According to the Baltimore Sun, justice is finally being served to at least one thug who took part in the Baltimore riots in April of last year in response to Freddie Gray’s death. The damage costs caused by the riot were estimated to be around nine million dollars.
On Friday, Dana Betts, a 20-year-old Baltimore man, pleaded guilty to his participation in the riots, as well as an unrelated charge of shooting a women in the leg over $20 in a drug deal.
In a statement, U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein said that “Betts engaged in arson, looting, assault, and other mayhem during the Baltimore riots,” including throwing rocks at police officers. Betts is most famous for a picture of him “making a destructive device” during the riot, which went viral in the aftermath and was what finally landed him in court.
During the trial proceedings, Betts was described by prosecutor Matthew Maddox as having “sheer hate and contempt” for the police and trying to set “an example of what he wanted other rioters to be.” According to the criminal complaint, Betts allegedly told the investigators that he threw rocks at cops, incited violence and started fires, all because “[he] figured… that was [his] period of time to go wild on the police.”
“His actions had a significant impact on us,” said Lt. Peter Davidov, a member of the response team sent to the area where Betts was leading the rioters. During the trial, videos and images were presented as evidence that depicted Betts creating incendiary devices that were used to deter the response team from stopping rioters from looting building, throwing rocks at police officers, leading a group of rioters in an attempt to knock over a police cruiser, setting fire to another police cruiser by stuffing incendiary materials in the gas tank, and stealing from stores.
Betts apologized during his trial, saying that he was “very sorry for [his] bad decision-making” and for hurting many people that day.
He was sentenced to serve 15 years for both his leading participation in the riots and for the unrelated drug shooting. Federal prosecutors are still trying to make good on their promises to bring the individuals from last year’s riots to justice. Hopefully this case will act as a promise to all future rioters that they will be brought to justice if they break the law, no matter the circumstance.