I've been doing some self reflecting lately and I've thought about my initial feelings in the George Floyd case. On the day the news broke, my mom telephoned me and told be about this horrible event where a cop had crushed the neck of a helpless black man who was handcuffed and pleading that he couldn't breath. I was horrified and angrily declared how rotten it was that a white racist cop killed a black man. I wanted the cop to pay for what he'd done!
By the time this thread was created, I began to question my own belief that this was indeed a racist motivated hate crime. There had been no evidence that the cop was a racist, but yet I had declared him a racist just because his skin color was white and the dead man was black. I thought to myself, what if the cop had been black but the same exact circumstance happened leading to a death of a black suspect? Would I still call that racism? And what if George Floyd was a white man who died while a black cop subdued him with a knee to his neck...would that be racism? I realized I had been wrong and that without any concrete evidence of racial hatred by the cop, the skin color didn't matter.
So then I decided in my head that the cop, Derek Chauvin, must be some psycho bully cop who gets his kicks abusing people. But then I thought about that and read about the case and how George Floyd, a very large and powerful man, resisted arrest as he was being put into the squad car, claiming he was claustrophobic. That made me realize why the cops had him pinned down on the ground and when he said he couldn't breath, to them it was the same as when he said he couldn't get into the cop car because he was claustrophobic, they thought he was lying.
I don't believe any of the cops intended to hurt him or to have him die. I believe it was a one in a million circumstance where the elements came together to cause his death. Sort of like what happened to the Titanic or what they call the 'perfect storm'.
I do think the cops were careless and there forth negligent. A third degree murder charge (manslaughter) would be appropriate. Anything else and we're just throwing these officers under the wheels of justices to quell social unrest.
All Lives Matter.
I'd agree with all of that.
The only part I'd question is the one in a million circumstance (yes the circumstances were one in a million, but the outcome was significantly determined by the cops' actions).
What I mean is: the duration of time Chauvin kept his knee on Floyd's neck was probably the most significant factor. Almost 9 minutes of a knee on a man's neck significantly increases the odds of something permanently injurious or fatal happening.
That seems to be the biggest problem with Chauvin's actions. Almost 9 minutes during which Floyd (who was already cuffed - which is another major factor in determining if he needed to be restrained in such a manner) said he couldn't breath, pleaded for his life and passed out.
That Chauvin continued for almost 3 minutes after Floyd passed out is unconscionable - even if he
thought Floyd was faking it, a cop can't risk taking the chance that it's a fake - you role the guy over, check his vitals, and if he's faking you can go back to restraining him.
If Chauvin had used this tactic for maybe 2 or 3 minutes, it's quite likely no one would have had a problem with it, but to continue it for 9 minutes - 3 of which were after Floyd appeared to lose consciousness... well, that's a problem.