[00:00:10] Speaker A: You're listening to the Weighing In podcast, the show that brings you inside the Daily Gazette's featured news column.
And now, here's your host, writer of the weigh in in column, andrew, wait.
[00:00:25] Speaker B: U.
Thanks for listening to the Weighing In podcast. I'm andrew, waite.
So, more than a decade ago now, darryl Mount, he was a 21 year old biracial kid. He was out late in downtown Saratoga Springs. And around 03:00, a.m. He allegedly smashed his girlfriend's head against a wall inside a bar. And that set off a police chase that ultimately ended with Mount lying face down in an alley with serious injuries to his head and face.
He died nine months later, and the official cause was pneumonia. But questions have lingered ever since about what caused Mount's injuries. Was he beaten by police, as claimed by Saratoga Black Lives Matter activists and others? Or did he fall off a two story scaffolding during the chase, which is what police claimed? Well, on Tuesday, we got an answer. So Mount's mother, Patty Jackson, she brought a wrongful death lawsuit against the city and its police department, and it alleged that police officers'negligence battery and excessive force caused the serious injuries.
And on Tuesday, at the conclusion of a nearly two week trial played out before Judge Thomas Buchanan in Saratoga County Supreme Court and Boston Spa, the jury, they issued a verdict that sided completely with the city. And it took just a single afternoon of deliberations, and they found no evidence of any wrongdoing on the part of the police. Now, all along, really, for the last decade, the Mount case, it's been a pivotal one for Saratoga BLM because it's the case that connected the Spa city to a national movement. And after George Floyd was killed in 2020, this was the local example of police brutality that advocates have been holding up as proof that it happens here, too, now that the jury has ruled and in a civil case. No less, where the burden of proof is much lower.
BLM's theory of the case that police brutality and then widespread spread cover up has taken place here. Well, that theory has taken a serious hit. And as a result, I think it's fair to wonder how Saratoga BLM will choose to move forward after this verdict.
And I was there for closing arguments and for the reading of the verdict. And during the summation, I was struck by what defense attorney John Asplund talked about, which was argument versus facts. And he was saying, if you have the law, if you have the facts, you argue the law, you argue the facts. And if you don't have those things, you make an argument and you make an argument based on a kind of emotional appeal.
And with the jury coming back in favor of the city and the police department, it now makes you wonder how much of the Saratoga BLM cause has been based more in argument rather than facts. And could this be an opportunity for them to change their messaging, change their advocacy approach going forward?
Now, asplund after the verdict, he talked to reporters and I was there and he said that this could be an opportunity for collective healing. Let's listen. What do you think Saratogas Springs police can take away from this?
[00:04:04] Speaker C: I think for the purposes of the police, maybe bring some closure to some of the animosity that's been going on in the know. The Protect and Serve piece is something that's taken very seriously by the police in Saratoga. Hopefully, this verdict can help kind of heal some of the wounds that have developed over the years.
[00:04:23] Speaker B: So I hope he's right. I hope that it's an opportunity to kind of heal these wounds and maybe change the tenor of the dialogue. But I think that's ultimately going to be up to Saratoga. Black lives matter.
So I wrote a piece that was exploring what approach Saratoga BLM may take from here. Here's that piece.
[00:04:50] Speaker A: You're listening to the Weighing In podcast with columnist Andrew Wait.
[00:05:07] Speaker B: For years, Saratoga Black Lives Matter has sought justice for Darryl Mount Jr. The 21 year old Biracial man's 2014 death, which came roughly nine months after he was seriously injured during an early morning police chase in downtown Saratoga Springs on August 31, 2013, was the case that connected the Spa City to a national movement.
Mount's death, which Saratoga BLM purported to be a result of police brutality, was proof that the upstate city had grappled with George Floyd like devastation years before the Minneapolis man became a household name.
So enmeshed is Mount's case with Saratoga BLM that the group's leader, Lexus Figuereo, invokes the 21 year old's name constantly with mention of Darryl Mount's case serving as shorthand for all that is supposedly wrong with Saratoga Springs policing and the city's leadership.
