The Rev. Charles Neal, a pastor arrested in Baltimore City last month on his way to church, is organizing a coalition of Baltimore-area clergy that will gather outside City Hall this month to demand an end to what they said are unjust arrests.
“We hope that pulling the clergymen of the city together, we can bring a halt to this problem with the Police Department,” Neal said.
The rally, scheduled for 5 p.m. June 26 ? designated Clergy Uniting for Justice Day ? will feature an estimated 40- 50 area clergy, as well as testimony from people who Neal said have contacted him since his arrest for not having a license was publicized.
“With people getting locked up with no cause. Our phone has been flooded with calls from people being taken off to jail. This will give them an opportunity to speak out,” Neal said.
Neal was arrested May 28 for driving with a suspended license, a charge that Neal said his MVA records prove is wrong. Neal?s car was impounded, and his wife left standing on the street without a ride.
The Rev. Dwayne Ramsey of God?s Rhema Church in Baltimore said the purpose of the rally is to ask for city police to show more discretion.
“We are sensitive to how difficult it is to be a police officer,” Ramsey said. “But you cannot go out and pick someone off the corner to kick the crime statistics down. That?s what?s going on.”
Ramsey, who said he expects participation from roughly 40 to 50 city pastors and their parishioners, said the issue hits home for him.
“My cousin has been in jail for six months for a crime he didn?t commit,” he said.
City Council Member Kenneth Harris, D-District 4, who said he will attend the rally to show support for the pastors, has called on the city?s legislative leaders to reintroduce a bill during the General Assembly?s ongoing special session that will allow people arrested and not charged to have their records expunged. In a letter to Sen. Nathaniel McFadden, Harris said the bill, which failed in committee in the 2006 session, should be reconsidered now.
“This bill will help ? people who have been arrested unfairly,” Harris said.
“We need help in the legislature and we need prayer to heal,” Harris said.
