Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke continued his ongoing notoriety as an outspoken black cop against the Black Lives Movement at the Republican National Convention. On Monday he drew raucous applause after he celebrated the acquittal of one of the officers accused in Freddie Gray's death.
"There is some good news out of Baltimore, Maryland, as Lt. Brian Rice was acquitted on all charges," Clarke told the crowd in Cleveland, the New York Daily News reports.
Rice was the third Baltimore officer charged in the 2015 death of Gray, a black man who was fatally injured while in police custody, to be acquitted of all charges.
Clarke called Marilyn Mosby, who prosecuted the case, an “activist state’s attorney” and accused her of malicious prosecution.
"I would like to make something very clear: Blue Lives Matter in America," Clarke said, referencing the recent cop deaths in Dallas and Baton Rouge, La.
"Making America safe again" is a prerequisite for "making America great again," Clarke said. "What we witnessed in Ferguson[, Mo.,] and Baltimore and Baton Rouge was a collapse of the social order. So many of the actions of the Occupy movement and Black Lives Matter transcends peaceful protest and violates the code of conduct we rely on—I call it anarchy."
The Daily News notes that Clarke also took a moment to paint the presumptive GOP nominee as a law-and-order candidate.
"Donald Trump is the steadfast leader our nation needs. He has spoken passionately to me of his belief in our American system of justice, and he speaks to the values that are at the foundation of our social contract," Clarke said. "Throughout his campaign and over the many years before, he has consistently and constantly raise[d] his voice not only in defense of the character of the American police officer but the need for all people to feel that they are being treated fairly and respectfully by law enforcement."
Read more at the New York Daily News.