The cops could've issued George Floyd a ticket. No use of force necessary

[suegeo]

Last edited Tue Apr 6, 2021, 06:19 PM - Edit history (1)

A.L. Brown, Attorney, made an interesting comment on my electronic t.v. machine. Essentially he wondered why are we going on and on about use of force, necessary use of force.

Initially, when the cops encountered Floyd sitting in his car, the cops could have tapped on Flyod's car window, tell him they heard he passed on a fake $20 bill, wrote him a ticket, then say, "See you in court."

Instead of doing that, they point a gun at him and eventually cuff him and sat him down next to the Dragon Wok restaurant, across the street from Cup Foods.

Why not just issue a ticket and get on with the day?

Psychopaths. ACAB.

https://www.capitolcitylawgroup.com/attorney-profiles/a-l-brown/

[sop]

1. In many ways these cops are more to blame for Floyd's death than Chauvin.

Chauvin only showed up at the scene after Floyd had been moved to the police vehicle and he resisted being placed in the back. That's when Chauvin got involved: he helped drag Floyd out of the vehicle, threw him on the ground, then put a knee on his neck. Had the responding officers not acted so aggressively and just given Floyd a ticket, Chauvin wouldn't be on trial for murder.

[suegeo]

2. Thanks, I agree with you

Additionally, Floyd would still be alive and likely still awaiting his day in court.
Waiting, because COVID shut down the courts, which still remain largely shut down to this day.

Just WTF?!

[Treefrog]

9. And had Chauvin not choked Floyd to death with his knee, he wouldn't be on trial for murder.

He should already be serving time, and it’s no one else’s fault than his.

[sop]

12. Of course it's Chauvin's fault for putting his knee on Floyd's neck for over nine minutes.

The premise of the OP is why was Floyd arrested and not just given a ticket. Had that not occurred, none of this would have happened.

[BobTheSubgenius]

19. Now THAT is the crux of the situation, isn't it?

And, as a meme I saw had it "If you committed a murder and there was video of it, your trial would be over by lunch time on the first day."

[yardwork]

18. They're all racists.

[Treefrog]

3. I still wonder why he and his friends sat outside a store where they just passed a bad bill/

Doesn’t excuse the murderer in one bit, but wtf were they thinking?

[Jim__]

4. Morries Hall who was in Floyd's car said Floyd fell asleep at the wheel.

Morries said he told Floyd to leave because he thought the police would come; but Floyd fell asleep. The defense is trying to get Morries to testify, but he's refusing under the grounds that it would be self-incrimination.

[Treefrog]

5. I see. Has he testified yet? I still think he's the one who tried to pass the bill first.

Store clerk said someone had tried right before Floyd. Again, no excuse for the fucking murderer Chauvin, but I don’t have a good feeling about that ‘friend’ of his.

[Jim__]

6. I think he had at first agreed to testify, but now he's refusing.

They had a meeting this morning with the judge and Hall's lawyer about whether or not his testimony would be self-incriminating. No final decision was reached.

[Deminpenn]

7. Because they didn't want to get arrested/cited for forgery

It came out before the trial began today that either the DA or defense wanted to call the guy who was sitting in the passenger seat of the car, but that guy said he'd take the 5th amendment if called.

I think the defense also wanted Hall to testify about all the petty crime he and Floyd had engaged in, but I think that would be prejudicial or relevent as Floyd isn't on trial.

[Treefrog]

10. Then they should have gotten the hell out of there after the store clerks confronted them the first

time. I don’t get them sitting in the car out there.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

17. Maybe they didn't know the bill was bad.

Maybe they didn't think cops would respond to a "fake 20" within an hour or a day.

Maybe they were a little high, not thinking all that clearly.

Maybe they didn't think "death" was a likely outcome.

[Laha]

26. Maybe they didn't know the bill was bad.

I just think that needs repeating. Worked in retail for years, not everyone knows if they've been handed a bad piece of currency. Even after years of experience I had to use a black light to check many of them.

I don't know many details of what led up to the murder. And murder is definitely what it was.

Probably not a good idea to speculate on other reasons they might have passed a bad bill. Whatever the reason, death was not justifiable by a fake 20.

Just my fake 2 cents, since pennies don't exist here anymore.

