far as we know) to weed out all of the corruption that remains within BPD.

We are left guessing as to why Allers brought his son along with him as he met up with Rayam and Gondo to burglarize a house. The BPD officers plead guilty to stealing about $8000 each. Furthermore, in pleading guilty, all three agreed that Trent Allers, who was present, took cash as well. No charges have been filed for the younger Allers in the Baltimore County jurisdiction where the robbery/extortion occurred.

allers family_LI (2) — Trent Allers (L) and his father (R) ex BPD veteran and GTTF supervisor Thomas Allers

Trent Allers has had troubles with the law himself. The younger Allers has a history of DUI, traffic charges as well as a burglary charge in 2016, according to online records.

A TIMELINE FOR THOMAS ALLERS

1996 – Rookie

Thomas Allers joined BPD in July 1996 when Thomas C. Frazier was commissioner. His son Trent was 5 years old.

1997 – He Shot and Killed a Man

As a rookie, Allers, 28, shot and killed an unarmed man when he responded to a domestic dispute. Neighbors on the scene of the April 1997 shooting said the victim Nelson West, 40, was “a good man” and that he “didn’t deserve to die”.

Screenshot (2075)_LI — Excerpt April 21, 1997 Baltimore Sun. Retrieved from Newspapers.com

2000-2004 BPD and the Wild Wild West

Stopping black men for walking became the norm. So much so that when DOJ was investigating in 2016, no one even tried to shield the unconstitutional practice. No surprise then It didn’t take long before strip searching men in public and stealing their money and personal property became routine. West Baltimore received the brunt of such wide spread abuses of power.

The brutality on display by plainclothes police was a perfect example of the saying” The cure being much more worse than the disease.

Tumultuous BPD leadership with three commissioners over four years could not have been good for morale or oversight within BPD. Commissioners faced accusations of domestic violence and criminal charges lead them to resigning or being forced out. See the 2004 article below.

The_Baltimore_Sun_Sun__May_23__2004_3 commissioners zero tolerance — Excerpt from Baltimore Sun archives from Newspapers.com May 23, 2004.

2000-2008 Zero Tolerance Policing

Allers was a young officer and among the rank and file tasked with enforcing the “zero tolerance” tactics employed by Mayor Martin O’Malley.

The 1999 death of Larry J Hubbard, shot and killed while unarmed, and settled in 2002 ignited protests against zero tolerance policing. While preparing for trial against the officers involved in shooting the 21-year old in the back of the head, Barry W. Hamilton and Robert J. Quick, the city settled with his family for an undisclosed amount.

A DOJ investigation cited the O’Malley era’s policy of “zero tolerance” as a racist and violent assault upon the city’s most vulnerable citizens, namely black males in Baltimore akin to Freddie Gray.

2013 – Squad Leader

Allers became the sergeant in charge of GTTF. He would serve in that capacity for three years. His son Trent was about 22 years old.

2014 – Wildin’ Out

Not only had in custody deaths piqued peoples’ interest and the community’s concern, the failure to hold any officer responsible for complaints of excessive force fell on deaf ears. It would be a mistake to say that the lack of transparency and accountability served only to embolden “rogue” officers. By 2014, the culture of “anything goes” had firmly taken root throughout the department and some might argue also spread to the city’s legislative and judicial arms as well.

March – Allers, along with Rayam and Gondo and the younger Allers executed a search warrant on a home in Baltimore County where about $420k in cash was discovered. They each took about $8,000. Trent Allers was not charged.
October – Allers along with his GTTF squad stole $3,000 from a store owner in Baltimore City.

2015 Freddie Gray death and Citizen Uprising Against Police Brutality

April – Thomas Allers and his GTTF squad rob a family of $5700 taken from their home.
May – Trent Allers takes a shot at being his father’s PR guy. When Freddie Gray was killed and the city exploded in protest, the younger Allers sought media attention to his father by contacting Joe Flacco, The Washington Post and the local Fox news station via a social media account.

July – After stealing $8,900 from a home in Anne Arundel County and before AAPD showed up, Allers, Gondo and Rayam when to a bar to split up the money, which was their usual protocol.

2016 Allers’ Promotion from GTTF to DEA

Thomas Allers left GTTF for a joint DEA operation and Wayne Jenkins took over leadership of the squad. Commissioner Kevin Davis took over the helm in the summer of 2015 from Anthony W. Batts who was fired for his handling of the uprising. Testimony showed Jenkins was some ways worse than Allers in that he was ruthless with citizens they encountered, brash about the drug dealing, and acted as if he had protection from higher ups.

Never “remorseful” , Allers claimed he was sullied by the likes of Gondo and Rayam over the course of three years. Yet once free of GTTF , Aller’s doesn’t run to the feds about the sordid crimes Rayam or Gondo had committed.

Instead, Allers tipped them off that they were being watched. Feds had a wire in Gondo’s car and on his phone as of July 2016. The brashness was contagious as GTTF crimes extended nearly up until the very day they were arrested.

Meanwhile, the younger Allers posted how hyped he was for the presidential campaign of Donald Trump.

Screenshot (2077)

2017 – Dominos Fall and a Homicide Detective is Downed

February – seven members of GTTF were arrested on federal RICO charges, including the Sgt Wayne Jenkins. The indictment spelled out an organized crime operation that spawned at least a decade using Baltimore Police HQ as little more than a front.

