By Stefanie Dazio, AP
Murder. Brutality. Reprehensible. Indefensible. Police nationwide, in unequivocal and unprecedented language, have condemned the actions of Minneapolis police in the custody death of a handcuffed black man who cried for help as an officer knelt on his neck, pinning him to the pavement for at least eight minutes.
But some civil rights advocates say their denunciations are empty words without meaningful reform behind them.
Authorities say George Floyd was detained Monday because he matched the description of someone who tried to pay with a counterfeit bill at a convenience store, and the 46-year-old resisted arrest. A bystander’s disturbing video shows Officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, kneeling on Floyd’s neck, even as Floyd begs for air and slowly stops talking and moving.
“There is no need to see more video,” Chattanooga, Tennessee, Police Chief David Roddy tweeted Wednesday. “There no need to wait to see how ‘it plays out’. There is no need to put a knee on someone’s neck for NINE minutes. There IS a need to DO something. If you wear a badge and you don’t have an issue with this … turn it in.”
The reaction from some law enforcement stands in stark contrast to their muted response or support for police after other in-custody fatalities. Sheriffs and police chiefs have strongly criticized the Minneapolis officer on social media and praised the city’s police chief for his quick dismissal of four officers at the scene. Some even called for them to be criminally charged.
“I am deeply disturbed by the video of Mr. Floyd being murdered in the street with other officers there letting it go on,” Polk County, Georgia, Sheriff Johnny Moats wrote on Facebook. “I can assure everyone, me or any of my deputies will never treat anyone like that as long as I’m Sheriff. This kind of brutality is terrible and it needs to stop. All Officers involved need to be arrested and charged immediately. Praying for the family.”
Typically, police call for patience and calm in the wake of a use of force. They are reluctant to weigh in on episodes involving another agency, often citing ongoing investigations or due process.
“Not going hide behind ‘not being there,’” tweeted San Jose Police, California, Chief Eddie Garcia. “I’d be one of the first to condemn anyone had I seen similar happen to one of my brother/ sister officers. What I saw happen to George Floyd disturbed me and is not consistent with the goal of our mission. The act of one, impacts us all.”
But Gloria Browne-Marshall, a civil rights attorney and professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said she wouldn’t be a “cheerleader” for a “handful” of chiefs who harshly decried the officers’ behavior.
“Any minute progress is seen as miraculous because so little has been done for so long,” she said. “It’s nothing close to progress or what outrage would be taking place if it was a white man as the victim of this assault.”
Melina Abdullah, co-founder of Black Lives Matter in Los Angeles, said she wasn’t “particularly moved” by the relatively few police who voiced outrage.
Abdullah said the three other officers who witnessed Chauvin’s actions and did not intervene contributed to a long-standing system of police racism and oppression against people of color.
“We’ve got to remember that it was not just Officer Chauvin who was sitting on George Floyd’s neck,” she said.
Abdullah and hundreds of others protested what she called Floyd’s lynching on Wednesday night. Some blocked lanes of a freeway and shattered windows of California Highway Patrol cruisers.
Minneapolis is bracing for more violence after days of civil unrest, with burned buildings, looted stores and angry graffiti demanding justice. The governor on Thursday called in the National Guard. On Thursday night, protesters torched a Minneapolis police station that the department was forced to abandon.
The heads of the Los Angeles and Chicago departments — both of which have been rocked before by police brutality scandals — addressed Floyd’s death and its potential effect on race relations between law enforcement and communities of color.
Even the New York Police Department weighed in. Eric Garner died in the city in 2014 after he was placed in a chokehold by police and uttered the same words Floyd did: “I can’t breathe.”
It took city officials five years to fire the officer, and no criminal or federal charges were brought.
“What we saw in Minnesota was deeply disturbing. It was wrong,” NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea wrote Thursday. “We must take a stand and address it. We must come together, condemn these actions and reinforce who we are as members of the NYPD. This is not acceptable ANYWHERE.”
Before he was commissioner, Shea spearheaded the NYPD’s shift to community policing that moved away from a more confrontational style favored by other commissioners after Garner’s death.
Harris County, Texas, Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, who also spoke out online, told The Associated Press that law enforcement agencies keep promising reforms in the wake of fatalities, but they are “not delivering it on a consistent basis.”
“When bad things happen in our profession, we need to be able to call it like it is,” he said. “We keep thinking that the last one will be the last one, and then another one surfaces.”
