A group of Baltimore police started a GoFundMe fundraising page to help defray legal costs for the six officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray, but after only 40 minutes the web site pulled the page claiming it violated the its terms of use.
The Baltimore Fraternal Order of Police set up a page initially called “Support Our Officers” but ended up tweeting only an hour later that the page was pulled down “without explanation.”
Before it was pulled down, the FOP explained what their page was meant to do.
The Baltimore City Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge #3 has been overwhelmed with the enormous generosity of people from around the world. We have received many requests to open an online account that will accept monetary donations for the 6 officers who have been wrongly charged in the death of Freddie Gray. 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. We thank you, in advance, for your continued support.
GoFundMe, the crowd source funding site, recently changed its terms of service to prevent people who have ended up on the wrong side of the law from being able to raise donations. The terms were re-written after several Christian companies raised a startling amount of money to help defray legal costs forced upon them by state-sponsored court cases aimed at denying their religious expression.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com