The first to plead guilty and cooperate were Hendrix and Ward, followed closely by Rayam and then Gondo. They all four would become government witnesses. The trial was set for January 20

August – Thomas Allers was arrested, nearly 8 months after mass arrests of GTTF squad. He might have thought he was safe. The court denied bail when he pleaded not guilty. A discussion over whether a 12 page letter was a suicide note or not cemented the judge’s decision to keep Allers in custody
August – Momodu Gondo testified in open court that he along with Rayam committed an armed robbery of a drug dealer. A GPS tracking device purchased by fellow GTTF Det. John Clewell was used as a way to make sure the home would be unoccupied. It wasn’t. The ski-masked wearing bandits held a frightened woman at gunpoint while stealing money, jewelry, drugs and a gun.
November – BPD Det Sean Suiter was murdered and died the day he was scheduled to testify against members of the GTTF squad in front of a grand jury.
December – Allers changed his plea to guilty. He was later sentenced to 15 years. He was last known as being held in a minimum security prison in Florida. His release date is Sept 2030. He will be 61 years old.

2018

January – Wayne Jenkins plead guilty. He told the court he was “ashamed”, according the Sun.
Late January – The GTTF trial began.
February – Both Daniel Hersl and Marcus Taylor were found guilty Gondo, Rayam, Ward and Hendrix would each testify against them.
August – A review panel paid for by BPD concluded that Det Sean Suiter shot himself in the back of the head fooling even his partner who had been by his side for 2 days. His wife, Nicole Suiter, all of West Baltimore, and maybe half of the rest of the city disbelieve that the panel’s conclusion of suicide.
November – The one year anniversary of Sean Suiter’s death came and went without any new official suspects or evidence presented to the public.
December – The medical examiner after reading the panel’s findings has kept its ruling: Homicide. Sean Suiter was murdered.

EPILOGUE

No one has been held accountable for the unprecedented and unconstitutional lockdown of Harlem Park by BPD in the aftermath/coverup of the fatal shooting of Det. Sean Suiter.

Cops as Criminals: It’s Not Black and White

All crooked cops aren’t created equally.

Some are born crooked. Some are led astray. Still others, like Momodo Gondo, has crookedness thrust upon him.

No one can pinpoint exactly when Baltimore Police became a hotbed of corruption. More importantly though, no one alive today can honestly remember when it wasn’t.

Screenshot (1982)

Above: Momodu Gondo points to former BPD commander Dean Palmere (Below) who helped orchestrate the cover up of a murder carried out by a GTTF member. Palmere is the subject of a lawsuit that claims it was his command that permitted abuses by GTTF.

Screenshot (2022)

Gondo and his closest Baltimore Police Department (BPD) buddy Jemell Rayam set the federal courthouse on fire last year as cooperating witnesses against two officers standing trial, Daniel Hersl and Marcus Taylor. The testimony was explosive pointing fingers at higher ups and eventually one another as members of the media darlings: Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF).

Gondo is scheduled for sentencing Tuesday February 12th. The month-long trial left a lasting impression: corruption is rampant throughout BPD and everybody knows it. The most influential media types have coddled the likes of former BPD commissioner and WBAL guest talk show host Kevin Davis who as points to a few bad apples tarnishing an otherwise stellar organization.

The world (not an exaggeration) took notice of BPD’s level of corruption after what happened to 25-year old Freddie Gray. A bystander’s video of Gray, wounded and howling, sickened all with a conscience who heard it. People still cringe watching the previously healthy and strapping young man being helped into the back of a van by a cadre of white officers.

So there’s that.

Even before Gray’s fatal injuries in police custody, in 2014, the Baltimore Sun chronicled the exorbitant payouts in taxpayer dollars to silence citizens who suffered mightily at the hands of a small, but growing and increasingly violent cadre of police officers.

If Baltimore didn’t invent Walking While Black, it sure did its damnest to perfect it.

West Baltimore is where the long arm of constitutional protections simply does not reach. Never did. Generations of families suffer from substandard housing, lack of health care, poor nutrition, high drop out rates and low income with precious few escapes.

Heavily reliant upon mass transits, West Baltimore is where BPD members hone their racist practices disguised as stops, searches, and seizures. Sadly, two decades into the new millennium, some blacks believe that over policing is what is needed to make their communities safe.

The lack of concern for West Baltimore was never more evident that during the uprising when Douglass High School students were dismissed early from school, only to have the MTA refuse them service at the Mondawmin Metro stop, forcing them to walk home, only to be confronted with grown as police men (mostly) in riot gear hurling chunks of brick at the children.

AP_baltimore_10_kab_150427_11x7_1600

After a yearlong investigation, the Department of Justice (called in after the Freddie Gray homicide), released its findings in an August 2016 scathing report. To no one’s surprise, the DOJ found that systemic racist practices were embedded so deep into the culture that BPD had not shed even a layer of its history cloaked with KKK sympathizers.

The corruption was inescapable in 2016. Even so, when black homicide detective Sean Suiter was shot in the back of his head in November 2017 on a vacant lot in broad daylight with a white partner in tow, no one hardly blinked when BPD treated residents of Harlem Park like it was Fullujah.

Parallels to the Iraq War and BPD training are eerily similar. Evidence of mistreatment of women recruits was captured as a “trophy”.

Arguably, Momodo Gondo, as an eager recruit didn’t join BPD with plans of using his badge and glock as a literal license to kill, maim, intimidate and harass. The kid came from a “good family” of immigrants in a two parent household of professionals.

His father, Albert Gondo, a native of Sierra Leonne (as is his wife), worked for 20 years as a teacher in Baltimore City Public Schools. He died in December 2016 after a lengthy battle with Cancer. According to his family, he was known a a principled man, a devoted husband and father.

When emotions ran high during the GTTF trial, Gondo would take to swearing on the memory of his dead father to repudiate fellow detective Jemelle Rayam’s claim about why Gondo was shot shoon after leaving the Academy. Rayam has yet to be sentenced.

If Gondo wasn’t born bad, when did it all go wrong?

The Academy – 2005

Gondo @22 years old

Gondo and his academy brother Rayam are the final two government witnesses awaiting sentencing. Gondo – under oath accused Rayam of cold-blooded murder (explored further in Part II) that was covered up by Palmere.

