Officer Derek Chauvin arrested in death of George Floyd
Category: News & Politics
Via: john-russell • 5 years ago • 109 commentsBy: The Mercury News


By The Associated Press | May 29, 2020 at 10:32 a.m.
Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota authorities say the police officer who knelt on George Floyd has been arrested.
Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington said Friday that state investigators arrested Derek Chauvin.
Chauvin is the white officer who was seen on video kneeling on the neck of Floyd, a handcuffed black man.
The arrest comes after three days of protests, which escalated in violence as demonstrators torched a police precinct that had been abandoned by officers.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Friday acknowledged the "abject failure" of the response to this week's violent protests. Walz said the state would take over the response and that it's time to show respect and dignity to those who are suffering.

this should bring some "normality" to the streets
Don't count on it. There are still stores to be looted.
Yep. New excuse will be "it took them too long" and away we will go again tonight.
No it wont. What is going on in the streets has nothing to do with this incident and everything to do with finding a reason to break laws and put money in your own pocket. What's going on in the streets is every bit as disgusting as the incident they are "protesting". If they truly felt for the victim, they would take money from their own pockets(lol), and send it to the victims family. But do they do that? No, they do something that affects people not involved in the incident to benefit themselves. Disgusting.
To be clear I do not support the officer or police brutality. However I do view this as one of many police encounters that turned out tragically. No need to turn it into systemic racism or an example of how all police act. He has been condemned and punished. What more do these protesters want?
I don't have a problem with protests that don't turn violent and don't have looting. I can understand the frustration of the black community when they see murder by those who are supposed to protect them. What I don't understand, is looting your own neighborhood.
Yes somewhat like the protests we had here in michigan. They were armed yet peaceful. However many on the left scolded them. I dont see those same people showing the same level of disdain for these riots. They merely report objectively and then empathize with the protestors. Which enables their negative behavior and continues to destroy their communities. Its a shame the people who get these mobs riled up like the news media dont have to pay for that type of thing
You act up where the problem occurs. I mean what sense does it make to 'transport' the problem to a 'cold' other site? The officer is the issue here. Keep his damn knee literally and symbolically off the neck of a black man who did not get his day in court - hell, he did not get to the police station and that which comes after, an upset to the peace and calm need not materialize. The looting is an effect; its cause is not being heard by police culture in the towns involved!
When multiple images and videos of white men become regular toxic oppressed symbols on television screens, you will scream about civil liberties (right to life!) too. When we start seeing white men mashed in the streets under policing actions, shot dead without a proper judge and jury decision, or beaten to bloody pulps for seemingly nonspecific "expression" to authorities, —register your 'whataboutism." Okay? Don't make unfair/unequal comparisons.
If you can't see the problem, stand back some, you're too close to it.
Hillaryious post. Bad cops are about more than just you but I'm not surprised you are unable to see that.
Right.
So you have one picture of a guy screaming when there are multiple videos of stores like target being looted clean and burned to the ground? How does that help this situation?
More whites are killed by cops than blacks every year. We just arent so whiny about it
The above link also proves brutality is declining, not rising
You attribute this to the same thing as looting and burning? Fucking Hillaryious.
Better grab a shovel. You need to dig deeper.
Yeah. Let's see some Michigan police 'leg' throttlin those SEVERAL sweet necks into 'oblivion.' Didn't happen. After all, surgical masks don't operate to stop microbes going around the sides and entering into their bodies. Clearly, these possible asymptomatic men could be 'death-wishing' and threatening the lives of police officers.
Just goes to show you what you are concerned about and what you are not.
Once this dies down, the residents who looted and burned their own neighborhood stores will piss and moan about not having businesses to meet their needs. I am betting that no liquor stores or BBQ/fast food joints were destroyed.
Joe Biden is that you?
I said to you: "Don't make unfair/unequal comparisons."
Maybe y'all should gear up a "White Lives Matter Movement"? ⇒I would seriously consider joining in.