He needs to get control of what happened in his own County First, before anybody will listen to his crap….. wasn’t too awful long ago they murdered a whole family here in Harris
You must be a member of the privileged race for the police to express concern and outrage. If you are white and murdered by random black thugs, thats a price these alien overlords are willing to pay.
I am sick to death of someone resisting the police and then winding up having the state pay millions for their defiance. How do I get in on this racket?
Where was the outrage when a black cop killed an innocent white woman in Minneapolis three years ago. That cop wasn’t fired. The media didn’t play the tape daily telling us about evil cops.
I hate these race baiters.
That cop was sentenced to 12 years in prison, you idiot.
Troll, anybody that can type a paragraph can’t be that stupid. Can they?
A bad cop killed a powerless suspect! Someone please tell me why anything else is pertinent. And please dont tell me it only happens to black folks, or this justifies rioting, or any other bulls*it. This is another made to order crisis for the “media”and the dem “leaders”!
have to wonder what this cop was thinking…or why none of the others called him off…whole thing looks pretty racial…..
My guess? His ego got in the way. He probably thought the guy had “jailitis” at first (he probably did!) and never re-evaluated his viewpoint when he needed to. I think he heard people in the crowd jeering and telling him to get off and he decided he would “show” them.
And all his ego cost was one life and probably his freedom.
Gee you mean the cops got up and said I’m going to kill me an innocent black man today? Now that’s as ignorant and bigoted thought process as I’ve ever seen. Were you on the OJ jury?
MSP has lowered their standards so far in the pursuit of ‘diversity’ that they’ll give anyone a gun and badge. Where was the outrage when Noor murdered Justine Damond?
Uh…unlike a ton of police that kill individuals, that cop was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Unrelated / dissimilar situation is unrelated / dissimilar.
The police aren’t just doing this stuff to black folks. There’re doing it to everybody What was done to Mr. Floyd as terrible as it was pales in comparison to what Philip Brailsford did to Daniel Shavers. What Brailsford wasn’t even negligence. He intentionally shot him five times. DO NOT WATCH the video if you have high blood pressure or have anger management issues. He was then found not guilty and re-instated for a period just long enough to qualify for a pension 42 days due to PTSD for life at the age of 28.
I was unaware of this shooting. The video was very unsettling, but worse was that, was this guys pension – for life. He was basically rewarded for murder.
Maybe cops will stop acting like cops if criminals stop acting like criminals.
And one thing you have to say about the Crushers is that they go out of their way to treat all people, irrespective of color, age, religion or national origin, as if they were garbage.
Murdering a suspect in your custody is not “acting like a police officer”. More like a klansman.
I don’t think Ralph meant meant like Joe Friday when he said “like cops”, I think he meant like real cops – you know thugs with chips all over them.
Bingo.
Sadly, it seems you are mistaken.
I have little sympathy for the choirboys with endless records as valuable members of society and those members of the public who cheer on their criminal behavior. The endless war against the police is the reason the public is arming to the teeth. We can’t depend on the police to defend us because they are being attacked at every turn. Meanwhile the Leftards are freeing murderers, rioters, arsonists, rapists and imprisoning church goers.
Perhaps if the animals acted like civilized people they would be treated with respect. As Minneapolis demonstrates these animals have no respect for anything or anyone. Are we to believe you or our lying eyes?
“Maybe cops will stop acting like cops if criminals stop acting like criminals.”
Reading comprehension’s not one of your better skills, I presume?
“Authorities say George Floyd was detained Monday because he matched the description of someone who tried to pay with a counterfeit bill at a convenience store, and the 46-year-old resisted arrest.”
Where in that does it say that he’s a criminal? Maybe the part somewhere in the report that says he’s Black?
Maybe the report wasn’t clear enough, but you certainly are.
WTF are you babbling about? Geez, if you had half a brain your head would tilt.
guy had a criminal past….but that doesn’t seem germane to what occurred here….
frank speak, I’m on Floyd’s side here. At no time did I say he was acting like a criminal. So please, STFU.
Still waiting on verified video or corroborative witness reports detailing what happened in the minutes leading up to the arrest. The term “resisting arrest” can be rather liberally applied to anyone who doesn’t fully comply with an officer’s demands. So far, all I’ve read is that Floyd resembled the description of a person who allegedly tried to pass a counterfeit bill. I guess a mere resemblance is enough in Minneapolis to get you into an intimate relationship with the asphalt, complete with complimentary knee to the neck.
current theory has it that he was saying something to the cop that he didn’t like….still pretty lame…..