Academy training has more in common with military training than the most of the public may know. The enemy are the people on the street, the community members and the only ones cops trust are themselves. The creed is to make it home safe. It rarely has anything to do with protecting and serving the public. Especially if the public is black, male and doubly so if he lives in West Baltimore.

Indoctrination and training are the two major components of the trainee’s experiences. Like the military, the BPD academy experience is designed to break down a person, and build them up. Not coincidentally, it also serves as a loyalty demand. Recruits early on learn to depend on the brotherhood as if their life depended on it.

Gondo graduated in October 2006.

Screenshots from a 2004 era video of a training exercise where a trainee exits a gas house puking with her skin burning reliant upon BPD to carry her to safety. The level of depravity at BPD seemingly knows no bounds.

3 Shots in the Back – 2006

Gondo @23 years old

Then-Officer Gondo was shot three times in the back in December 2006, barely two months after graduating the academy. Using a photo array, Gondo fingered the shooter as 24-year old Collin Hawkins (with a long history of drug dealing offenses on his record). The feds, not the Baltimore States Attorney’s office made the case.

The particular moment that turned Gondo into a career criminal cannot be exact, but the same cannot be said for determining when BPD failed him and the community he was allowed to stalk.

Attempted Murder Trial – 2008

Gondo @25 years old

A case of He said vs He said.

The jury returned a not guilty verdict for the man charged with pumping 3 bullets into the back of a bullet proof vest Gondo was wearing as he got out of his car near his home in East Baltimore.

As the victim (and a cop to boot) Gondo pointed out for the jury, a young black man Collin Hawkins as the person he fired 13 rounds at in a street shoot out. Gondo told the jury that he he and Hawkins struggled as he tried to thwart a carjacking. No dice. The jury decided not to believe Gondo.

Hawkins’ defense attorney claimed that Gondo simply chose the wrong guy. The defense pointed to the State’s Attorney’s Office’s extremely weak case with no gun, no DNA from the reported struggle. It was just the rookie’s word, and it wasn’t enough.

Next Up: in Part II Fed Witness Testimony and The Sentencing

Judge says Baltimore Police Too Big to Fail, But that Ship Might Not Hold Water

Baltimore.

Not quite Charm City.

Far from Bodymore, Murderland.

A town with an abundance of big city problems – much more like, Small-timore.

Members of AFSCME Local 1195 Baltimore, Maryland Police Union strike in 1969. — BPD walked off the job in 1974 even after gaining widespread protections in passage of the state’s Law Enforcement Bill of Rights (LEOBR) in 1972. Pushback prevented collective bargaining until 1982 leading to today’s FOP3.

Baltimore is big on grit, tenacity, history, humor all blended together to make for a special brand of what some call charm. Tinged by the threatening cloud hovering over the major sports stadiums and scaring away any potential corporate growth is the city’s biggest budget item: The Baltimore Police Department.

The Problem

Baltimore’s Police Department is too big – to fail. Yeah, just like the banks that suckered people into mortgages they could not afford, made a ca-billion dollars by packaging the loans together, disguising their value, and getting taxpayers to bail them out when their balance sheets couldn’t add up.

Chief U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar in his remarks Thursday during the second quarterly update by the parties involved in Consent Decree declared (Small-timore) Police Department too big to fail. The analogies didn’t stop there.

Judge Bredar was clearly no fan of BPD at any point while negotiating the Consent Decree between the feds and the city and then selecting a monitoring team to oversee the process. Furthermore, he is set to spend the next 5-10 years enforcing the decree to fix the ails (Monitoring Team points to “decades of neglect and mismanagement”) that DOJ uncovered when it pulled back the covers of BPD following the in custody death of Freddie Gray.

Still after witnessing all the ugliness festering inside a racist institution with little challenge for generations, Bredar then was subjected to a month long trial with sordid tales of murder, drug dealing, robberies, and the efforts to cover up the crimes while working as special unit detectives with the Baltimore Police dept. Bredar spits out each letter of the Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF) like he’s ridding himself of the bad taste of a rotten peanut at an Orioles game.

Judge James K. Bredar. Undated Photo. Presumably 10 year old. caption

Even this judge, with all that he has seen, is not in favor of disbanding BPD and starting over. This city is not Camden, New Jersey he said.

“It’s not going to happen” said Bredar. There will be no fourth quarter “hail Mary pass” by way of a magical fix to the dept’s woes. Anything other than sticking to the course set forward by the Monitoring Team is an “infeasible concept.”

At times the Judge appeared at a lost, but nonetheless compelled to dole out some measure of encouragement. For instance, he liked Solicitor Andre Davis’ oratory skills. Maybe how his forced sincerity bounced off the portraits hanging on the chamber walls.

With a proverbial pat on his head, Judge acknowledged how interim BPD Commissioner Gary Tuggle is pressing forward meeting deadline after deadline in drafting policies that most likely eventually be tossed in the trash. Bredar expects whoever eventually takes over the helm, and rightfully so, would want his or her stamp on the process. Mayor Catherine Pugh did not attend this day long hearing. At the first hearing she and DeSousa left immediately after giving their opening remarks.

“BPD is the only police department that going to police the city of Baltimore – especially in my lifetime,” said Bredar.

Even with his commitment to the institution, the the judge ticks off significant if not insurmountable wrongs with BPD namely:

BPD has no commissioner. It’s had three in first six months of the year. Depending on the analogy of the day, the department lacks a construction foreman, compass on a barn, rudder on a ship, architect with blueprints, pilot with a flight plan, foundation to a skyscraper – it’s become quite comical as new ones crop up.