This is why Tuesday's verdict in the wrongful death lawsuit brought by Mount's mother, Patty Jackson, against Saratoga Springs and its police department is such a crushing loss for Saratoga BLM.
By issuing a verdict that sided completely with the city and its police department, the six person jury found that a theory foundational to the Saratoga BLM movement wasn't accurate.
Let me make clear early on that I'm not arguing BLM should stop its advocacy. The BLM movement has been a productive force, critical, really, and the impetus behind our country's long overdue and still fusing reckoning with systemic racism.
In the face of evidence such as disturbing video depicting the nine minutes and 29 seconds that Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd's neck, outrage is appropriate and calls for change are necessary. And in such cases, justice has thankfully proved possible with Chauvin being convicted and sentenced to more than 20 years in prison. But hopefully, Tuesday's verdict in Saratoga County can prompt advocates to adjust their approach so that their work can continue to bring about meaningful reform rather than incessant conflict.
The lawsuit alleged that police brutality ultimately led to Mount's death, with plaintiffs arguing that a never seen police beat down of Mount caused to serious head and face injuries.
With no physical evidence, no video footage or eyewitness accounts showing a beating, the jurors were left to determine which side's medical expert to believe. Did Mount fall from a two story high scaffolding, as the police department claimed, or was he beaten by police at the conclusion of an adrenaline infused chase that started with Mount allegedly hitting his girlfriend's head into a brick wall? After the verdict, John Asplin defense attorney told reporters, at the end of the day, there was no police beating and the evidence demonstrated that unequivocally.
The jury clearly agreed, issuing a unanimous ruling that found no negligence, battery or excessive force after deliberating for only part of one afternoon.
I was in attendance for Tuesday's proceedings in front of State Supreme Court Justice Thomas Buchanan with Figuereo and other BLM advocates sitting behind me during closing arguments. During Asplin's summation, I was struck by his emphasis on facts versus argument, the defense attorney said. In law school, they teach you if you have the law, you argue the law and if you have the facts, you argue the facts. If you have neither, you make a big show of things, slamming your fist on the table in an emotional appeal.
When you don't have facts, you've got to make an argument. Asplin said after Tuesday's verdict, it's now evident that major Saratoga BLM talking points have been arguments rather than facts.
In Saratoga BLM's theory, the Saratoga Springs Police Department is generally corrupt and racist, with nothing supposedly exemplifying this more than an alleged cover up following Mount's death.
Such tellings are apocryphal. Certainly there are flaws within the Saratoga Springs Police Department and some of the sordid details of bad actors were recounted during the nearly two week trial, including officers who were disciplined for misconduct after getting in bar fights.
But the verdict in the Mount case is a strike against Saratoga BLM's theory that bad actors pervade the entire police department.
Instead of overstating the problems within the department and continuing to theorize about abuses not supported by evidence, BLM advocates would be more effective if they kept their focus on specific instances of wrongdoing backed by facts while continuing to work with city leaders on ongoing reforms. It's unfortunate that after the jury's ruling, Saratoga BLM posted a message to social media that failed to embrace the verdict's validity, essentially blaming a rigged judicial system that continues to protest those in power. The post reads despite the undeniable evidence of rotten and violent culture within the Saratoga Springs Police Department, the system has failed to bring about any semblance of accountability despite mounting instances of harm to black people in our city. Advocates have pointed to the fact that the jury was entirely white, composed of people much older than Mount would be if he were still alive. While true, both sets of attorneys had a role in seeding the jury through vordir. Asplund addressed this issue. After the verdict, I know there's going to be criticism about the makeup of the jury, that it's all white, older. What do you say to the jury?
[00:10:39] Speaker C: Listen, the jury gets selected by random process, right? So when you go into jury selection, you have as many people as the commissioner juror is summoned in, and you go through the process of picking out the people.
I explained this way they pick themselves, right? They give answers, both attorneys ask questions. I think that the composition of the jury is not an issue.
[00:11:03] Speaker B: After the verdict, Figuereo told our Shenandoah Briere that BLM vowed to keep fighting, saying BLM had lost the battle in a war for justice.