Now, I know you didn't try to compare what best can be described as justified shootings (under the law) or at worse unjustified shooting which your statistics does not plainly state. For that matter if "more whites" are lame enough to let civil servants of the law 'bust a cap' on them without complaining, then what is the advantage of the majority or white privilege?
Black people are not whining. They are being the squeaky wheel that gets the damn grease. Observe the distinction.
When we start seeing white men mashed in the streets under policing actions, shot dead without a proper judge and jury decision, or beaten to bloody pulps for seemingly nonspecific "expression" to authorities, —register your 'whataboutism."
If the videos and narratives exist ⇐ y'all should whine. Save yourselves. White People Matter.
The cop has been charged with 3rd degree murder.
They are only charging him with something they are sure they can get a conviction on. If you overcharge the cop walks.
Good........Now let's see if indeed it calms the herd.................
Exactly and that is why it took four days to finally arrest him. They know he's guilty as hell and had to make sure the charge would fit the crime and stick.'
What about his Cohorts ?
Anything ?
I kind of thought so myself, but if you overcharge the cop walks. They even gave the second charge of manslaughter... if he gets that, there will be more riots.
He is also charged with manslaughter. It would seem that he and Mr. Floyd once worked security jobs together so I have to wonder if this was a grudge thing against Mr Floyd for some reason.
I think charging them will be harder. I mean the just stood there. Maybe involuntary manslaughter?
My guess would be accessory to murder under the color of authority.
To me....since they were there in "Badge" and actually involved/handcuffing/walking him and watching, something would definitely be better than Nothing !
Not really, there's more video showing three more cops kneeling on him. This is just nauseating.
I figured they would charge him with manslaughter
Might have been able to but when he held the guy down after he stated he couldn't breathe, it may have gone past the point of manslaughter as the guy was cuffed and subdued. Thus the harsher charge but it is still in the mix of charges as I understand.
Even if he's convicted of voluntary manslaughter I think that carries a penalty of 20 to life doesn't it?
I think any murder charge will be hard to get a conviction on because one must prove intent for murder. They have to prove that the cop intended to kill him when he put his knee on his neck
Good points. And as said, I think manslaughter is still on the table as a secondary charge.
Just more dehumanizing speech evoking the memory of when bigoted white southerners killed hundreds of thousands of patriotic American soldiers all to protect their fantasy right to own black Americans as cattle.
The vast majority of the protestors have been peaceful, these few handfuls of opportunists looting and burning buildings should be arrested and held to account. But let's not lump in all those who are peacefully expressing their frustration at the blatant and obvious racial bias in our justice system, not just in Minneapolis but across the US.
I don't care what charge sticks as long as it sends him away for a very long time. Cops in prison have a very short shelf life.
3rd degree might not sound like much, but it is still a murder charge. Minimum sentence is supposed to be 12 1/2 years. It makes the most sense. It is apparent from the video that the cop didn't intend to kill anyone. He just created a situation where it was highly likely and he didn't give a shit what the result was. That makes it 3rd degree. It's commonly referred to as "depraved heart murder."
You can not untentionally 'throttle' the neck area of a man laying prone on the ground with no support for your hands (in the pockets), as you exert the full weight of your upper torso down through the bones in the knee as a focal point:
FULL VIDEO : 4 Minneapolis Police Officers Fired Over George Floyd Death
As you can tell this is not the whole video, but it is the caption provided by the poster. You can get some 'insight' into the real-time scene. One: The officers seem to be 'convinced' he is drugs. Two: You do not 'ride' the neck of anybody high on drugs-medical or illegal- because our police are not licensed trained medics!
The charge doesn't reflect a believe that the act was unintentional; only that the outcome was not intended. It also reflects the theory that the outcome should come as no surprise to anyone who cares about human life.
It's a legal distinction, but one that I think will be lost on most people.
How would you react if the public is advising you to remove your knee, set him up, take him off his side, okay that's enough, man! let him take a breath!?
Honestly, I would like to think you would not arrogantly continue to apply pressure to a near corpse. Then, there is the: he is not moving, oh god this is whack, check his pulse!