Nothing that may have happened prior to his death justifies his murder by cop. Nothing!
He was handcuffed behind his back and face down on the pavement. No justification!!
I think Floyd was “resisting arrest” by pleading for officer friendly to get off his neck and stop killing him.
I believe resisting arrest is criminal whether you’re innocent or not, but it doesn’t warrant a death sentence either. Had he not resisted arrest he would have been released from custody once they knew they had the wrong person.
Did he resist arrest as a criminal or resist indignity of being a prior felon being falsely arrested for a crime due to his priors? Looking like someone that committed a crime is not a crime.
“Minnesota law does not recognize defendant’s asserted right to resist an unlawful arrest or search. State v. Kittleson, 305 N.W.2d 787 (Minn.1981); In re Burns, 284 N.W.2d 359 (Minn.1979); State v. Hoagland, 270 N.W.2d 778 (Minn. 1978)…”
So yes, resisting even an unlawful arrest is criminal. But it’s also immaterial to the main questions here. Even if this guy had just murdered someone and gotten caught in the act the job of police is bring suspects into the justice system via arrest, not suffocate them on the ground for 9 minutes.
The videos show him to be resisting arrest. Clearly he was identified as the man who passed the bill in question. What are you a gender studies major?
I wonder how many of these cops support red flag laws.
i agree that the actions of those 4 cops is horrible, but at this point I am hoping that someone will elaborate on the statements some witness the victim was showing some sort of medical distress and want to see what the victims blood test show. If it shows the had a drug overdose, you can’t call it murder as despicable as the police’s actions were.
Hey Dave…If the victim had a heart condition and was on medication would 8 minutes of excessive force have been murder? Yes or No.
Yes it would. You take your victim as you find him. It’s called the Eggshell Rule and it’s as old as the law itself.
That’s a tough one, Deb. How many innocent people suffering diabetic shock have been mis-diagnosed by responding officers as intoxicated, and not provided with life-saving medical care? Cops are supposed to apply common sense to contact situations to properly assess (OODA) before acting, but many don’t.
A hell of a lot more than you want to think about.
It’s actually such a problem that when you get diagnosed as an adult they warn you about it. For me, they advised that I should contact an attorney for advice to try to prevent a simple traffic stop from turning into a death sentence.
So I did. Hell of an interesting conversation… and not a cheap retainer either.
Were you on the OJ jury?
Bull shit Dave!
Nine minutes???
Dave, your desperation to find a way out for the murdering officer is showing so please FO. I was a firefighter, acting police chief and a cardiac medic for over 34 years and it doesn’t really matter what you have in your system if you can’t fucking breathe! Go back to your God damned cave.
You can’t talk if you can’t breathe. Your statement is BS.
Dave. Years ago a woman collapsed at a bus stop. Cops thought she was drunk and put her in the drunk tank. She was having a heart attack.
Some actions are simply not acceptable.
My brother, suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning, was jailed and sat in a cell having seizures until they figured out he wasn’t just drunk and disorderly.
So your complaint is cops are not all doctors. Were you a gender studies major?
Dave, doesn’t matter. This case is pretty clear. Every TCLOE, POTS, or other recognized law enforcement organization teaches that what the officers did is strictly forbidden.
Every one of us has been drilled on positional asphyxiation. It’s week 1 training. I learned about in 2 different schools in the army, my medical training, the fire academy and police academy.
Show any officer the photo and they’ll say “well.. maybe…”. Then tell them that went on for 9 minutes, or show the video. Every one of the certified law enforcement officers you show that to will immediately change their tune. 9 minutes is insane.
The officers were acting in clear “violation of their training, which led to the death of a person in their custody”.
To the officers, past and present, on this board, what does that phrase mean to you? I bet even reading that phrase made you a little nervous.
Manslaughterr is the bare minimum they are all guilty of.
Thank God for some sense about what training teaches people both in law enforcement and the military. And I can speak from first hand experience even what military contractors like DynCorp teach you.
If police can compress someone’s chest for 9 minutes for no reason and be cleared of wrongdoing because the person had a previous medical condition or was on drugs there’s a lot of people walking around that can be killed at any time.
This wasn’t the case of Eric Garner where the police were blamed for someone having a heart attack after resisting arrest and being put in a ‘choke hold’ for 10 seconds and then clearly breathing after being (correctly!) placed on his side. This is 9 minutes of “what not to do” during an arrest.
