Death of George Floyd - Confirming what I already suspected

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WALSH: George Floyd Body Cam Footage Is Out. The Story Is Far More Complicated Than Media Led Us To Believe. By Matt Walsh · Aug 4, 2020 Ira L. Black/Corbis via Getty Images Two months after footage of George Floyd's death went viral, sparking an epidemic of rioting and violence that killed dozens of people and caused untold damage to countless communities across the country, body cam footage of the incident has finally been made available. Published by the Daily Mail after being leaked to the outlet, the additional video (below) lends crucial context to the fatal encounter between Floyd and Officer Derek Chauvin, and gives insight into the states of mind of both men. The body cameras worn by officers Alex Kueng and Thomas Lane, the first two cops on the scene, show Floyd agitated and uncooperative from the first moment that officers arrive in response to a call from a business owner who accused Floyd of trying to pass off counterfeit bills. Floyd is in his car when law enforcement first shows up. One of the officers draws his weapon because Floyd is initially hesitant to show his hands. Once Floyd places his hands on his head, the gun is holstered. After much coaxing, he is eventually removed from his car and taken over to the police cruiser. Floyd appears to have trouble walking on his way over to the police car. He shouts "ow" and seems to be in pain even though he is only being grabbed by the arm. Once at the vehicle, he repeatedly refuses to get inside, saying that he's "claustrophobic," though he'd just been sitting in his own car without any apparent difficulty (on the contrary he was extremely reluctant to get out of his own vehicle). At one point, as officers try to convince him to get in the car, Floyd says he'd rather lay on the ground. He also says several times that he's "going to die" and that he can't breathe – all before he was on the ground. He ends up on the ground because he either falls or pushes himself out of the other side of the police cruiser as officers struggle to get him inside. From that point, the scene unfolds as we all saw on the initial video two months ago. EXCLUSIVE: Leaked police bodycam footage shows G... Mail Watch later Share Daily Mail As previously stated, none of this conclusively exonerates the officers of any and all wrongdoing, but it does establish a few facts that might mitigate their culpability: 1. George Floyd was not fully cooperative and clearly intoxicated. 2. The officers were calm and reasonable for most of the interaction. 3. George Floyd claimed that he couldn't breathe and was going to die well before he had a knee on his neck. 4. The officers never did or said a single thing that any reasonable person could construe as racist. Point three in particular warrants further consideration. Floyd said he was too claustrophobic to get in the police car and that he might die and couldn't breathe, even though he'd just been sitting in a car. He was screaming out in pain even though the officers at that point weren't doing anything that could have caused him physical harm. We should note that he also said his mom just died even though she'd been dead for two years. The officers wouldn't have known that latter detail, but the point is that cops hear nonsense like this from suspects all day, every day. This can create a "boy who cried wolf" situation where it's harder to tell when a suspect is actually in distress. When Floyd was on the ground saying he was going to die, it was no different from what he was saying while he was standing, or what he was saying in the car. These facts may not be exculpatory but they certainly are relevant. The narrative, as it was originally presented, does not take any of these details into account. It demands that we see the event as nothing more or less than a wanton act of random cruelty, with nothing precipitating it and with not even an ounce of blame or responsibility to be shared by Floyd himself. In reality, Floyd may still be the victim of some degree of negligence, but it seems that the murder charge will be difficult to prove. The truth just isn't that simple. It rarely is. And that's a lesson we would all do well to remember for the future.

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tman105

Aug 05, 2020 at 05:21PM EDT

Jesus

1. he was not fully cooperative (we already knew that, also its not a justification for killing him)

2. Police were calm (and then they killed him so…..like, im sure ted bundy was calm as he killed people too but thats not really a point for Ted bundy is it?)

3. Was claiming he couldnt breath before he had the knee to his neck (If anything this is a negative to the cops not to the situation. "He is having breathing issues? lets put all our weight on him and a knee in the back of his neck")

4. The cops never said racist shit. (No one said they said anything racist. They said that they killed him by putting his knee on his neck until he died and that the system that allows that to happen is racist)

Its all totally irrelevant. all of it.

+20

David "Garsedj" Touchdown

Aug 05, 2020 at 02:36PM EDT

So if I find a drunk person, remain calm and reasonable, have him say "I'm being stabbed" before actually stabbing him, and never do or say a single thing that any reasonable person could construe as aggressive, I'm good for going away with murder?

Or do I have to be a cop?

+15

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