City Solicitor Andre Davis said 10 resumes have been submitted after a nationwide posting and efforts were being made to replace former Commissioner Darryl DeSousa chosen by Pugh, who resigned four months into the job after admitting to failing to file his taxes for multiple years. Davis attempted to assure the judge that the “flight plan” that the city has put forth using the Police Research Forum to aid in selection of the next commissioner will have one in place by Halloween.

Judge Bredar’s concerns were not assuaged. “Sooner than that I hope,” he said. Everyday there is one or two negative things in the press. He pointed to the officer arrested that week in Baltimore County county on charges of selling prescription narcotics.

“I’m not afraid to make the tough decisions” the Judge said. And then slightly under his breath, “I don’t always make the popular decision.”

While claiming BPD is too big to fail in his eyes, Bredar had little difficulty often pointing out the department’s numerous and substantial umm, failures:

Staffing shortages
Stalled union negotiations
Fiscal constraints
Void in technology infrastructure
Lack of leadership
Deft of public trust

The Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) which houses Internal Affairs Department (IAD) is a revolving door of people in command with no policy to implement and not captain to steer the ship. The department said the judge is an “essential organ in a healthy police body.”

“I suggest there are no more critical questions than one, who will be the next commissioner and two does that person have what it takes to lead the department out of the wilderness.”

The Department of Justice (DOJ) chimed in with its own concerns of the “capacity” the department has to make any changes. Along with being the “complainant” in the Consent Decree urging reform, the DOJ is participating with other federal agencies on four ongoing investigations of BPD:

The death of Det. Sean Suiter
Accusations of rushing recruits through the Academy
BPD’s role in revelations uncovered by the GTTF trial
Allegations that an officer lied on the stand in a criminal matter

Problems to Come

Suffering from a back ailment, Judge Bredar often looked uncomfortable at the bench. He said he is bracing himself on the results of the full investigation of BPD’s actions during last year’s Harlem Park lock down. Citizens implored government intervention to no avail with pleas of #FreeWestBaltimore. After Det. Sean Suiter was shot on in Nov 15, 2017, BPD all but suspended the Constitution by erecting an expanded perimeter that kept innocent people virtually prisoners in their homes. Then commissioner Kevin Davis swatted away concerns of violations excusing them in favor of a pressing murder investigation.

Judge Bredar took particular exception to command’s reaction. Noting it is in exactly times of stress and upheaval that training, adherence to policy and procedure is needed and must be adhered to. Baltimore failed.

The media and others did not recognize that it wasn’t just Harlem Park who suffered when then Commissioner Kevin Davis displayed a utter breakdown in his failure to lead, the entire department and therefore all of the citizens experienced a rip in the very fabric of what holds a civilization together. “The fix is at the top of the organization. Right now we don’t have a top,” said Bredar.

Stops and searches went on for nearly a week after Suiter’s murder. People were detained, some where brought into police station, most without their consent and questioned. One officer out of the multitude that ascended to 900 block of Bennett Place had activated her body worn camera capturing two hours of footage.

Children were kept out of school. Some were even given written passes permitting their travel in and around certain neighborhoods.

“The verdict’s not in” but in talks with the monitoring team “My suspicion is that it’s going to be disturbing.”

Top 10 (Known) Crimes by ex Baltimore City Police Det. Danny Hersl

Warning: Do Not Proceed Unless You Believe (Some) Baltimore Police Straight Up Rob People on the Regular

Veteran cop, Daniel T. Hersl, 49, infamous for his abusive rants and provocations of Baltimore’s citizens, awaits sentencing Friday June 22 in U.S. District Court. He faces up to 60 years after a jury found him guilty of racketeering, fraud and robbery charges as a member of the violence-prone street gang with badges, – otherwise known as the Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF).

Using RICO statutes, originally crafted as a way to bust open impenetrable crime syndicates like the Mafia, the feds pursued eight cops who as employees of Baltimore City Police department created a criminal enterprise while working as BPD officers that included robbery and drug dealing.

officer arrested 4 — ex BPD Det. Jemell Rayam. During trial accused Danny Hersl of stealing $3k cash from the $20k cash they stole during a robbery — proving there is no honor among BPD thieves. The robbery victims currently have a civil lawsuit against the city.

During closing arguments in a February 2018 trial, federal prosecutors reminded jurors that Hersl, who joined BPD in 1999, and other veterans in the Baltimore City Police department were acting as both cops and robbers for years, some even before they joined the GTTF. The victims were believable; the crimes were brazen; the sentences are historical.

A timeline to assist with understanding the “Top 10” Crimes by Daniel T. “Danny” Hersl

April 2015 Freddie Gray in-custody homicide
April 2015 Civil unrest in West Baltimore’s to protest F.G’s violent death
Summer 2015 Jenkins sells looted pharma drugs, sparking opioid crisis
July 2016 Feds tap BPD vehicle in the Shropshire drug organization investigation
August 2016 Department of Justice scathing report on BPD systematic abuses
March 2017 Federal indictments announced against BPD’s GTTF squad
April 2017 City enters into a Consent Decree to reform BPD’s racists practices
Oct 2017 Rayam and Gondo testify as gov’t witness against A. Shropshire
Nov 2017 Det. Sean Suiter murdered the day before scheduled witness testimony
Jan 2018 Four ex GTTF cops testify to a 4+ year crime spree while police officers
Feb 2018 Jury find Danny Hersl and Marcus Taylor guilty using RICO

To recap, the Gun Trace Task Force was one of many special units within the BPD that operated with little oversight and under various acronyms through different administrations over decades.

As plainclothes detectives, they have untold (and undocumented) interactions with a plethora of drugs, guns, and cash. Such units are ripe for corruption, according to the the federal government, even in the best of departments. One member of GTTF, Det. Thomas Clewell who worked along side of each of the members has not been charged.