Well damn…. if the victim was on drugs, then anybody could have just walked up and shot him in the head and it’s death from a drug overdose according to that twisted logic.
Leave us not judge lest we be judged
You stop short of quoting the entire thought. Matt 7:1-2 Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
Jesus said this. There is only one Righteous Judge. The measure by which He expects us to judge is laid out in scripture. Commands are given to judge murderers, rapists and etc, but only on the testimony of two or three witnesses. I.E. corroborating evidence. Your admonishment against rushing to judgement is well placed. Let us not forget that judgement will be necessary at some point, but only when the full story is known. Like Joe Friday said, “Just the facts, ma’am.”
Pursue justice and justice alone, so that you will live and possess the land the Lord your God is giving you.
Deuteronomy 16:20
You must not deny justice to a poor person among you in his lawsuit.
Exodus 23:6
How happy are those who uphold justice, who practice righteousness at all times.
Psalms 106:3
Don’t confuse not judging someone with deny justice to those who cannot gain it themselves.
Michael,
Of course we should not deny justice. But Brad is correct, and the Lord clearly outlined for the Israelites that severe/capital punishments should only be considered upon strong evidence, of which a minimum of two witnesses was established. This was intended to prevent abuse from allowing a single disgruntled person to claim injustice by another, and have his (possibly innocent) opponent killed.
One does not claim the moral high ground by cherry-picking and misquoting Scripture.
You confuse Judgement with Discernment. We are commanded to recognize evil for what it is… and choking a SUSPECT to death can, in NO WAY, be characterized as “good” by anyone but a mass murderer. The biggest problem with the FOP, the Blue Unions, and their “systems” is that WHEN a cop accumulates “beefs” they get “counciled” instead of FIRED AND BLACKLISTED. Once a propensity for excessive violence has been identified there should be no questions about removing the person, and no problem tagging their fingerprints to show a propensity towards brutality. Serves two purposes… keeps them from ever working in Law Enforcement/Jails ever again…. and tags them as “violence prone” for future altercations where THEY might be the one busted. The only Co-Requisite would be honest and fair evaluations of any complaints that are filed. Many are FAKED.
No doubt it was excessive force and murder and a slam dunk lawsuit. Problem is this kind of treatment is what the Democrat Party did on a daily basis to Black Americans. The democrat party owns the legacy of slavery, segregation, Jim Crow, the KKK, lynching, Eugenics and Gun Control. Of course today’s rewrite history democRats will try to whitewash their demented past by saying it was dixiecrats who did that when the facts show democrat party racism was in the North, South, East and West. The evidence is in and crystal clear…The Democrat Party should be held liable for monetary reparations.
The big problem for gullible Black Americans is they are still confined to the democrat party plantation. Frankly a Black American belonging to the democrat party makes as much sense as a Jew belonging to the nazi party.
Again jumping to conclusions without having all the facts in.
Duane…if you were on a jury and you saw 8 minutes of excessive force evidence that resulted in a homicide exactly what kind if colossal excuse would you need to hear in order for you to acquit the accused?
This just in. A medical examiner from Florida said Mr. Floyd died from a previously undiagnosed heart condition. Sure the examiner has been involved in previous scandals and had his doctor’s license revoked, but does that really matter when we want to believe what he’s saying? 😉
Even if the Floyd died due to the cop exacerbating a pre-existing medical condition, the cop’s actions remain just as criminal as if the victim was healthy. It’s called the Eggshell Rule and it’s a very old concept in English and American law. You take your victim as you find him.
I’m completely poking fun of the Joe Scarborough conspiracy theory here. A seemingly healthy, young marathon running girl dies in his office by hitting her head on a desk. A super shady medical examiner, that later got caught with a storage unit full of body parts, said she fainted due to a heart condition.
Kinda sad it takes a national incident like this and burning a city to the ground to get a cop arrested. Of course, he still got several days to get his story straight with all his buddies.
former co-worker of mine was interrogating a suspect…left the room…and the suspect found a gun in his desk and shot himself. with it…..yep…that’s what he said….and he got away with it…true story….
And what is the benefit of immediately arresting someone and potentially blowing your case?
You know who isn’t going to cooperate with your investigation? Someone you just fired and arrested.
