Fox News Contributor Believes Freddie Gray’s Family Received Way Too Much Money For His Death
Earlier this week, jury selection began in the trial of Baltimore Police Officer William Porter. The officer is the first of the six cops charged with Freddie Gray’s murder to go to trial. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of manslaughter, reckless endangerment and assault. Obviously, based on the national attention Gray’s death and subsequent protests in Baltimore garnered, Porter’s trial, as well as the trials of the other officers, will receive heavy press coverage.
If you were wondering how long it would take for Fox News to say something offensive and grossly inappropriate in relation to this court case, well look no further. During Tuesday’s broadcast of Fox & Friends, Fox News contributor Judge Andrew Napolitano told the curvy couch sitters that the officers charged with murdering Gray will not be able to get a fair trial because the city gave way too much money to the deceased man’s family. In Napolitano’s opinion, the $6.4 million civil settlement the city reached with Gray’s loved ones was “grossly out of proportion to the economic value of the case.”
Answering co-host and sentient block of wood Brian Kilmeade’s question about the jury selection and what we learned, Napolitano said the following:
“Well, we know that every single one of them knows of the case. Obviously, how could they not know of the case? About half of them were aware of the settlement. The settlement is a very, very problematic issue, which was caused by the same government that is prosecuting these cops. The settlement is a civil settlement, a payment of $6.4 million to Mr. Gray’s family. Grossly out of proportion to the true economic value of the case. But even worse, by doing that, the city sent a signal that it acknowledged that its employees — the cops that are on trial here — did something wrong, and they’re going to pay for it. What should they have done? They should have waited until after the criminal cases were over and then settled the civil case. Now you’ve got this added issue. Not only do the jurors know what happened in the streets, they also know the city admitted it was wrong.”
Let me interpret that for you. The life of a 25-year-old black man who had a history of run-ins with the law is not worth a few million dollars. It doesn’t matter if he was violently and needlessly killed by law enforcement officials who are charged with protecting and serving the public. All we know is that there is a sliding scale when it comes to the dollar value of people, and obviously Baltimore overpaid when it came to Gray.
Below is video of the segment, courtesy of Media Matters:
