Chauvin Murder Trial

[Irreligious Atheist]

I was as outraged as anyone else when I saw the video of the knee on the neck. The other factors are very relevant though. Floyd had enough drugs in his system to OD. Did that have anything at all to do with his death or was it just the knee? Did he swallow a bunch of drugs to try to hide them from the police? Floyd predicted his own death long before he went to the ground, and said putting him in the back of the police car would be enough to cause him to die. He said over and over, long before he went to the ground, that he couldn't breathe. Did Chauvin see this as the boy who cried wolf, and therefore he decided not to believe Floyd's claims about not being able to breathe when he had him on the ground? How hard was Chauvin pressing his knee onto the neck. I don't know just by watching the video? Do you know? Floyd dove out of the back of the police car once they had him in there. That could technically be called an escape attempt, couldn't it? He needed to be restrained in some way at that point, and he's a huge dude. Was he still resisting on the ground? I don't know. These things are all very relevant, and this wasn't exactly a Rodney King situation. They didn't need to beat Rodney King like that. They did it out of rage. The police officers spoke very nicely to George Floyd. I didn't hear any rage or murderous mentality. Yes, Chauvin fucked up, but is that enough to call him a murderer? I don't think there's enough there to say that, but we'll have to see what other evidence is presented at the trial.

Nope, sorry, tired of blaming the victim.

I have seen over an over, black men and women severely injured or dying, with or without weapons, on drugs or not. Sandra bland died in custody, not drunk, not high, not anything. I myself got pulled over in the early 90s after a bar closed, in the parking lot. I got the roadside test, but they didn't give me the breath test, I passed and they let me go. They didn't beat up or shoot the other white guy who tried to shove an open wine cooler into my driver side door expecting me to cover for him. That guy was arrested without harm for open container. 

I can tell you what the long term problem is though.

It is economics, lack of livable wages, economic discrimination but also facing police constantly with an armed public, no matter the zip code. 

I wouldn't have been treated like Floyd if a call came in accusing me of the same, even if I was the same size.

Sandra Bland killed herself. I don't know if she wanted to become a martyr or what, but she killed herself.