see you next time, in washington, i'm ray suarez. 2012 because of their support on "america tonight", break in the action. baltimore regroups as even gang truce. >> it's a black on black crime. it's a black on white crime. there's enough crime in our now. >> "america tonight"s sara hoy on baltimore's life interrupted. also - new insight into what happened when freddie gray was arrested. >> reporter: what was the first thing that you heard? correspondent adam may on

why a suspect can be arrested even if he hasn't down anything wrong. a "america tonight" special report - baltimore on edge. thanks for joining us, i'm joie chen. word is out on the street that baltimore police released a report on the arrest of freddie gray, whose arrest resulteded in injuries in custody. new questions have been raised about why freddie gray was arrested to begin with. the answer may lie in a court ruling decades ago. >> reporter: this man is a witness to the apprehension of freddie gray. heard? >> why are you holding me? why are you ramming me? i haven't done anything. let me go. that's the first thing i heard. he hollered help.

literally hollering for help. >> reporter: his account supports the police commissioner's statement that officers on the scene failed to get him medical attention in a timely manner before gray was loaded into a police van. he died at the hospital from family. although this witness says he heard everything, perry couldn't see what happened, because he's legally blind. still, his vision is crystal clear when it comes to life in the baltimore neighbourhood - overrun by games and poverty and patrolled by police. >> this was a neighbourhood made famous by hpps "the wire", what is it like living here? >> let's put it on these terms. you have people coming here, pulling up to go in the complex

to visit their families. they'll walk out, be made to stop and sit on the kerb and searched. i have seen people detained for 30-45 minutes. >> i'm blind. i'm walking to the store. i've been stopped and searched. pockets. >> it ain't normal human behaviour. wallets, i.d., money. he said "do you mind if i search?" i said "yes i mind, but you're going to search me anybody", so i raised my arms. >> how did it make you feel? >> a little degraded because i'm blind. what would make him think that i'm so stupid or ignorant as to participate in illegal activity at this time in my life. i'm 74 years of age. i'm helpless. that was the feeling i had. >> stops by police are legal

because of the landmark 1968 support case terry v ohio, allowing police to stop and frisk citizens without probable cause as long as the officer has danger. >> reporter: how widespread are stop and frisk in reality? >> that was the thing. what was originally conceived of, and a limited tool for a brief detention turned into the routine tool of police enforce. and i don't think there's a department in the country, and certainly not the baltimore police department. that can come close to showing that everyone who they have stopped was someone for whom they had reasonable inspector, that they were engaged in criminal activity. >> david is a lead attorney, saying the case allowed them to

pursue freddie gray. the report doesn't mention a crime, but officers chased freddie gray when he fled upon notices police presence. >> the mere act of fleeing police should not by itself be the basis for a stop. which is precisely what happened in the freddie gray incident. >> some would say if the individual is running, he probably has something to hide. lots of people don't want to interact with the police, negative. >> you want to us be patient when you arrest our children with no probable cause. >> reporter: there's no question the terry stops, as they are sometimes called, fuelled the police. the reverend is a local civil rights leader. >> i could met you on the 50 yard line if they found drugs in his possession. the reality is in the initial report, they could not write probable cause.

he's in handcuffs. the question no one is answering, he's going to the precinct for what, if there's no charge. the arrest was based off a profile. it is absolutely out of order and inexcusable. >> aggressive policing in winchester and neighbourhoods nearby has a cost. a study by the justice policy institute, prison policy initiative found the neighbourhoods have an incarceration rate eight times higher than the rest of maryland. 458 people in prison out of about 15,000, costing taxpayers $17 billion a year. that's $37,000 per person. freddy gray was in and out of prison since 2008 on drug charges, a criminal record making him unemployable like so many of his neighbours.

>> he wasn't on his way to work. 65% of citizens are unemployed and on public assistance. to deal with the heart and the nexus of the issue, you have to deal with economic development. on the street you don't find a thriving business, enterprise or opportunity yis for young men at 25 who shi be at the prime of their lives, hanging out on the street. if you look at the footage, it looks like 12 noon on 4 july. >> criminalizeingentire communities, looking up vast swaths of the population has not contributed one iota to the prevalence of drug use. the consequences have been devastating in the stream. >> an extreme that is an every day reality. >> anyone

in the area is suspect. anyone that pulls up in in a vehicle and goes in the complex is a suspect. when they come out they'll be put on the ground and searched. >> do you think that the police here are doing anything rite? >> from me being beginning. it's hard as the from the officers. anybody that comes in slamming doors, kicking people's doors down, or throwing people on the ground, this is all i see since i've been here. it's a same that there's no better rapport between the police and citizens. >> "america tonight"s adam may is in baltimore. we listened to mr perry. he says it's a shame, but it could be more than a shame, could set up a conflict between

