Just a few days after the death of Baltimore resident Freddie Gray caused riots throughout the city, a crowdfunding campaign on GoFundMe surfaced to support the six police officers that were involved in the situation.
Baltimore’s chief prosecutor Marilyn Mosby stated on Friday that Gray suffered from a spinal injury as he was being transported to jail. The drive of the vehicle, Cesar Goodson, is facing a murder charge as well as other charges in the situation. Three officers were charged with manslaughter, and two have an assault charge.
The project on GoFundMe was launched by the Baltimore Police Union and was seeking $600,000. Unfortunately the initiative was quickly removed from the platform upon receiving only a couple hundred dollars.
During this past weekend’s episode of Fox & Friends, it was revealed that the platform announced that the donations page for the police officers violated its ban on fundraising in defense of “formal charges, or claims of heinous crimes, violent, hateful or discriminatory acts.” GoFundMe’s Kelsea Little shared with the Baltimore Sun that the platform cannot be used to benefit those who are charged with serious violations of the law:
“The campaign clearly stated that the money raise would be used to assist the officers with their legal fees, which is a direct violation of GoFundMe terms.”
The Baltimore Police Union noted that the campaign was seeking funds to help assist the now suspended six officers with other expenses that they have to deal with.
The campaign stated:
“All monies collected will be used to assist our officers with their living expenses during their unpaid suspension, as well as to help defray their legal expenses.”
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