Cops are not immune to being dumb enough to talk without a lawyer. Had this been handled differently we might have seen at least one of them give a statement without invoking the 5th (which they all did after being fired the next day… because why wouldn’t they?)
Drugs or no drugs it’s a sad day when you have to die for possibly having a counterfeit ( worthless ) piece of paper. He deserved a trial before his death sentence over the piece of paper.
Do we know if he even knew if it was a counterfeit $20? I don’t exactly go around checking every bill someone hands me.
I’ve never had a shopkeeper call me for a counterfeit that wasn’t a fake, although I’m sure it can happen.
But here’s the rub: most of the time the people “passing” it have no idea. Your average Joe doesn’t pay attention to the bank note that he’s passing (the store owner probably does).
It is entirely possible that someone could unknowingly pass a counterfeit bill which is why tossing someone on the ground and cuffing them for it is not usually the best option. I don’t know, maybe the guy refused to identify himself or something where you HAVE to arrest him because you have no other way to investigate the matter. Or maybe there was shoddy policework before the video as well as during.
The sad part of the situation is that “the thin blue line” unions guard the “bad cops” jealously and are almost always successful in keeping the “bad cops” on the force. If, by chance, they are fired, they usually get a job with another department.
We are constantly being told that “it is only a few bad apples that spoils the whole barrel” If that is the case, the whole barrel needs to be thrown out.
All one has to do is look at what police departments do to “whistleblowers” who DO expose the corruption and misbehavior in their own departments. 99 times out of 100, they are either fired, ostracized or reprimanded by the higher-ups in their own departments.
Recently, a police officer who publicly spoke out about the unconstitutionality of the so-called “lockdown” mandates was threatened with dismissal for merely asking his fellow police officers to respect the Constitution–the same Constitution that they all took an oath to “protect and defend”.
Let’s face it-the “thin blue line” is a gang, no different than a street gang, only with greatly expanded powers to exact life and death on us “mundane” human beings with very little, if any oversight or responsibility for their behavior. All one has to do is to observe how police officers are treated after a questionable shooting. They are not arrested and locked up, but are given 72 hours in which to formulate their “story” and are afforded a union attorney, not like “the rest of us” who are treated like criminals for merely exercising the right of self-defense.
Police-friendly prosecutor-guided grand juries, and prosecutors themselves contribute to the spirit of lawlessness and unconstitutionality that exists in many police departments.
There is a foreign influence in police practices as well. Police trainers are sent to israel to see how israelis handle their “problems”–Palestinians. THAT is a problem when these tactics are used against Americans.
If I had my way, official “immunity” would be abolished, awards for misbehavior would come from police pension funds, and criminal behavior by police would be punished by doubling the penalty of that exacted to us mere “mundanes”.
As much as I don’t want to see it, “blowback” is coming and will not be for the faint-hearted. Those who are bent on attacking cops will see only the uniform and not the person wearing it.
” Fired police officer Derek Chauvin who put knee on George Floyd’s neck arrested in Minnesota: WSJ”
“Wait for the facts!”
Four police officers Vs one handcuffed guy on the ground.
How much more do we need, exactly?
I’m sure they’re out there but no police officers that I know need more facts than what is presented in the video… at least for the defendant already charged. The others who are not on that video might need a little more investigation.
maybe if the black community would stop turning a blind eye towards the crime and violence being perpetrated by members of their own race and families and deal with the situation they are faced with and stop yelling and blaming racism on everything. come up with solutions to that then maybe an open and productive dialogue can ensue and the violence will stop. no instead you want it all your way Abdullah and no compromise. either do something about it or shut the hell up. yeah i know by writing this i am going to be called a racist but you see i am beyond caring about what people think or say so keep it to yourself
“maybe if the black community…”???
What the HELL does the Black community have to do with a “person who matched the description…” being killed by a cop? He should not even have been arrested. Questioned, yes, of course. Other than he was a “person who matched the description…”, there was no violence on his part until the cop tried to forcibly, unnecessarily arrest him.
If a cop comes up to me and tells me that I’m under arrest, I’m going to do the same thing you would do: “OK Officer. You are arresting me, so you must have a good reason, so I must have done something bad, so please put the handcuffs on me and take me to jail.”
That is what you would do, right? Go ahead and lie, and say “Why, yes, of course”.
Not a damn one of you would cave instantly and go without some resistance. And for the record, “Why? What did I do” constitutes resistance.
It ain’t White or Black, it’s human!
