Over the years STP has taken a lot of heat from our own supporters for writing stories about abusive police officers. Yet things sometimes speak for themselves and to continue to support the indefensible is never good politics nor is it good sense.
With that said...what is going on right now is not because of the death of George Floyd and few of the protesters are interested in justice or change. In fact, picking this case to justify nationwide riots is morally bankrupt and doomed to sink any chances of changing how our police officers deal with citizens and criminals. If you want to parcel out the blame, start with the black community at large, the cops and whoever trains them to do this stupid stuff, the politicians that look the other way because the politician is more afraid of the minority communities causing crime than they are of being voted out of office, and the news media for not holding bad cops accountable.
First off why aren't the protests down at the Mayor, Governor, or Chief of Police offices? All major political offices in the states being roiled by massive protests are held by Democrats and they are in charge of the actual police. Not sure robbing and burning the local Target store is going to accomplish change.
George Floyd was no angel or gentle giant as NPR has quickly tagged him. He was a life long criminal with many stays in prison and county or city jails. He was a violent man, dealt in drugs, and no amount of lipstick on the pig is going to make it anything else.
The videos of his initial detainment were reasonable enough. Floyd was cooperating, drunk or stoned, but he wasn't fighting the arrest. Something changed once they got him in the back of the police car. There is a video out there showing the four officers struggling to get Floyd out of the car, to the point that the car is rocking like Chris Kannady had cornered another victim. It seems that Floyd was in the car, handcuffed after being detained, but became agitated, yelling that he was claustrophobic and couldn't breathe. After a few minutes of struggle the officers had Floyd out on the ground and three of them were kneeling on the guy. Whatever Floyd was doing in side that car it must have been destructive for the cops to put that much effort into taking the guy out of the car.
The body cam footage is going to be important because we need to see why they went to the effort to keep Floyd pinned on the ground. I can guarantee it wasn't because they enjoyed doing it for fun.
And you know, drunk or not, play stupid games and you win stupid prizes. There is never a reason to fight a cop short of complete lawless action, say a cop was simply there to abduct you and kill you. You comply and let the lawyers sort things out.
The cop in question, now being lynched nationally, was a nineteen year veteran and he did have multiple complaints filed against him but you know, that is going to go with the territory when you arrest people. One of the current Senators from the state Amy Klobuchar refused to file charges on one of those cases. The entire government of Minneapolis and Minnesota is far left and Democrat yet they kept him on the job for nineteen years. I would imagine that a cop should expect dozens of complaints to be filed as just part of the job and if there was a problem then why was he not fired?
We know now that the preliminary findings show that Floyd died not from being choked or strangled, but from a combination of underlying health conditions, coronary artery disease and hypertensive heart disease, being restrained by the cops, and the intoxicants in his system. Both the initial 911 call and the witnesses all reported that he as either drunk or stoned. A 6' 6” man of that weight is capable of doing a lot of damage especially if liquored up or high and not feeling any pain. I do not doubt it took four cops to get him on the ground, but I don't agree with kneeling on his neck at all. Yet no doubt the cops can point to training and some compliant training officer will be trotted out saying this is all necessary and needed. And some might think that will still work. I hope not.
Floyd was no angel. He was jailed for using a firearm in a theft in 1998 and spent 10 months in jail, arrested for criminal trespass in 2002 and spent time in jail for that offense, busted with cocaine in 2002 and spent eight months in jail, busted in 2005 for more cocaine possession and spent ten months in jail, pled guilty to breaking and entering a woman's home in a 2007 home invasion and robbery where he pointed a gun at the woman's stomach and an accomplish pistol whipped her when she screamed for help. That put Floyd in prison for a five years and once he got out in 2014 he moved out of Texas in an attempt to change his life they say. There were a few more arrests in the 90's but it isn't clear if they resulted in convictions or not.
A far better poster child would have been the black EMT woman that was murdered in her own home after the police broke into the wrong house. An innocent woman would have been a much better rallying point but they didn't have a spiffy picture of a white man kneeling on a black man's head I guess.
As for the cops themselves, things have to change. We at STP have been warning of this for a decade now. Citizens deserve to be treated with respect, even criminals deserve to be humanely detained and once detained the cops ought to be responsible for their well being no different than if it were an animal in their control and care. Not saying that criminals are all animals, saying that even an animal is protected from brutality and unneeded harm and pain.
Cops have to understand that like the rest of us, danger comes with the job. On the list of deadliest profession cops are way up the list, usually 15 or 16, with farmers, construction workers, loggers, fishermen, even a 7-11 clerk facing more danger of injury or death.
The average cop appears to fear everything and everyone, no doubt instilled into them by training. You talk to a good prison guard or small town marshall and you will be told that treating people with respect is what keeps you safe. If you are a coward, you shouldn't be a cop. If you kill someone as a cop you ought to be investigated by an outside group, out side of law enforcement even, and pay for your mistakes as any citizen pays for any mistake they make.
And be glad we have cops that run toward trouble when the rest of us are running away. They keep the trash off the street as much as they can and are hated and feared by many. I would hate and fear more what our society would look like without cops keeping us safe.
But we are at a tipping point, we get cops under control or we lose control over society. They like our soldiers have a tough job and deserve a hefty amount of the benefit of the doubt but training them to be cowards and bullies has a cost and the nation is paying this weekend.
As for the “protesters”, surround the lot the second violence breaks out, or roads get blocked, or property damaged, and arrest the lot using as much violence as is needed. Once you riot you no longer are part of polite society and you have forfeited your rights and should get what you are dishing out.