GUN TRACE TASK FORCE

In closing arguments, federal prosecutors implored the mostly white jury to see the parade of unlikely victims, some drug dealers, others with a criminal background as not worthy of protection of the United States Constitution.

Hersl’s co-defendant Marcus Taylor, who joined BPD in 2009, was sentenced to 18 years earlier this month and is planning an appeal. Judge Catherine Blake will hear motions related to Hersl’s conviction, but is expected to proceed with his sentencing. Others who plead guilty thus sparing taxpayers the expense of trial or the complete farce of proclaiming innocence are:

Sgt. Wayne Jenkins, now serving 25 years, joined BPD in 2003. Was the ranking officer in charge of the Special Enforcement Section (SES) with Taylor along with officers Evodio Hendrix and Maruice Ward before taking over GTTF. Robberies by Jenkins, Hendrix, Ward and Taylor began as early as 2013 as members of the SES squad.

Sgt. Thomas Allers, now serving 15 years, joined BPD in 1996. Headed up GTTF from its origin to 2016 before handing the reigns over to Jenkins and leaving to join a joint DEA task force.

Two other Baltimore Police detectives who plead guilty, did not go to trial and also served as cooperating witnesses (presumably are still doing so in ongoing investigations) include ex detectives Jemell Rayam and Momodu Gondo.

ex Det. Danny Hersl’s Top 10 Crimes and Lawsuits

10 Gave a slip of paper with the date written on it as a warning to H.T. after searching his mouth and down his pants not to let him see him again – only to arrest him a few days later in Nov 2015. Hersl stole $314 from a check he had just cashed. Guilty of robbery and extortion.

9 Stole narcotics and $1700 cash from A.F. and let him go. Guilty of robbery and extortion in Aug. 2016.

8 Stole $2000 from a sock in a homeless man’s storage unit. Threatened the business’ clerk when he would not hand over the surveillance video that captured the theft.

7 Took about $8000 from glove compartment of D.A. who was caught after fleeing scene tossing cocaine out of the window.

6 Nearly doubling his $75k annual salary with false claims of overtime and wire fraud.

5 Breaking the jaw of fleeing suspect until he passed out in 2010. City paid $49k.

4 Breaking the arm of a 19-year old girl in a carry out restaurant in 2007. City paid $50k

3 Dropped charges by prosecutors in a 2006 case when jurors were notified that complaints against him to Internal Affairs were in the double digits. This was 10 years before he was promoted to the GTTF.

“Misconduct, sometimes when it’s frequent enough, it indicates a lack of desire to tell the truth” (the late) Circuit Court Judge John Prevas is quoted as saying after reviewing Hersl’s IAD file, in a 2014 Baltimore Sun story

2 The double cross. Robbery of the Hamiltons in July 2016. Hersl reportedly stole $3k while the GTTF crew wasn’t looking and before BPD stole $20K from the family.

1 The depraved indifference. Instead of rending aid, Hersl sits with other GTTF cops in a nearby police car after an illegal high speed chase that resulted in an Aug 2016 car crash. Hersl is heard on the wire tap suggesting ways to cover up the fact that they were working at all by altering documents to avoid discipline or prosecution.

Hersl bike — Danny Hersl, convict and former “elite” Baltimore Police officer

Within the Constitutionally-adverse BPD, these units became known as “elite” by the media as well as up and down previous and existing names in command. Both would hype the arrests as a measure of crime fighting.

But for the citizens they were sworn to protect and serve, these units became the living, breathing, gun-toting, badge wearing symbol of why no one would ever willingly call or cooperate with the police even in the most dire of circumstances.

Hersl’s (Dis) Hornable mentions:

Harassing dirt bike enthusiasts.
Harassing local rapper Young Moose chronicled by CityPaper.
Pepper spraying demonstrators in the wake of of Freddie Gray’s death.

“Detective Hersl, he a bitch, I swear to God he ain’t right/ Heard about my rap career, he trying to fuck up my life/ That nigga fuck me over once, he ain’t getting another,” Moose raps on the song ‘Tired,’ off 2014’s “OTM 3” mixtape. “That racist bitch had the nerve to put the cuffs on my mother/ Put the cuffs on my father, then put the cuffs on my brother/ He think about me every day, that nigga mind in the gutter/ Looking for some information bitch that ain’t how I rock/ Throwing dirt on my name because I’m going to the top/ The warrant wasn’t even right when they ran in my spot.” – Young Moose interview by Brandon Soderberg

Trumped Up Charges: Convincing the Public Det Suiter’s Death Was Suicide

A vacant lot in West Baltimore is the absolute last place a Baltimore City Police officer would choose to die. Ask any of them.

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s focus on both the how and why the Baltimore Police would suggest otherwise. A review of several notable events will show that BPD has everything to gain and very little to lose if Det. Sean Suiter’s shooting death was changed from a homicide to a suicide.

Det. Sean Suiter

The Evidence As We Know It

BPD has been extraordinarily tight lipped about the investigation from day one. We’ve been lead to believe not much exists to help solve the case. A lack of forensic evidence: no DNA lifted from Suiter’s clothing. Nothing recovered from the gun used to shoot him and an eyewitness description of the assailant that should no longer be considered as viable.

Murder Weapon

What is not in dispute is that the 18-year veteran suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the head. Three (or four) shots were fired, with at one to the head, occurring in a garbage-strewn lot where a vacant building used to stand. While BPD insists the shot came from his own service weapon, no evidence has been put forth to substantiate this claim. Suiter’s hands were wiped clean.