Actually if the black community took the murder of school children in drive by shootings, by black gangsters more seriously. Perhaps things would be much better in the black community.
You see taking care of business within your own community is much better than to have Outsiders take care of your business.
People have forgotten that in Chicago it was Jane Byrne. The first woman to be elected mayor in Chicago. Who passed the law to disarm the citizens in the city. Primarily the black residents of public housing projects. But if you’re white and connected you can get a gun in Chicago still.
But if you’re an innocent law-abiding black person in certain parts of Chicago you can’t get a gun.
And there is no gun range in the Chicago city limits for you to practice in either.
all that is true…but we should expect more from the cops….who hold a public trust….
Chris – Are you sure you’re a black man? Calling out black on black crime is a sure way to decrease the number of people who come over for Sunday dinner.
And of course I suppose I have to say it – there’s no excuse for the murder of Floyd.
Fyi
I am very comfortable talking about black on black crime. Just as I am very comfortable talking about what has exacerbated black on black crime.
White people who have publicly said that a black father is not necessary in the home. And these same white people who support the welfare industrial complex. Supporting a woman who has five children from five different men. And I have no problem talking about white people who have said that a man is not necessary to raise children.
Or that its not necessary to have one man and one woman in a family unit to raise children.
But now having said all that. I know I have made some white people very uncomfortable. And who would those white people be???
(Smile)
“And I have no problem talking about white people who have said that a man is not necessary to raise children.”
Chris, the way you worded that entire paragraph sounds like you are painting all white people with a broad brush. Was that your intent or you just didn’t clarify?
To BradB
Are you feeling guilty about doing something in your past? Is this why you asked your question? I thought I was very clear.
Are you a new supporter of the Second Amendment? Or are you just a gun owner? Because there is a difference.
Here is my answer to your question. I am very grateful to conservative white men from the John Birch Society and who were members of the California state legislature in the 1960s. Brave white men who stood up and spoke out against the Mulford Act. On the legislative floor in the capital building. Into the legal debate record. It was very brave for these conservative white men to support the civil rights of the Black Panther Party for self defense in 1964. When no one else would.
If it’s not black or white it’s just human why is there only videos of black people burning shit down or at least the majority of them are black! Blacks as a society run around and destroy shit their own neighborhood and then wonder why people look at them in a bad light! you don’t see whites burning down the Neighborhood when a white gets killed by a cop! With all that being said that cop needs to hang Along with the cops standing around!
I remember very well when white gay people burned San Francisco to the ground. After Dan White was found not guilty of murdering Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected person in California. And not guilty of murdering the cities mayor. George Moscone.
They caused millions in damages in today’s dollars.
So yes. White people do it too. And there have been other white riots in the 20th century. If you want know about them just ask me.
(Smile)
I said in a previous post I found the video disgusting. The need for physical force is at a minimum once the suspect is cuffed. Especially with multiple officers on scene. We had a deputy place his boot on the head of a restrained and prone suspect. Other deputies interceded and wrote up the incident. The offending deputy was fired. Both he and the suspect were black.
You mean cops can be bad without there being a racist angle to it? Mind blown. 😉
I’m glad to hear that. If you read the charging documents it is evident that at least one of the other officers there knew something was wrong and tried to (verbally) intercede but failed and went no further. He suggested rolling the guy on his side.
At what point does one get physical with the offending officer? One cop shoving another off a suspect in public is not a good look… but I bet they wish that had done it in hindsight.
A lot of self serving posturing in this.
Chief Eddie Garcia of San Jose PD had his Officers stand down and not intervene when a violent mob attacked attendees at a Trump rally in his city during the run up to the election.
Some criminal actions by police are acceptable to him and others are not………
You seem to be confusing two very different things. When the police refuse to intercede is different than the police killing someone.
You’re right.,There is a difference between Intentionally committing a crime and depraved indifference/negligence. It just happens to be a very, very small difference.
No matter what drugs were in that man’s system, it is clear from the video that the proximate cause of his death was having 200 lbs of blue uniformed thug kneeling on his neck while he was on the ground in handcuffs. There is no excuse and no justification for what he did, he needs to go to prison for murder and his accomplices for accessory. Fortunately there was video because otherwise he would get away with it, this is a bad cop with a history and should have been out on his ass years ago. Companies that insure these cities are likely to demand reforms as well as boosting what they charge for liability coverage.