the community and law enforcement. i wonder if there's a view that the high incarceration in the area could be viewed as more crime? >> some police officers say that is what it is. i mean, the area does have a lot of crime. if you look at the numbers, if you look at all the people stopped and frisked, how many of them are custody, how many end up having charges. in reality, it's a rather meade ochre percentage. people are stopped in the city all the time, padded down, frisked and released. >> i hear from what you describe about the decision that effect it says to law enforcement that suspicion could be "he looked at me funny." >> as we saw in the case of freddie gray, and he took off running. that gave them enough suspicion. in mr perry's case i asked what was the suspicion.

he said that he was whispering to a friend in a convenience store a block away and police officers were curious as to what he was talking about. that gave them suspicion. what was he talking about. it's blm opening a door. >> so far police have turned over the report to the state attorney's office. where will it go now, what happens next? >> the police commissioner turned over the findings to a new attorney. a statement was released saying they have been completing an independent investigation, so the findings of that investigation and the findings of the police investigation will be reviewed. there's no time line as to when we see further action on the

case right is now. there are reports suggesting mr gray would have been charged with carrying a switch blade. he had a concealed switch blade on him. this goes back to why he was picked up in the first place, why officers approached him. >> right. there's nothing in the report indicating that officers saw a switch blade on him beforehand. that information came out later on. now, there's no paperwork released to the public showing what criminal charge he would have been charged with. >> it goes back to the notion of the perry decision, and why the officers were allowed to charge him in the first place, approach him in the first place. >> absolutely. and the perry decision has been controversial since it came down in 1968. the a.c.l.u. had been fighting against this for a long time. there'd been hearings, but the law stand for the most part that the police officers do not need probable cause, just suspicion

that a crime has occurred or may occur. the result of that, depending who you ask, is that you see neighbourhoods in the city where police officers come in, looking for people, saying there's a suspicion here, they pad people down, and many times they are arrested. not all the time. well. adam may for us in baltimore for "america tonight". next, a voice of the street. clean up and raising hope for the city's future. calling a truce - what gang leaders agree to and how it's keeping baltimore on edge and hot on "america tonight"s website now - saying the city. he once led baltimore's police department. what he would do now. at aljazeera.com/americatonight.

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now we are join baltimore looking forward. on the streets we saw the fury explode in a night of anger.

in the aftermath other residents took to the streets. "america tonight" found peter leading the way to baltimore's future, one sweep at a time. >> baltimore is my home. i love baltimore. i love it. it taught be a lot. it's teaching me to be strong. we are always overcoming the toughest struggles, adversity. we are the first on every statistic that is bad. the unfortunately being in posterity people don't have hope. >> i'm a youthful man. i want to show them a better way of going about things, a better way of protesting. a lot of police there, let's clean up the community, let

everyone see that, instead of us turning it down. everything counts, even the little things, a little piece of paper can turn into a lot of trash. we have to start at the smaller places and we can make a bigger change. i don't want to get angry, i came out to clean and restore my community. someone has to do it. i'm young, i'm here trying to do it. the kids didn't know what they were doing. people was going in the c.b.s., selling drugs, running out with potato chips and soda. that makes no sense. what is that going to change. and running out with drugs from the pharmacy, and your grandmother or ailing child needs that, or someone's grandmother or anyone. it's not right.

you drive down the ice. they store down. the right aid is shut down. my grandmother needs medication. we are creating a bigger problem than a solution. it's not adversity. >> building a community up, even if it's picking up a piece of paper, it's one step that will make a change. peter's story repeated in neighbourhoods across the city. he worried for his grandmother who can't get her medication because her drug store closed after the unrest. like him, others have stepped up - neighbours, local groups and sororities donated toileties. near a city drug store that serves a senior apartment. next from baltimore - "america tonight"s sara hoy with the activists and what they did to calm the street and our special coverage of

baltimore "on edge" returns tomorrow with a look at law and disorder. "america tonight"s adam may investigates officer misconduct and evidence against the police. excessive force complaints - is the department out of line? that's friday on "america tonight". >> al jazeera america, weekday mornings. catch up on what happened overnight with a full morning brief. get a first hand look with in-depth reports and investigations. start weekday mornings with al jazeera america. open your eyes to a world in motion. >> i think we're into something that's bigger than us... >> that's the pain that your mother feels when you disrespect her son... >> me being here is defying all odds... >> they were patriots they wanted there country back >> al jazeera america presents