No tests exists to prove that the bullet “found” a week after the shooting was the one that killed Suiter. Nor is there any proof that the gun found under his body once patrol arrived is the same gun that fired the bullet that killed him. The gun was retrieved in a patrol car some hours later after the Suiter was removed from the scene/

Reportedly, Suiter and his partner were on Bennett Place following up on a year-old homicide. He was shot at about 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday November 15, 2017 with no witnesses to the shooting. If we are to believe his partner Det. David Bomenka (and there’s not reason anyone should) and his recollection of seeing a suspicious person about 20 minutes before the shooting, we can put them scene since as early as 4 pm.

suiter 2 cadets — Police cadets canvass neighborhoods seeking assistance in solving Suiter’s murder.

The maddeningly vague description by a seasoned police homicide detective still has watchers scratching their heads. The suspect (of course) is a black man, wearing a black jacket with a white stripe. A description, presumably provided by the one eyewitness, so vague that it makes one wonder why Commissioner Kevin Davis shared it with the public in the first place. The suspect description has been fertile ground for conspiracy theorists to sow wild beliefs from day one. This “description” given by BPD while all other helpful information was withheld from the public is the primary reason BPD has only itself to blame for even why #SuiterTheories is a thing.

black man suspect — Ever ready black male suspect sought.

No age, no height, no weight, was observable by – not just any run-of-the-mill “shook” witness, but a trained law enforcement officer came up empty on crucial description elements. However, Bomenka mustered enough cop parlance to say he saw Stuiter struggle with a”black man” who he observed earlier and was “acting suspiciously.”

It’s crucial to also note that this “description” was not provided to cops responding immediately to the scene. They were told that there was no suspect description at all! The next day, a “description” was ultimately provided to the public, and within days, BPD quickly did a re-shuffle and instructed the public not to consider the black man and black jacket at all because he probably took it off. Sigh.

Still there was a reward amount, a record high of $215,000. But we were not asked to look for anyone other than a black man, no age, no height, no build. Peoples’ suspicion grew. The eyes of the nation were once again on Baltimore Police Department.

The Timeline

Inexplicably, a timeline of Suiter’s activities for that day was never given. Maybe he cut someone off driving and this was a delayed road rage incident. Someone might have witnessed that. Perhaps someone spotted Suiter at a store he was at earlier, followed him to that location which led to a confrontation or some type of retaliation. Maybe he was sought out by someone who encountered him for a previous arrest or run-in. We’ll never know. The police have not given any details about what has been ruled out.

Homicide investigations 101 include a timeline of the victim’s activities. The detectives could have gotten there as early as noon or as late at 4 pm. But cast that in the huge empty bucket of unknowns. It’s also unknown if they arrived at the same time or in the same car even. Remember, an enticing reward was dangled, but nothing to aid the public to claim it. BPD never gave the public anything close to a timeline of Suiter’s movements that day to help solve his death as a murder. It’s almost like it was the city’s first and only murder.

Pretty much everything else has been tainted by innuendo, cloaked in secrecy, and of course, some details Suiter has taken with him to his grave.

Suiter’s Staged “Homicide”

To sell the murder as a suicide, and a staged one at that, BPD will likely combine a “reasonable motive” along with a description of how Suiter had both the opportunity and skill to pull off a staged homicide. The theory will center around Suiter’s apprehension to testify and his desire to leave his five children financially secure. When this is done (with the assistance of compliant media partners), BPD believes it can slam the lid shut on the Det. Suiter death and move forward with the city’s business. Narrative changed!

The Location

The day before he was set to testify in a federal grand jury case involving corruption in a gun unit at BPD, Suiter along with Det. Bomenka, not his regular partner, set out to West Baltimore. Bennett Place is a one way westbound residential street that runs parallel to Franklin St and Route 40, which is a major east/west thoroughfare. Schroeder St intersects Franklin St to the north and Fremont Ave crosses it to the south.

It was early in the afternoon a comfortable 45 degrees and cloudy. People would be walking to and from the neighborhood store, and kids would be coming home from school.

The bustling environment seemed perfect for the why the detectives were out and about looking for witnesses in order to close a 2016 triple murder case. The location might not be the best fit for the optimal place to commit a public suicide, but the very next day Suiter was scheduled to give testimony to the grand jury, time was running out.

The Plan

Keeping with the theory, Suiter is there to plan his own death (We assume unbeknownst to Bomenka). With all the activity, Suiter will have to have a series of fortunate events go his way. BPD has a stake in selling the world on this theory that Suiter’s plan was to die in a urine soaked lot filled with broken bottles and small patches of grass.

The motive they will say is the thing. Suiter fits the profile (more on this later).

Suicides, accurately and commonly perceived, most likely occurs in isolation. This requires some distance. So (again if Bomeka does not participate in this wildly imaginative concoction of a story), Suiter invents a reason to go behind the wall, perhaps telling Bomenka he has to go relieve himself. When fully out of view, Suiter pops off 2-3 rounds and yells, telling Bomenka to get down or stay back as a ruse. With no one around to see him, Suiter pulls on his own clothes to give the impression of a violent struggle. He’s a seasoned cop. If anyone can stage a crime scene, he can.

Counting on his partner to follow the order, Suiter then takes his gun and reaches behind his head with his right hand and shoots himself, once. He survives the gunshot and is placed on life support until the next day when he is declared dead as a result of his injuries. The medical examiner discounts any speculation that the car accident en route contributed to his death.

NOTE: It’s possible if BPD goes hard with the scenario, Bomenka will be trotted out with new disturbing details that support the suicide theory.