According to the Minneapolis Startribune , knee on neck is within the depts use of force guidelines. The County Attorney said he must look at all evidence, and some doesn’t support criminal charges .
You think things are burning now , just wait till there’s no charges or only low level ones .
You, or more likely the Star Tribune, stopped short of the guidance. Placing a knee on the neck of a person in your custody is acceptable only long enough to handcuff them, in extreme circumstances. It’s transitional only.
Already handcuffed, searched, with 4 officers, and for 9 minutes? Nope.
And that’s what is so different about this case than, say Eric Garner. That was a brief use of a neck-hold (that didn’t look like it involved the windpipe at all- plus Garner did not shot signs of windpipe damage in the video) falling outside of policy but it was released immediately upon gaining compliance and then they rolled him on his side because THAT’S WHAT YOU DO when someone is having trouble breathing.
The video from this incident is not only hard to watch but hard to fathom.
There are roughly 800,000 cops in the US. These 4 were idiots, one of which was already charged for murder. The worst 1% – 3% or so of cops are very bad – either criminals, cowards, or both. Most are trying to do their jobs. Hard to do your job once your station has been burned down. There are probably some bad people at most jobs.
We had our people attacked because of this, and I helped get our cruisers fixed. Nothing says social justice like vandalism, A&B stealing TVs, and arson, right?
And for those who may be asking, I’ve stopped cops from using excessive force and would have stopped this if I was there. My hope is for regular justice for both the guilty cops and the looters. Probably won’t be answering responses if there are any since I anticipate being called in.
Sadly, it’s the few rotten scumbags that ruin the work and reputation of the good cops.
I seriously think that educational institutions and police departments need to reevaluate how they train people for careers in law enforcement and the types of behavior or reactions that should be exhibited when interfacing with the public.
Cops are fearful and often suspicious of people and the same feelings occur in private citizens towards the police. There needs to be a clear understanding of police authority and citizens rights. While I do not condone rude or obnoxious behavior towards officers, their power or authority can often cross legal lines of their powers versus citizens rights. They can simply threaten and arrest while citizens are powerless during an encounter. The current system allows to much uncertainty and resentment and even if not by choice, an abuse of power or at least a show of power which feels the same.
The higher level powers are failing both the public and it’s peace officers. They wait and react while we the people and our friends in blue endure a love/hate relationship and live in mutual fear of each other.
the main thing they need to get across to them is that nowadays….CAMERAS ARE EVERYWHERE!…so conduct yourself accordingly………
“I’ve stopped cops from using excessive force and would have stopped this if I was there.”
I believe you, and your statement highlights the larger concern with that department.
It’s concerning that of the four cops there, one was happy to keep his knee on the victim’s neck for 9 minutes while another was possibly on the victim’s back and two more not doing anything useful. Except one who, to his partial credit, did suggest rolling him on his side… but saying it wasn’t enough.
This looks bad for cops everywhere but especially this department.
It’s really interesting to see the difference between what happened in Huston TX and Minneapolis. Two cops, one that’s black, setup and murder a white family. And it seems they have been sending innocent people to prison. For years now in Tx.
Huston is not burning. But the police chief doesn’t seem to be to sad about the goings-on in his department. I know he’s from LA. California. Sadly it seems the best way to get serious attention from a police chief is to credibly threaten the entire department with overwelming force.
And thousands of rioters is such a force.
I think the police should be disarmed. They can start in the Blue states first. Since they seem to hate cops there so much. It will certainly start to make government smaller.
Anybody who has been paying attention can answer what would’ve happened if this had been a white guy on the ground instead of a black guy: nobody would’ve publicized it and nobody would’ve protested in the streets about it. I can think of several incidents like this one (or worse) that have happened to white people in the past few years, video evidence and everything, and got zero public reaction.
The problem here isn’t with black people or white people per se. As you pointed out, it’s about abuse of authority. We’ll ignore it when it’s directed against “those other people,” but in reality it can be — and is — directed against any and all of us. The anti-gun industry should start by disarming the police if they want to make America a safer place.
I don’t believe we have a race problem in the United States as so many people understanded.
I agree with you. I think we have a corruption problem in the United States. And the best way to deal with that is having everyone armed.
An armed Society is a much more polite Society. And I believe a hundred years ago we were in fact much more polite to each other.
Black people were mistreated because they were disarmed and could not stop their mistreatment from Outsiders. Everyone having guns makes everyone safer and more polite to each other.
You can disarm cops but you can’t take their knees away.
