The city of Baltimore's
$6.4 million settlement with the family of Freddie Gray is essentially a "death warrant" for the six police officers charged in his death, former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik tells
Newsmax TV.
"You cannot tell me this is not going to influence the jury," Kerik said Thursday on "Newsmax Prime." "You can't tell me that it's not going to give the perception to the general public that these guys did anything wrong."
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Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has insisted that the civil settlement does not "represent any judgment" on the guilt of the officers, but is only meant to "bring closure to the Gray family, the community and the city."
"OK, well you just settled the case for $6.4 million and anybody that believes that's not going to have an impact, a negative impact on a trial for those cops, you're naïve or stupid," Kerik said.
Gray died after suffering a spinal injury while being transported in a police van in April. His death continued the debate over how black men are treated by police, even though half of the six officers charged in his death were black.
Kerik also addressed the police dash-cam video of a motorist telling an officer, "No wonder you people get shot."
The negative attitude toward police is a continuation of the Ferguson, MO protests, he told host J.D. Hayworth.
"There's 700,000 local and state law enforcement officers in this country that make probably 20 million arrests per year," Kerik said. "You take five or 10 different incidences that appear to be negative and we flip the entire attitude toward policing upside down based on those few incidences. … It's absurd, and people have to take a step back, look at the cop's job, look at what they do, they put their lives on the line for the people of this country every day."
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