Four Minneapolis police officers have been fired after video showing the death of a man in their custody when viral. CBS News. The man, identified as George Floyd, was detained after being reported for a forgery. The police say he was sitting on his car and appeared intoxicated and when confronted he resisted arrest. A 10 minute video was released showing Floyd complaining about not being able to breath and having a bloody nose. The officers involved were also involved with an altercation with a crowd that had gathered that demanded the officers release Floyd.
The video can be seen on facebook.
My Comment:
As expected as the Coronavirus fades from the news and an election looming the media is beginning to push racial cases in the media again. Just in the past 24 hours there has been this case, a case involving a confrontation between a white woman and a black man in New York City and old, well known, pictures of Jimmy Fallon in blackface have gone viral and I don't think it's organic in any of these cases. Without going into the merits of the other two cases, I don't think any of them would have gone viral if it wasn't an election year, especially after Joe Biden's comments on race went viral just last week.
So what do I think about the video? I have mixed feelings. The police claim that Floyd was resisting arrest but I didn't see that in either of the two videos released. That doesn't mean it didn't happen, we don't have video of the takedown itself, but it is a point against the police officers. Without more information it's going to be hard to argue that this wasn't excessive force.
I also don't think it was wise for the police officer to keep his knee on the man's neck, even if he was resisting. There are other ways to control someone that don't involve putting pressure on someone's neck and doing so can in some cases result in death. I don't think it was too much to ask for the arresting officer to remove his knee from the man's neck when it was clear he was in medical distress.
However, I don't think it is proven that the officers actions resulted in the man's death. Even in the other video that showed some of the leadup, he looked like he was in some medical distress. Much like the Eric Garner case back in the day, I think, at worse, the officers made a bad health situation worse. At best Floyd was a dead man regardless as he may have been having medical issues before the police confronted him. Autopsy results will likely give us better information as to why Floyd died and until then I'm not 100% which way this case will go.
I also think that Floyd is ultimately responsible for this situation even if the cops acted illegally or incorrectly with this case. He was a suspect in a crime after all, so I have little sympathy for him. If it comes out that he wasn't actually a suspect or he didn't actually commit a crime then I would probably be MUCH more sympathetic but so far nobody has even argued that is the case. Until that happens I'm not going to feel bad about his death.
Still, I think it is the right move to terminate the officers involved in this case. I don't think it was justified to continue to use the knee to detain him after it was clear he was in medical distress and especially after he had lost consciousness. They did the right thing in calling an ambulance but it was clear that he needed medical attention and they didn't give it to him immediately. The officer should have used a different technique to restrain him after it was clear that he was in medical trouble and the other officers should have stopped it from happening.
Should they be charged with his death? It's too soon to tell. If they can prove that the neck hold is what killed them then I think they might have a case for the officer that detained Floyd. It would be a miscarriage of justice to charge anyone else though and if it becomes clear that Floyd would have died regardless than I wouldn't support charges. Right now though I think it could go either way, though I think the case should be decided on the merits of the case, not the media circus surrounding it.
As far as the issue of race goes, it wouldn't change my opinion either way. If this was a white, Hispanic or Asian man that died in the custody of a black police officer, I'd still stay the cops should be fired while at the same time having little sympathy for the person who died. I don't think there is any evidence that the police acted out of racial malice. However, if evidence shows that the officers have a history of racism then I might change my mind. Nothing like that has emerged so far so as far as I am concerned this isn't a racial issue at all, just a policing one.
Of course, I'm not the one that decides whether something will be perceived as a racial issue or not. Given that people are already protesting/rioting about this case it's clear that the media narrative is set. This is unfortunate as it will likely cause an increase of actual racism on both sides as well as a general increase of racial tensions. Even pointing out that there is a difference between bad policing, which this case looks like, and racist policing, which we have no evidence of, is a dangerous thing to do.
I will say that at least in this case there is more evidence of police wrongdoing than in many of the others. This kind of makes me think that this case will fade pretty quickly. This is happened in the past as the Walter Scott case, where the police officer involved very unambiguously broke the law when he shot (you can't shoot a fleeing felon even if they disarm you of your taser). That case too quickly faded from the news and if the autopsy shows that this cop caused Floyd's death than it will likely disappear as well. The media gets way more clicks for cases that are controversial, like the Ahmaud Araby case, not when it's pretty unambiguous that the cops screwed up, even with the racial angle.
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