No Tacos! There is willful killing too. This so-called officer was a willful killer that day. And that Asian cop caught in the image @1.4.20: Ridiculous.
I'm not a cop, so I wouldn't have my knee on the guy in the first place, and if people were alerting me to someone's suffering, I would obviously listen.
Cops are a different matter. And I don't mean to beat up all cops. But through experience, they learn that suspects lie to them all the time about the pains they have. Furthermore, their friends and neighbors routinely heckle them while doing their job and accuse them of abuse even when they aren't abusing anyone. So genuine protests fall on deaf ears.
Many cops have come to disconnect themselves from the rest of humanity. They see it as an effective and safe way to approach the job. Or at least, they tell themselves that. For some of them, they are just rationalizing the brutality that the badge allows them to dispense.
We have some real and pervasive problems with policing in our society. Some of it is bad people who put on the uniform, but some of it is also the fault of long-standing policies and attitudes. The job can turn good people into mean cops. It also attracts bad people to begin with. We have a lot of work to do.
No, I don't see any evidence that he intentionally killed anyone. It would be easier if he had intended that. The deeper problem is that he didn't see a human being under his knee.
Mr. Floyd is not responsible for the psychological or pathological disease states of police. Indeed, since they stopped Mr. Floyd; arrested him; they owe him a safe trip to jail and to, if needed, a day in court. That did not happen here-he did not make it into a vehicle transport. So what if he complained about not getting into a police enclosure (cage) due to his claustrophobia- hog-tie him and order a different transport vehicle .
Instead, this officer rode his neck with a deadly technique:
The police technique is called 'prone position' - positional asphyxia and Minnesota dealt with it in 2010:
There is relevant video of the incident on the link!
Yes, let's all restore the pretty picture of calm. Let me remind everybody that, the streets are not torched because a black man is arrested, or beat by officers. This "officer" rode and mashed the life out of Mr. Floyd while he pleaded for himself and described the agony of his life ebbing away. While the public looked on and was made complicit in its inefficaciousness to cause right to occur.
This is not about looting or fires, this is about why police are allowed to injure, maim, and kill without (reasonable) boundaries. This officer, I wonder, in his file, does he have any record of 'riding' a white man's neck in the same manner he did to Mr. Floyd.
good,
that was a clear cut case of negligent manslaughter
Hopefully the arrest will help to calm things a little.
That is not to criticize the protestors. I think we are too quick to condemn the chaos and destruction we see. What else would you like people to do? The have no hope it will ever get better. This shit has been going on since forever. Clearly, there is a culture in policing that says it's ok to treat human beings like this. This isn't just one cop. It's also the others who stand around watching it happen. And it's the cops who trained them to treat human beings worse than animals.
People are abused like this by cops every day somewhere in this country. They die on the streets, and in jail where it's less public.
Notwithstanding the occasional prosecution, nothing is done about it. Where are the new laws and regulations that will shape more humane police procedures? Politicians are afraid to campaign on the notion that they will reform policing. Judges are mostly former prosecutors and tend to side with police. Will anyone stand up for the people?
So if you see this happening over and over, especially in your community, I totally get why you might go out into the streets and light shit on fire or throw rocks and bottles.
Now if you're stealing the cash register from Target, you're not angry. You're just a thief.
But I don't blame these people one bit for wanting to watch the world burn.
Good comment. I would like to add. Target and other wealthy companies should go out of the stores when this happen and stand with the people who buy their merchandise. Let it be known: Target stands up for what is right in the communities they serve!
Police departments need to push the loser officers out into the system of justice. Don't cover them. Don't enable them. Don't associate the badge with them one second longer than circumstances require.
The public needs attention and listening too. The public does not 'act-up' blacks, whites, Hispanics, Indians, Asians, and more every day of the week. Rioting and its associate looting and violence come from a lack of being respected and heard.
By the way, at what point did the decision to call in a medical 'wagon' come? What sense does it make to stay riding the man's back and jugular after calling for medical back-up?