The Motive

Selling the public on the “why” behind concocting such an elaborate hoax will be at the center of scenario of any farce BPD might trot out. With fancy graphs, data and experts, they will insist that Det. Suiter attempted to stage his death to economically provide for his family. There won’t be any evidence of this because they would have shared it by now. Most likely they will point to how Suiter’s situation cozily fits with nationally recognized experts and studies on officers’ suicides. They’ll talk about PTSD not just for the urban stresses, but they’ll link it back to his tour in Iraq. It’ll make perfect sense they’ll argue because Suiter will check each of the boxes below:

The average age is 42 years old at time of suicide
The average time on job was 16 years of service
91% of suicides were by male officers
Time on the job when most are most at risk was 15 to 19 years of service
Firearms were used in 91.5% of police suicides
In 83% of cases, personal problems appear prevalent prior to the suicide

The rationale will be reminiscent of the catch all predictions of a carnival fortune teller: You are seeking the love of your life. Recently you lost someone close to you. Something you lost will turn up soon. Yada yada yada.

The conspiracy was fed by the now infamous Thanksgiving holiday news dump. Davis dropped a bombshell as preparation was underway for Suiter’s funeral. The day of his death, Suiter was supposed to be a federal witness against Baltimore City Police officers. The video below for the first time discloses Suiter was scheduled to pointing the finger squarely at criminal activity within BPD. Davis knew this, but here he said he only just found out. Once the feds he been knew, he later said he mis-remembered. This video is a beauty in diminishing what little credibility and sympathy people were eking our for the department.

Transparency and Accountability

Up until now, first hand accounts are evasive. Those on the scene have not provided any statements to the public. Zero statements have been provided by officers who responded to Bomenka’s 9-1-1 call. We haven’t even heard the call! Some details has been provided through the media relations person and from the commissioner at the time, Kevin Davis. And even that information has not been reliable.

Dispatch audio notifying officers of the emergency was released and provides the most insight. Other primary source material promised has not materialized like the audio of Suiter’s voice on radio. Baltimore residents aren’t likely to fall for the okey-doke. They will demand that information be provided, especially the Body Worn Camera (BWC) footage of responding officers and the full autopsy results.

Remaining Puzzle Pieces

Dispatch sent officers to Bennett and Fremont and had difficulty finding the crime scene.
Early reports indicate that the male suspect was probably injured.
Medical units were advised of a second victim at the scene and aware that Suiter had been transported.
No details on Suiter’s accompaniment, a driver, a companion, etc when transported by car to University of Maryland Shock Trauma
No details on the car accident encountered en route to hospital.
No details on whether Suiter was conscious or if CPR or any medical performed during transport.
Officer’s gun and officer’s radio is back in the alley where he got hit, but Suiter gone.
Davis in discarded suicide altogether when asking FBI to take over the investigation
No shell casings observed at the scene by first responders.

The most crucial element to supporting suicide is that evidence must prove Suiter fired all the shots and there was no struggle for his gun. This will be the complete opposite of what says said to be known facts for much of the investigation. Davis has repeated often that confusion reigned because officers were unsure the direction of the shots. Bomenka was delayed in providing aid because he was seeking shelter across the street. Also, Davis insisted Suiter was involved in a violent struggle and that possibly the suspect was injured.

They have to explain why they thought the suspect was initially injured, but the casings are key. Davis took deliberate pains to explain how the return to the scene after the autopsy gave him additional insight. Conveniently when the media cordon was lifted, officers “discovered” a shell casing in clear view of a television camera, completed with mime-quality acting.

Next Man Up – Commissioner Darryl De Sousa

Mayor Catherine Pugh announced she was terminating Kevin Davis from BPD on January 19, citing escalating violence, namely murders in the city. She never mentioned Davis’ handling of Suiter’s case for cause or even presiding over the department during the FBI investigation that landed an entire special operations unit in the pokey. Instead, she left taxpayers on the hook for his $150,000 severence.

pugh and de sousa — Body language of Mayor Catherine Pugh speaks volumes in announcing her appointment to the city’s top cop.

In promoting De Sousa, Mayor Pugh admittedly has not had any lengthy or repetitive conversations with then Commissioner Davis about the investigation into Det. Suiter’s death. Instead, she cited her impatience with “getting the numbers down.” However, when she did view of grainy video prompted her support of the request for the FBI to take over the investigation. The FBI declined.

In the lead up to his eventual confirmation, Commissioner De Sousa told Brian Kuebler in an exclusive interview his plans to have a new set of eyes. The independent agency is a secret, too. When the reporter asked, very comfortably De Sousa refused to disclose any details without much pushback from the reporter.

As for his views on the death of Suiter, Commissioner Darryl De Sousa said, “I have an idea, but I’m not going to share right now.”

Showing that the more things change, the more they stay really the same.

Bennett SkyView

Continue reading “Trumped Up Charges: Convincing the Public Det Suiter’s Death Was Suicide” →

Broken Trust: Make GTTF Victims Whole with Restorative Justice Fund

Something spectacular happened in Baltimore Monday, February 12.

A jury of their peers found two police officers guilty of conspiring to rob and extort money from over a dozen Baltimore City residents.

Something miraculous could happen, in light of these unique circumstances that has laid bare the level of brutality leaving a city bewildered and traumatized. It would take a leader to arise in favor of making the victims of the corruption whole. grandchildren of slaves

Maryland has leaders, though. This time, it’s eight white women, one Asian woman and three black men. They stood for justice when in returning a verdict in a U.S. Federal Courthouse on Monday Feb. 12. These anonymous leaders by their actions stated that the one white officer and one black officer who took a roll of the dice to have their day in court, would leave the same in handcuffs.

hersl and taylor

What’s spectacular about the day, was that juror who appeared to be the youngest juror, also looked very much like the victims the Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF) routinely victimized. This juror, elected to be the leader in the deliberations, also delivered the news that will likely ring in the ears of Daniel T. “Danny” Hersl and Marcus Taylor for the length of their sentences: Guilty.

While media often showed photos of the defendants Hersl, 17 year BPD veteran and Taylor, an 8 year veteran, residents believe that the true perpetrators was the institution of the Baltimore City Police Department. In their minds’ eye, the photo of who was on trial was neither of these, but the whole entire system. Hersl, more so than Taylor, will likely end up being the disgraced face of BPD primarily because his family professed that he did nothing wrong.

