Yesterday the announcement that charges would be brought against the six Baltimore police officers involved in the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray was made. Shortly after that the Baltimore Police Union created a Go FundMe page attempting to raise $600,000 “living and legal expenses” of the officers. It was taken down less than 40 minutes later due to the fact that it violated GoFundMe’s terms of use.
Spokesperson for GoFundMe Kelsea Little said “GoFundMe cannot be used to benefit those who are charged with serious violations of the law”. She continued on that “The campaign clearly stated that the money raised would be used to assist the officers with their legal fees, which is a direct violation of GoFundMe’s terms. Specifically, ‘campaigns in defense of formal charges or claims of heinous crimes, violent, hateful, sexual or discriminatory acts’ are not permitted on GoFundMe.” The terms of use will definitely help GoFundMe insulate themselves from this and other PR nightmares.
The Baltimore Police Union will have to seek out alternatives to raising money, which they had already tweeted about doing. There is no doubt that other money raising sites will want to have no part in this particular fundraiser if they would like to steer clear of backlash.
Thank you, The Verge for providing us with this information.
Image courtesy of Newsweek.
Ha! good to see a somewhat large web company picking the right side (or staying neutral by not allowing it) . like WOW that those guys need their bills paid while awaiting trial…
let the police raise as much as they can, then take it and give it to the victims family. then the perps can be sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole.