Baltimore Cops Were Not Told to 'Stand Down,' Commanders Say

Baltimore police commanders say that officers were told to "hold the line" to protect life and property during the April 27 protests that turned violent in the city, but they deny it was a "stand down" order as some officer claim, The Baltimore Sun reports.

Commissioner Anthony Batts and six other top commanders told the Sun they did not give a blanket order to let looters and rioters have their way. But some officers have told a different story to the media.

If officers had broken lines during the protests they could have been surrounded by angry mobs, Batts said.

The police union supported officers who said they should have been allowed to break the should-to-shoulder lines and arrest individual rioters.

"If they have nothing to hide — and they always talk about being transparent — how come they haven't given me the tapes of the radio transmissions?" union president Lt. Gene Ryan told the Sun. "If they have nothing to hide, why not give me what we asked them for?"

The rioting ensued the night after the funeral of Freddie Gray, who died of a severed spine while in police custody.

Fox News Channel's Megyn Kelly said Tuesday that Batts essentially called the officers she spoke to on her show liars.

"And now the Baltimore police commanders acknowledge they ordered officers not to engage the rioters multiple times that day," she said.

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