I wish the rhetoric wasn't so bellicose, and I wish it contained more self reflection. Where the BLM movement has missed the mark, including in Saratoga Springs, is in its tendency to paint with too broad a brush.
That's precisely what local advocates did with the Daryl Mount case, allowing a now proved false theory to linger and shape discourse for a decade. Now that we have a verdict in the Mount case, some of the fights waged by BLM take on a different light. For instance, BLM's anger over the appointment of current Saratoga Springs police chief Tyler Macintosh, who was one of the responding officers the night Mount was injured in 2013, now feels especially senseless. In addition, demands for police abolition, something Figuera explicitly called for in February have arguably impeded progress on the implementation of important police reform.
No Saratoga Black Lives Matters shouldn't ignore any real signs of corruption or racism and the right to continually apply pressure in this regard. For instance, the right to call Fowl on disorderly conduct charges against Figuereo and his sister Chandler Hickenbottom. Such charges were completely unnecessary, and BLM leaders are justified in saying they have been unfairly targeted because of their advocacy. New York State Attorney General Letitia James, who is investigating the city for alleged civil rights violations, could well provide the advocates additional leverage in due time.
But by letting assumptions and generalities often rule the day, and by falling back on all or nothing arguments, local BLM leaders have hindered their own movement and turned would be allies into skeptics.
This could be the moment to change course.
This could be the moment when BLM leaders embrace a more focused message, one that hones in on specific instances of abuse rather than allegations, and spells out the ways in which BLM can implement change, a process with which the group has already been engaged via its role in developing a 50 point police reform plan.
As attorney, Asplin noted after the verdict, this could be a moment of collective healing. Maybe this case can bring some closure to some of the animosity that's been going on in the community, he said. Hopefully, this verdict can help heal some of the wounds that have developed over the years.
Instead, it feels like the verdict has become another rallying cry for more conflict, where facts matter less to some advocates than arguments based on assumptions.
On Tuesday, Figuero said, It's not going to stop our fight for racial justice in our community and create that change that we need so that our children and grandchildren can have a better life in Saratoga Springs.
He and his fellow advocates absolutely should press on. But if we're going to bring about those crucial changes to create better lives for the next generation, we must make sure facts fuel our arguments.
[00:14:11] Speaker A: You're listening to the Weighing In podcast with columnist Andrew Waite.
[00:14:26] Speaker B: Part of the role of columnist is being a piece of the community discourse, and so what I'd like to do is be able to incorporate into this podcast some reactions that I get to various pieces that I write. And so this Saratoga BLM piece has already been up and it's already been getting some reactions, and really reactions span the entire spectrum of opinions. And so I just wanted to read a few to you to give you that sense and to also say if you are interested in having your comments read and shared, please feel free to email me. I welcome all comments. I'm
[email protected] [email protected].
So one of the comments said, at some point, we must face the reality of the foolishness of gambling with one's life. Not obeying law enforcement's instructions can be debilitating to one's health. As a society, we should hold parents accountable for their failure to instruct their children on how to relate instructions from officers as of the law, not reward their parental failures. It's an interesting comment about the way city leaders have responded to some of the Saratoga BLM advocates.
Another reader simply agreed with what the column said and said exactly.
On the flip side, some feedback that was in pretty strong disagreement.
So it talks about how just generally, this person is upset with what they perceive as my liberal views and say that a column that I write shouldn't appear on the front page. And then it says, he indicates today that the BLM movement should continue to pursue the Mount Matter, which has been settled in court after two weeks by a trial by jury. Seriously, the Gazette needs to become more aware of its readers'views and less concerned with dividing the country and local cities. After being a subscriber for many decades, I'm not much of a fan recently.
Totally fair, though I would point out that I don't actually argue they should continue to pursue the Mount Matter more, that they should just continue on with their advocacy generally. But thank you for writing. I appreciate all perspective, and I'm happy to share all perspective that comes in. So please don't be shy about sending in reactions.
That's it for this edition of the Weighing In podcast. I'm andrew, waite. Thanks to Jim Gilbert, who handles production. And thanks for listening. Take care.