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[♪♪ ] on the streets of baltimore, it's a crisis long in the making, and before the final chapter is written, there's worry about what will happen ahead. "america tonight"s sara hoy in the community. neighbours say the full story is not told from the root cause that is may have led to the

unrest between how small and larger parts of the community is trying to save itself. >> you know the news reporters will not show the scene, like day. >> reporter: in the days after riots put the city of baltimore in a chokehold a calm returned to the streets. people of baltimore are left not only with a damaged city, but a negative image of youth that accurate. this man is a community activist who works mediators. >> there's a 7-day truce in the hoods of baltimore that count. the neighbourhoods have agreed that, you know, it's enough black on black crime, black on black crime, white on white crime, is enough in our neighbourhoods period. we are going to start in a 7

day, week, month or here. we'll start with seven days, and they haven't reported that. the new report issing it that is talked about. we are talking about it in the neighbourhood. we don't here one space talking about the fact. >> reporter: this baltimore high school teacher says there's another story ot heard, one that student battle. >> my students come from all over the city. as they come in i have girls that are harassed. i have students whose parents work three different jobs. they have to walk siblings to school. one student has to get six siblings to school, breakfast and feed them. when they are accused of tardy possess, you have to -- tardiness, you have to think some are raising their brothers and sisters. some of living without parents.

a lot are in noter homes. plenty are homeless. >> reporter: she was taking erupted. >> the car was stopped. cops shut the traffic. our leap was moving -- laneways moving. it took 30 minutes to turn a corner. as we turned the corner, we saw cops that were marching in big linings, linked arm in -- line, linked arm in arm. full riot gear. at the same time there were small clicks of students milling about as if they had gotten out of school. they weren't doing much. we were nervous. at the start of it when i saw the cops i was not scared until i saw the cops. >> reporter: it's the talk from adults that seemed to demonize the baltimore young, that has her covered. police commissioner anthony batts did not mince words. >> we have young adults, 15, 16, 17, they know right from wrong.

they are not 2-year-old kids. they'll be responsible for actions they were youth coming out of high school. they thought it was cute that the cinder blocks - and we'll address it that way earlier baltimore mayor stephanie rawlings-blake blamed thugs for destroying the city. >> for is to be destroyed by way... >> although the mayor apologised, megan said the damage as done. >> a lot say why would the kids riot, what is wrong with them. >> yes, that's the rhetoric of what is said. that the kids are thugs, they are animals, or the police commissioner comes on and says these are criminals. you doesn't want to say they were kids. you know what kids are going through school. they have not gone through movements like this before, civil rights movements. they want to take action.

they have seen protests, police brutality all their lives. this is nothing new to the baltimore city kids, it's been going on forever. for them, they are trying to take action, and to call them thugs and animals it ub fair this baltimore city councilman grew up in the city unrest. >> we are here now because for literally decades the city has not put anywhere near the same level of attention into youth development that it put into policing and the active side of public safety. >> a perfect storm led to the protest and riots, a storm brewing for decades. i worked in the government back in the rly '90s. -- in the early '90s.

we were spending $36 million-$37 million 25 years ago. over that period of time the city budget has doubled. the splits department's tripled . we are spending less. >> reporter: what message does that say in. >> that assist easeierfor government to respond for how do we deal with the kids on the corner? by sending the police. >> it's an easy fix. >> despite the neglect and the violence unleashed this week, tore those that call baltimore home, it will be a city worth fighting for. >> i want my students to not fear the officers in their city. i want them to know they can trust white teachers, black

teachers, hispanic teachers, asian teachers - i want them to know they can trust a person. i want them to know that adult care about what they say, that when they report a concern on monday to ofirkt or people that they trust, that they think something will happen in baltimore and it will be big. i want to the the mayor not to call them plugs. i want a lot from students and city. they are valuable to me, everyone saw them that way valuing the future of baltimore on edge since monday night and the launch of the curfew on tuesday, we watched but seen contained activism. now the city braces as developments emerge and protesters take their places. that's "america tonight". tell us what you think at aljazeera.com/americatonight.

facebook. come back, we'll have more of "america tonight" tomorrow. the nepalese government works to contain the spread of deadly disease. i am richelle carey in doha. also ahead on the program. fierce fighting in the war in yemen as the battle for aden intensifies over the airport. nearly a brill i don't know brill it'sbritish sillsense. and their concerns for their homelands. plus why the u.s. auto industry is headed west to silicon valley. ♪