Prosecutors abandon case against police

Baltimore prosecutor vows to fight on after Gray case defeat Red-light-running crashes up

BALTIMORE, July 28, (Agencies): More than a year after a black man suffered a broken neck in a police van, the effort to hold six officers criminally responsible for his death collapsed Wednesday when the city dropped all charges in the case that tore Baltimore apart and exposed deep fissures between the police, prosecutors and the people.

A day before another trial was to begin, prosecutors dismissed charges against three remaining officers, blaming police for a biased investigation that failed to produce a single conviction in the death of Freddie Gray.

Gray, 25, was fatally injured in April 2015 while he was handcuffed and shackled but left otherwise unrestrained in the back of the van. His death added fuel to the growing Black Lives Matter movement, set off massive protests and led to the city’s worst riots in decades.

Prosecutors suffered blow after crippling blow in the courtroom. A judge acquitted three other officers, including the van driver who prosecutors considered the most responsible and another officer who was the highestranking of the group. A mistrial was declared for a fourth officer after a jury deadlocked. Authorities had planned to retry him.

The case took shape soon after the rioting, when Democratic State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby confidently announced the charges atop a sweeping staircase across from City Hall. At the time, she said her decision was based not only on the police investigation but an independent investigation conducted by her office.

“To the youth of the city: I will seek justice on your behalf,” she said. “This is a moment. This is your moment.”

On Wednesday, she was fiery and indignant as she spoke from behind a podium across the street from the public-housing complex where Gray was arrested. She angrily blamed the outcome on an uncooperative police department and a broken criminal justice system.

Mosby outlined what prosecutors WASHINGTON, July 28, (AP): Red-light cameras are widely hated, but a new study says getting rid of them can have fatal consequences.

Traffic deaths from red-lightrunning crashes go up by nearly a third after cities turn off cameras designed to catch motorists in the act, according to a study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The institute is funded by auto insurers.

While cities continue to add cameras at intersections with traffic signals, at least 158 communities have ended their red-light camera programs in the past five years, the study said.

Researchers compared trends in annual crash rates in 14 cities that had ended their camera programs with those in 29 cities in the same regions that continued their camera programs.

have called sabotage, saying officers who were witnesses were also part of the department’s investigative team. She said “obvious questions” weren’t asked during interrogations. She alleged lead detectives were slow to provide information and failed to execute search warrants for key text messages. She also accused investigators of creating notes after the case was launched to contradict the medical examiner’s conclusion that Gray’s death was a homicide.

“We’ve all borne witness to an inherent bias that is a direct result of when police police themselves,” Mosby said.

Prosecutors suffered significant setbacks in nearly every trial presented before Circuit Judge Barry Williams. At several points, the judge berated them for failing to turn over evidence

They found that, after adjusting for other factors, red-light-running crashes went up 30 percent.

Further, all types of crashes at intersections with traffic signals went up 16 percent. That finding suggests that red-light cameras deter other behavior by motorists, not just red-light running, said Wen Hu, co-author of the study.

A second part of the study compared fatal red-light-running crashes in 57 cities with camera programs to 33 cities that haven’t introduced cameras, finding that the rate of such crashes was 21 percent lower in cities with cameras. The rate of all types of crashes at intersections with traffic signals was 14 percent lower when cameras were present.

“Debates over automated enforcement often center on the hassle of getting a ticket and paying a fine,” said the institute’s president, Adrian Lund. “It’s important to remember

to the officers’ attorneys.

At the trial for Lt. Brian Rice, the judge sanctioned prosecutors by preventing them from using Rice’s training records as evidence. During the trial for Officer Caesar Goodson, the van driver, prosecutors said Goodson had given Gray a “rough ride,” deliberately driving erratically to injure the prisoner. After the state failed to present any evidence to support that theory, prosecutors all but abandoned the notion.

Mosby, in a fiery press conference on Wednesday in the neighborhood where Gray lived, and where he was arrested, vowed to fight on.

“I was elected the prosecutor,” Mosby said in her first public remarks on the case in more than a year, after a judge lifted a gag order that prevented lawyers from discussing it. “I signed up for this, and I can take it.” that there are hundreds of people walking around who wouldn’t be here if not for red-light cameras.”

Dozens of communities have ended their red-light camera programs in recent years amid complaints that they are designed primarily to raise money through tickets rather than to enhance safety. Courts in some states have sided with motorists against camera programs.

Jake Nelson, the AAA automobile club’s research director, said the club supports the use of red-light cameras if they’re used properly, meaning data show the need for them at particular intersections — usually, a high number of fatalities. And money collected through the program should be used exclusively for traffic safety programs, he said. But when those tests aren’t met, AAA has joined with opponents in some communities to oppose them.

Also: WASHINGTON:

A United Nations human rights expert is recommending changes in the way protests are handled in the United States, saying the process of issuing permits for demonstrations is “arbitrary” and could easily lead to discrimination against certain groups.

Maina Kiai of Kenya, UN special rapporteur on freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, offered preliminary findings Wednesday from his visits this month to seven US cities — including the sites of this year’s Democratic and Republican political conventions — to investigate how the US upholds its citizens’ rights of assembly and association. Kiai’s full report to the United Nations will be completed and published in June 2017.