The brutal beating of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old Baltimore, Maryland resident, while in the custody of Baltimore, police officers on April 12, 2015, is one of a series of recent highly publicized examples of police brutality.   Sadly, following the valiant attempts by trauma center personnel to save Freddie’s life, and after being in a coma for several days, Gray succumbed to his injuries and died on April 19, 2015. Freddie Gray’s funeral was held yesterday.

Within hours of the conclusion of Gray’s funeral, a peaceful public protest began in Baltimore.  The protestors want justice for Freddie Gray. They want the person or persons responsible for causing the injuries to Freddie’s body that led to his death held accountable for their actions.

Unfortunately, a relatively small group hijacked the protest and a riot ensued. The looters, burners, and those who attacked law enforcement officials represent only themselves. They are not in any way part of the peaceful movement calling for justice for all, including for Freddie Gray.

In addition to the brutal beating and tragic death of Freddie Gray, the other unfolding story  is the response by some cable news channels, including CNN, to focus on the rioting and not on the circumstances and events that led up to the chaos that took place in Baltimore last night. The emphasis of most reporters seem to center on criticizing elected officials and on trying to get African American leaders to condemn the rioters-which they did, and rightfully so.

However, there were few attempts by those same reporters to get law enforcement officials to condemn the conduct of the police officers who were directly responsible for protecting and safely transporting Freddie Gray. Instead, most  cable news channel reporters offered viewers a steady diet of subjective narrow-minded, business protecting, moralizing comments  that focused on the harm done to businesses rather than the harm done by police officers to  Freddie Gray and the other citizens of Baltimore.