[BlueNProud]

8. Bottom line is that many of these cops are simply bad at their jobs

they go into the profession for the wrong reasons (to swing their big dicks round and assert dominance over their fellow citizens) and instead of defusing relatively benign situations they escalate them.

[mcar]

11. The police chief said that yesterday during testimony

The norm is to issue a summons in a suspected counterfeit case.

Another reason none of this makes any sense.

[yardwork]

21. It makes sense if you understand the underlying purpose of policing.

I have to say that the murder of George Floyd radicalized me. I now believe that policing in the U.S. is about controlling black people. That's what the communities want and that's what many police officers provide.

There isn't any difference between what happened to George Floyd and what happened to slaves who tried to escape or even just didn't comply.

[Solomon]

30. D'uh. And it took you how many years to figure this out?

[yardwork]

32. It's a pretty extreme fact, actually.

I'm aware of systemic racism but it's shocking to learn that the main purpose of policing is to control black people. There are plenty of police officers who don't even know this.

[slumcamper]

13. Yeah. And WE are WOKE.

Conservatives are chewing their nails to the bone, shitting their pants, and passing absurd "hail Mary" policies in GOP-controlled jurisdictions.

We gotta STAY woke, awaken more and more, and take them to the mat--and into the dustbin of history.

Keep your eyes on the prize: justice.

[Runningdawg]

14. So I keep reading about the ALLEGEDLY counterfeit bill. Has no one tested it yet?

[wnylib]

22. Good question. They should know by now.

But I have not heard if it was real or not.

[geardaddy]

15. Exactly.

If I (a middle-aged white guy) passed a phony $20 bill, I would just be out $20.

BTW, CUP Foods isn't a restaurant, it's a corner market. Though, they do have a food counter that serves great gyros.

[suegeo]

16. Thank you. I'm always on the look out for a good gyro.

Initially the cops got Floyd out of his car, cuffed him, and sat him down at the ?Dragon Wok? restaurant across the street from Cup Foods. Floyd's back was next to the restaurant, he was sitting on the sidewalk, calmly.

This was before Chauvin hauled Floyd out of the squad car in front of Cup Foods, dug his knee into Floyd's neck, with Floyd's head pressed to the pavement just outside of Cup Foods.

Initially, tho, the cops sat him down on the sidewalk by the restaurant.

[geardaddy]

33. Thanks for the clarification.

I had forgotten that he had dragged him across 38th Street.

[msfiddlestix]

20. That's exactly what I was thinking, and wondered if the Prosecutors would simply ask the question

to any of the officers testifying for the State.

I don't get it. Is it because they just can't hold that idea in their head long enough to see the obvious, or just can't hold the thought in their heads at all?

[Evergreen Emerald]

23. Actually, if he was impaired, they could not let him drive away.

[suegeo]

24. Q: How'd the cops know he was impaired? A: The cops did not know he was impaired.

They rolled up in their squad behind his car, took out their gun, pointed it at him, and told him to get out of the car.

I imagine if I had a gun pointed at me by cops, I'd freak out. The gun freaked Mr. Floyd out. Who the f*ck knew he was impared? Nobody. No breathalyzer, no blood work. Nada.

The cops should have worked to de-escalate the situation over a $20 bill. Instead, they whipped out their guns, and Floyd pleaded with them not to shoot him.

This was a few years after the cops shot the school lunch room dude, near the State Fair Grounds in St. Paul. A murder that I would imagine all African Americans in the Twin Cities would know about.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Philando_Castile

[Evergreen Emerald]

27. They spoke to the store clerk before meeting with him.

And, it was pretty evident that he was impaired based on the videos. So, letting him drive away was not an option. But, they should have deescalated when he refused to exit his vehicle.

[AwakeAtLast]

28. A white person would have gotten the ticket

And I think all of us here at DU know that. I am hoping that more people watching the trial figure it out, too.

[Martin68]

29. Or they could have arrested him. In either case, violence was not necessary except for the ego

of the police involved. I don't believe Chauvin was scared of the crowd. I believe he wanted to demonstrate his dominance over Floyd to frighten and humiliate him, and demonstrate his power to the crowd and his fellow cops.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

31. He didn't act afraid at all. He was smirking with...

... a "la dee da" attitude as he continued to have his knee on Floyd's neck, ignoring his pleas for relief!

F**k that nonsense! The defense attorneys should be ashamed for even trying that angle!