You can, though it is perhaps easier with #4 and a duckbill. Combo deal :p
/sarc
Nothing more than a transparent try to avoid a riot in their city.
If you are looking at police chiefs for reform you’re looking in the wrong place provided they’re appointed. They answer to elected officials not to the citizenry of their state. Look at what happened with Laquan Mcdonald. Rahm left Mcarthy holding the bag for that. “Never saw the video” my ass. He signed off on a $5M check! who signs a $5M check without seeing the video!
Yes we must DO SOMETHING.
“‘I am deeply disturbed by the video of Mr. Floyd being murdered in the street with other officers there letting it go on,’ Polk County, Georgia, Sheriff Johnny Moats wrote on Facebook.”
Moats declared Polk to be a 2A Sanctuary County. I think I like that guy.
Crocodile tears. Take some moral responsibility for your own lives, quit being cops and take the next best job you can get. I’m sure in 6 months you’ll all be CEO’s and heart surgeons and shit. Just wear a suit to the interview and give a firm handshake.
Regardless of any mumbo jumbo law that says how you resist arrest there is no law against telling the cop you can not breathe. THAT is the crime here and the cop, a bad cop, continued his actions until death. Last anyone, including police, knows is that resisting arrest is not a capital crime that should result in immediate death. And last any one knew it is not the police’s job to be judge jury and executioner. In this case it definitely was. This is definitely murder by police.
It is past time to come down hard on police, District Attorneys and Judges for allowing things like this to happen. It happens every day in virtually every state, country and town. Yes it does, just sometimes it is not reported or is so slight it is not noticed. “Don’t make me arrest you,” is actually a threat. This phrase is used many times by officers. Excuse me, but what would they do if I told them, “Don’t make me get a lawyer and take away your badge, livelihood and life?” Yup, laugh at me and do something nasty to me and tell me “Prove it asshole.” FACT. Just because they have a badge does not make them right.
Time to take some of the bullying and excessive force away from them. Training sessions many times turn into job related injuries, an indication that the training is directed to hurt, maim and otherwise harm individuals. Unacceptable.
If police are not careful there will be an uprising that is far worse than the conditions in Minneapolis and they will be the object of the exercise. Throwing words around like above means nothing. Do it. You think the cop murdered the man then stand by the mans family and see justice done. In fact demand a hanging in the public square. If that does not send the message then nothing will.
Right on Richard. I have been scared of being pulled over and given a sobriety test because of my age 75 and being on chemo and having COPD . I could not pass the test or stand on one foot. Lots of good cops out there but a lot of over zealous power hungry ones also.
This story counts 4 individuals , I still see 6. Why is everyone forgetting two finger charlie? He gets out of the bambulance checks for a pulse and that’s it? Where is the CPR , heck after they shoot some one they put their gloves on and try to stop the bleeding. This guy didn’t have a chance
I’m a 65 year white man who of course has never been the victim of racism so I have no first hand knowledge of how it is to live with and confront. I’ve never had contact with police where I was in the position to be arrested. My mother-in-law was treated brutally for the small offense of speeding simply because it was late at night and being afraid wouldn’t get out of the car. There really was no reason she should have been ordered to get out of the car. She was only trying to get to my wife and young son who were broken down on the side of the road. She was a small woman, who was 60 years old at the time and was yanked out through the window by a huge 6’6″ sheriff’s deputy and arrested because he was pissed off. He called for back-up for some reason but these other officers at the scene did nothing to stop him. When he got her to the sheriffs station he was laughed at and told this was ridiculous and she was released. We all have our faults but believe it or not I’m for equality for all races, justice for all races and opportunity to succeed for all races. There is not place for racism or unequal treatment. If you are a criminal then you should be punished but no one deserves to be treated brutally and with disrespect. I have nephews in law enforcement and know how difficult their job is. They all hate bad cops and just like all other areas of life there are bad ones who need to be kicked out and if proven they broke the law punished. All cops and all people of one race shouldn’t be blamed for the actions of a small percentage, no matter what race they are. We must stop listening to the media and the race baiter’s trying to stir up trouble which sometimes looks like they want chaos and a race war to push their destroy America agenda. People have a right to protest but looting and burning small businesses when most of them probably support your protest is not the way to get people to see what you want them to see and work to fix it. We must stop being afraid to talk and confront racism, brutally and unequal treatment where it exists and work together. We are better than this as people and a country. Sorry this is so long.
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