City picks up the pieces after night of rioting

Baltimore’s riots are primarily driven by “Type T” (thrill-seeking) teens at the end of a long winter, with probably few social or racial justice motives, says a Canadianborn psychologist who studies violence.

“The death of Freddie Gray is probably the opportunity and pretext for riotous fun, thrill, risk and profit (looting),” said Frank Farley, a professor of psychology at Temple University in Philadelphia and a past-president of the American Psychological Association.

Gray died from a severe spinal injury a week after police subdued him in an April 12 arrest, the latest in a string of highly publicized deaths involving police and black men in the United States.

Farley, who watched the violence in Baltimore on television, said the rock throwing, arson and looting by youth unfolded “like a party at the end of a long winter,” a flashmob riot in which criminal looters and rioters seemed to outnumber legitimate protesters.

The chaos had an element of a phenomenon known as emotional contagion, in which “everybody gets excited, and the arousal level just goes up,” said Farley, who, last August, walked the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, observing and talking to protesters during the rioting that broke out over the fatal police shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown, 18.

Farley wanted to better understand the motives behind riots. “What struck me was that a significant portion of people on the ground were genuinely concerned about Michael Brown, about race relations and the social justice issues,” he said.

He also saw acts of generosity, including dozens in the crowds wearing bright orange T-shirts with the word “CLERGY,” who intervened in several situations “that could have gotten pretty nasty” between demonstrators and police.

“That wouldn’t have worked at all in Baltimore, because Baltimore was a full-out riot,” Farley said. “The atmosphere was almost toxic over what happened to Freddie Gray.”

Authorities have not explained how Gray’s spine was injured, and when there is simmering ambiguity, Farley said, “people who want to do bad things can walk right through it.”

There are differences between the cities of unrest: Ferguson’s police chief and mayor were white, whereas Baltimore has a black mayor and a black police chief. “That should have helped, but it didn’t,” Farley said, “and that perhaps reinforces that much of last night’s rioting was not fuelled by genuine racial justice issues.”