I guess Emory Lamont Lewis never saw the “Stop Snitching” DVD.
Lewis was the apparently homicidal soul who, according to police, opened fire on law enforcement officers who’d come to serve a warrant at a house in the 1700 block of N. Fulton Avenue in West Baltimore. The warrant wasn’t for Lewis but for another man who was in the house.
But there was a warrant out for Lewis. Baltimore County law wanted him for allegedly gunning down his girlfriend in September of last year. That’s not the first time Lewis was a murder suspect.
On May 8, 2005, Lewis and three other men were heading north on Scott Street in a Lincoln Town Car. The vehicle almost hit Charles Whitfield Parks, who understandably protested.
Lewis and the other men stopped the car and attacked Parks, who received fatal stab wounds. But Parks didn’t die until May 9, 2005.
He was able to give police a description of the car and the suspects. Baltimore police stopped the car near Fulton and Lombard streets less than 10 minutes after the attack.
Prosecutors determined that Lewis did not wield the weapon and offered him a deal: Testify against two of the men and receive a sentence of five years for second-degree assault.
Lewis jumped on the deal. He testified, walked free after doing 16 months time served, and the other two men were convicted of manslaughter. According to the code of the streets in Baltimore, this wasn’t supposed to happen. The macho-posturing, dysfunctional, ranting bunch of drug dealers, murderers and assorted psychopaths in the “Stop Snitching” DVD said Lewis should have been killed for ratting out his crime partners.
Not only was Lewis not killed, he was walking the streets to commit more mayhem in Baltimore and, according to police, Baltimore County. The hoodlums who terrorize the Baltimore area and who swear they will kill all “rats” raised not a finger against Lewis.
Hmm. I wonder why.
Could it be that they knew that if they took their guns and tried to shoot Lewis, he’d shoot back? He certainly didn’t hesitate to fire on law enforcement officers. Deputy Sheriffs James Lane and Kenyatta Washington received nonfatal wounds when Lewis unleashed his fusillade.
That bright, lemon-colored glow you may see off in the distance is the yellow streak of Baltimore’s “Stop Snitching” crew finally coming to light. Oh, one of them, Darrell Brooks, was only too ready to douse the home of the Dawson family with gasoline back in 2002, throw a match and light a blaze that killed a family of seven.
Mind you, the Dawsons didn’t “snitch,” at least not in the real meaning of the term. Carnell and Angela Dawson weren’t criminals; they weren’t involved in drug dealing. They simply insisted that drug dealers not peddle their wares in front of their home, and called police when they did.
That got them labeled as snitches and death in an inferno. When Edna McAbier protested drug dealing in her neighborhood, the dealers firebombed her home. She survived, but she had to move out.
I wonder if Brooks and the miscreants who firebombed McAbier’s house would have been as bold if they knew the Dawsons or McAbier had firearms and were prepared to use them.
The reason so many Emory Lamont Lewises – and guys like Darrell Brooks and the ones who firebombed McAbier’s home – walk Baltimore’s streets is because witnesses are scared to testify against them, and for good reason. A witness would have to be made of stern stuff indeed to come forward after seeing what happened to the Dawsons and McAbier.
Police can’t possibly protect witnesses 24 hours a day. But — and here is where I expect flack from the gun-control crowd — the Second Amendment can. That’s why it’s in the Bill of Rights, the claims of gun-control fanatics that the amendment refers only to a militia notwithstanding. Really now: Call out the militia to defend witnesses? No, those founding white guys clearly meant for witnesses to defend themselves.
Law-abiding citizens who witness crimes need to take a page from Lewis’ book: When the “Stop Snitching” crew comes looking for you, make sure they find something more than a frightened, cowering victim.
Gregory Kane is a columnist who has been writing about Maryland and Baltimore for more than 15 years. Look for his columns in the editorial section every Thursday and Sunday. Reach him at [email protected] .