Everyone around Hersl was corrupt, dirty, sleazy (a pretty easy argument to make), according to his brothers. Danny wanted to escape, his brother said, because he was a good cop (not supported by the mountain of public complaints for harassment, excessive force, etc), but let’s not let facts get in the way of a cry of injustice. Taylor’s family, also present during the entire trial, chose not to speak to the press following the verdict.

Poor Baltimore

Those who love Baltimore, I mean who Bleed Baltimore, do so because of its tenacity. No one wants a pity party for poor ole Baltimore. Residents are prideful in its ability to maintain a core strength even while all around them crumbles. We’re not just talking about vacant buildings.

A beloved NFL football team sneaks away in the dark of night. Dwindling population. Deplorable school conditions. Divestment by state. Check, check, check and check. Add to it the irreparable harm of the fictional account by HBO’s The Wire to the city’s image and cable news’ exploitation of the uprising for ratings gold, what emerged was an army of activists.

Rumblings of Discontent

Predictably, those entrusted with the public’s trust and who also wield great power, commented on the behavior of the officers, dedication to reform, and a real rush to close the chapter. Doing so would answer the question Langston Hughes asked about what happens to a dream deferred.

Dream Deferred

To say legacy residents of Baltimore have few ways to better their life standing and children’s prospects would be an understatement of ginormous proportions. Side hustle in the vernacular is a necessity to sustain one’s life. We heard victim testimony in the GTTF trial of people being paid “under the table” without much understanding that their labor is being exploited. Getting paid cash, off the books prevents many things, not the least of which is Unemployment Insurance, OSHA protections, health care, Social Security payments and legitimacy.

Each time money was siphoned from the city by way of a planned infrastructure program (Red Line) or campaign promise (Increased Minimum Wage), people got up with the sun, got the kids ready for school, found a way to get to work, and squeezed in some enjoyment along the way.

A huge obstacle prosecutors faced in convincing the jury that the officers committed the crimes, but that the victims themselves were actually victims. The defense would argue how can people whose very existence on the edges of society be further victimized? BPD operates in a new world order where rules don’t apply. Families who use financial windfalls via a lead payment settlement who don’t use the money for college tuition, but instead invest in drugs cannot be understood, or trusted. This jury did.

A man who returned to a crime ridden neighborhood day after day after moving to the county, must be selling drugs, the defense argued. Who would believe their testimony that they had connections to the community. It’s far fetched to believe that his frequent encounters with Hersl was because he was there simply to coach a youth basketball team. This jury did.

After the burial of the city’s native son, Freddie Gray, in April 2015, the city nearly exploded. Quelled by the national guard and “over-zealous” Baltimore Police Officers impeding people’s 1st Amendment Rights, the uprising what but a whimper. Upheaval is rumbling beneath the surface.

The Case for Restorative Justice

Although the eight gang of officers made off with millions in combined cash and drug sales over the years, the federal government recovered very little. Victims who sought the return of their stolen money walked away from the courthouse empty handed. If any criminal knows how to hide the proceeds of their crimes, it would be police officers. But there is money. Taxpayer dollars. The city is pretty lax in how it uses it.

Screenshot (306)

The chart above for 2016 was included in the federal indictment and aspects were shown at trial. Just take a look at Hersl in 2015. He more than doubled his salary in OT earnings. In order to make the math work to claim what he reported as $86,880 in OT in 2015, he had to work his regular 8 hour shift AND an average of 6 hours of OT (a 14 hour shift) every single day.

In other words, Hersl had not to have had a day off from January 1 though Dec 31. For an 10 am -6 pm shift, he had to work until 12 midnight every day — for all of 2015. And squeeze in sleep along with his affinity to stripper bars, and casino bars, plus regular bar bars testified to during trial.

Each week, the police rake in about a million dollars in overtime. Annually, about $30 million is set aside for OT. That’s in addition to the nearly half a billion budgeted dollars. Not to mention, BPD historically shatters the $30 million budgeted OT by handing taxpayers an actual bill, more times than not, doubling what was approved.

A Restorative Justice Fund would take but a strike of a pen from Governor Larry Hogan. The same guy who did not hem, haw, or hesitate to pay the National Guard to come through. Expediency would be key. Naming an administrator, the likes of someone with integrity such as Jill P. Carter to oversee this historical act would be next.

Authorizing Del. Carter to establish the guidelines for application procedures and payout structure would be key. A single person to oversee the program would ensure expediency. Requiring regular reports and updates to the Baltimore delegation to the General Assembly would ensure accountability. Having all meetings and phone calls related to the program be recorded as public record would provide transparency.

Some naysayers will be quick out of the box. Such a move is unprecedented, they will claim. The parameters and guidelines outside of a court process is not feasible, they will shout. Asking people to forego future claims against the department is taking advantage of an already vulnerable class, they will assert.

A Restorative Justice Fund will not be a panacea for all that ails this city. It will not calm the shaky lives of all those impacted by Baltimore Police Department. But it is a start. We give money quite freely when we see it as an investment such as TIFFs from development, concessions for HQ locations. Baltimore and the State of Maryland must see its residents as a worthy investment.

A restorative justice fund along with affordable housing, tuition vouchers, small business grants, and financial literacy courses will stabilize neighborhoods. Unlike a Target store in Mondawmin that will pull up stakes and move, our residents are committed to the city. We can invest in the cultural heritage of the city. Instead of denying its past, we can shape the future.

Next Up:

Using the model for victims of the 9/11 World Trade Center and Pentagon disasters to administer the Restorative Justice Fund to address the damages inflicted upon BPD victims.

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