George Floyd – A Look at Policing in America
By
John C Abercrombie
We take a look at the death of George Floyd and trial of Derek Chauvin for the death of George Floyd. The incident was first reported by police as ‘Man Dies After Medical Incident /during Police Interaction.’ Although the statement has been deleted from the department’s website, it described …on Monday evening shortly after 8:00 p.m., officers from the Minneapolis Police Department responded to the 3700 block of Chicago avenue South on a report of forgery in progress. Officers were advised that the subject was sitting on top of a blue car and appeared to be under the influence.
“Two officers arrived and located the suspect, a male believed to be in his 40s, in his car,” it continued. “He was ordered to step from his car. After he got out, he physically resisted officers. Officers were able to get the suspect into handcuffs and noted he appeared to be suffering medical distress. Officers called for an ambulance. He was transported to Hennepin County Medical Center by ambulance where he died a short time later.”
This is the totality of the case as far as the public was told. Nothing to see here, just another Black man dead. However, it took the courage of a 17 year old bystander who had the foresight and courage to video the entire incident. The courage to stand firm, continue to video and post it on Facebook within hours. Notice the contrast between the two accounts.
Below you will see video of the trial and video of the incident as videoed by the courageous young lady, Darnella Frazier.
Many have been led to believe that the presence of body cams is the answer, but that has proven to be virtually useless as we see cases where the body cams were not turned on. We see cases where the videos are dismissed by police administrators as in the case of Carzon Nazario a United States Army Lieutenant. Lt Nazario was in in uniform and stopped for a minor traffic violation. He drove slowly to a well-lighted area and was confronted by officers with guns drawn. They disrespected him and pepper sprayed him in the face. The video is below shows Windsor, Virginia Police in action.
It is scary to think what would have happened to the Lieutenant had he stopped in a dark place instead of the well-lighted area that was close to the incident. It is reasonable to believe that action would have been taken by police administration at the time of the incident as the video was available, yet it took several months and the video going viral before the most minimal department action was taken.
When Lt Nazario asked what was going on, the police responded that he was going to “Ride the Lightning” a reference to the electric chair. Even if it was a less lethal taser, it was not good. When Nazario said he was afraid to get out of the car, the police assured him that “he should be”. He was pepper sprayed in the face and kicked to the ground.
All of this was made public during the period of the Chauvin trial.
Lieutenant Nazario has filed a civil suit against the officers. Note the suit is civil and not the criminal action that seems to be appropriate. The lack of action is nothing new. Blacks have been complaining about this for decades without results. We see yet another example of why Blacks fear any interaction with police.
As the Chauvin trial was in progress, we see the example of Dante Wright a 20 year old shot and killed by a 26 year old veteran of the Brooklyn Center, Minnesota police training another generation of police, “claiming” that it was a matter of confusing her black 2.5 pound duty weapon worn on her dominant side with a bright yellow taser worn on the non-dominant side and shooting him to death while training another officer. To make matters worse, the Chief of the Brooklyn Center, Minnesota police describes it as an accidental shooting, apparently ignoring the fact that a 20 year old young man with his future ahead of himself is dead!
It is these types of attitudes that inflame those affected. An untold number of Black citizens have been impacted directly or indirectly by encounters with police, sworn to serve and protect. This is not a new phenomenon; it has been going on for all of our lives. The difference today is the presence of video. Even as in the case in Windsor, Virginia, it is most often ignored by those in command.
As the nation is awaiting the verdict of the Chauvin trial, we see just minutes before a 15 year old young Black lady calls police in Columbus, Ohio and within minutes is shot dead! The video is below.
Why is there no action in these cases? As we respond to this question, we take the case of Cariol Horne, a Buffalo, New York policewoman who was fired for interfering with the arrest of a person when another officer had the suspect in a choke hold. She was punched in the face by the officer and called a Black “B”. For this, he was promoted to Lieutenant and she was fired just months before qualifying for her pension. A protracted court fight resulted in her benefits being restored. The culture of the police is in need of review.
Video of Cariol Horne is below.
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Be aware that some videos in this post may be difficult to watch due to the subject matter.
Video shows Minneapolis cop with knee on neck of black man who later died |
New York Post Disturbing video shows a Minneapolis police officer with his knee pinned on the neck of a moaning black man, who later died.
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Derek Chauvin trial:
Teen bystander who took George Floyd video describes his last moments WARNING: Some of the images depicted in the video and testimony are graphic. A teenage bystander named Darnella who took the video of Derek Chauvin kneeling on George Floyd’s neck that’s circulated around the world testified in the former Minneapolis police officer’s murder trial Tuesday.
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Body camera footage shows Windsor traffic stop
Body camera footage by the Windsor Police Department shows a traffic stop in December 2020
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Graphic: Body camera video shows deadly shooting of Daunte Wright
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Columbus Police release body cam footage of officer shooting, killing girl, 16
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This post shows a side of life that many will find incomprehensible, others have lived with it all of their lives.
To those who find it beyond belief have never had to live with it on a daily basis. They believe the first report as in the case of Derek Chauvin.
The horror of facing unequal enforcement of the laws is real. To those who have been screaming for help and relief in cases like this and worse, they held their breath waiting on the verdict because they have held out hope that one day, sometime in the future some accountability would happen.
We have lived through this groundhog day time and time again. Hope has been dashed against the rocks over and over. The time for rational people to take an open honest look at race is NOW!