George Floyd died at the hospital late on Monday after Derek Chauvin, a white police officer put his knee of George’s neck for several minutes as George moaned and yelled: “I can’t breathe.”
According to the security camera footage before George wasn’t resisting arrest and still it resulted in his death.
“What we saw was a public lynching without a rope,” said Leslie Redmond, president of the Minneapolis chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
Someone asked the police officers of Reddit, that what Police officers think when they see cases like George Floyd?
Disgusted, Ashamed and Horrified
From Redditor Wilmarooney: “Absolutely disgusted, ashamed, and horrified. The poor man said he couldn’t breathe. He was cuffed and not resisting so either pull him on to his side and allow him to breathe or stand him up. You do NOT kneel on the neck and if the detainee says they can’t breathe, you believe them and make sure they can. If they are not resisting, put them on their side or sitting/standing – anything to avoid positional asphyxiation. If resisting, there are still ways of restraining without kneeling on the neck or causing positional asphyxia. We do have a duty of care to those in our custody!!”
One of the things Not to do
From Redditor Nice_Try_mod: “I was a cop in the military. In the police academy, this was one of the things the taught us NOT to do as it could crush the windpipe.
The only time I was ever taught to use chokes and neck holds was in combat training for deployments. But when we got back we always had to attend retraining classes to relearn what we can do stateside.”
An Embarrassment to Police
From Redditor AdamKovicsAlterEgo: Based in Scotland, I’m a Police Officer with 5 years service, 2 of which I have been a part-time officer safety instructor.
During this training, we go over retraining subjects and handcuff techniques that we use to a T. This includes all safety aspects including where to apply handcuffs, how tight they should be, ensuring the technique is done correctly and that the subject is in a controlled but safe position.
Positional asphyxia is a VITAL topic we cover and it is reiterated time and time again that if a subject ends up on the ground we never, and I reiterate again, NEVER, place any sort of weight on them. Hell even when sitting in the back of our cars, we watch them and ensure they can breath and are in a comfortable position for transport.
What these cops did was just plain stupid, disproportionate and frankly an embarrassment to Policing. I’d also use disgusting if I’m honest.
I just hope that people know we are not like this.
You take this route and your career is over
From Redditor NearR2000: “I worked in a place where the population was about 75% black. As a white cop, I very quickly learned a lot about being respectful and how to be tactful. Humor goes a long way and it’s very important not to give off any sign of being fearful. They can sense it. You get used to shouts of abuse as you drive by and guys on the corner will try to provoke you by openly drinking beer. Is it illegal? Yes, but you learned to pick your battles.
If you do ever need to stop someone and question them, you know that if you take too long, you will suddenly find yourself surrounded by an angry crowd who have no idea what you are asking. People in these areas are almost always reluctant to even be seen conversing with a cop-out of fear of being seen as a snitch. It is true that if you do need to make an arrest, there will almost always be some level of resistance, which makes things very difficult as once you have made the commitment to make the arrest, you have to go through with it.
I am not in any way making excuses for the cops in this particular video, but it isn’t easy. However, the cop with his knee on the poor guy appears to be of the alpha male type of cop. These guys are bullies by nature and very difficult to work with if you personally police to different standards. It’s very difficult to intervene as a partner as you will likely be ostracized. You take this route and your career is over. Your social life is over. Your marriage will have problems as cop families are pretty close.”
Justice won’t come easy
From Redditor Do_you_like_cats: “I work for a U.S. federal bureau but am not a local police officer. All 4 cops need to go to jail. Derek Chauvin, the cop with the knee on George’s neck, should’ve gone to jail long ago. The guy apparently has a history of doing this. This is his third time in 15 years.
Black people need to keep fighting and white/Asian/Latino people need to support them. Justice for cases like this won’t come easy, and it won’t come soon. But if they keep fighting, I truly believe that one day, eventually, it will come.”
(In 2006, Derek Chauvin and 5 other police officers fatally shot a man named Wayne Reyes, who was fleeing police pursuit. In 2008, Derek Chauvin shot an unarmed man named Ira Latrell Toles.)
The officer should be arrested for murder
From Redditor AlexKewl: “I have a degree in law enforcement and work in corrections in Minnesota. My thoughts are “Fuck that guy.” NOBODY is taught to put their knee on a guy’s neck and leave it there until he passes out and dies. He may as well have had his hands around the man’s neck. If I were to go off the video evidence, the officer should be arrested for murder.”
The Officers on Scene Could Have Prevented
From Redditor throwawayx0302: “Sheriffs Deputy here and I must say that I am disgusted by the unnecessary loss of life. There are moments that make me regret what I do, and this is one of them. I’ve met my share of racists wearing a badge and I’m ready for a career change. The oath we take is to uphold the law and constitution, so for the officers on the scene there that could have stepped in and prevented this, fuck you.
One bad apple always ruins the bunch, unfortunately. I pray for George’s family and that justice is served.”
Honest Cop Wipe Tears
From Redditor impunto: “As the son of a former police officer, my dad worked really hard and to be an honest cop. His department was full of racists. They didn’t like him because he was a decent cop, they couldn’t do anything wrong in front of him.
We saw the news together and I saw him wipe a tear, but tried really hard to hide it. I know he’s sad and I don’t wanna push him to talk about it, but we both know things like this are always gonna happen, and that is a really sad fact.”
Sad that it’s happening again and again
From Redditor TheWhiffler: “Disgusted, especially by the frequency of these events. Glad that I work in a place where we’re trained for years before we ever put on a uniform that communication is our greatest tool.Sad to know that this is going to happen again and again.”
Horrified
From Redditor FrankieMint: “Horrified. When you have someone in custody you are responsible for their safety and well being.”
Never Feared the Police in the UK
From Redditor B0z22: “I’m British but live in America. There is such a different mindset to policing back home in my experience, albeit I grew up in the countryside and lived in a quiet City. My friend is an officer today and he was trained to use his words, not his weapons on first instinct. He said you are supposed to police by consent. It’s police service, not force after all.
I know Hot Fuzz is a comedy but when Simon Pegg tells Nick Frost his most important tool is his logbook it’s so true. I never feared the Police when we were out and about back home. Probably because your average bobby doesn’t have a gun.
In America, I’m not so sure I have that same confidence. Those that join the Police to wield power and fear need to be rooted out. Those that stand by and say nothing of their colleagues who do wrong also need to be gone.”
What Could Bystanders have done to help George Floyd?
From Redditor Amalchemy: “Since we’re tapping into the police community here, can someone please explain what, if anything, the bystanders could have done to help George Floyd? Call 911 and report police brutality? In all seriousness, what is the preventative action here since none of the police officers on the scene (4 of which were physically restraining him) reacted to his being murdered right in front of them?”
From Redditor Von_satan: You could call 911 and ask for a supervisor to go on the scene. But there very well could have been a Sgt on scene since IIRC there were 4 officers there already. At the minimum, you called 911 and the call was recorded and noted.
From Redditor esotericenigma: Not necessarily. The supervisor can call them and do something. I got pulled over in high school for turning without signaling. The cop asked us where we were going and then if he could search the car. The driver told them no. So they ordered us all out of the car into the cold and told us we couldn’t wear our jackets because there might be weapons in them. We were going to wait for the K9 unit to come to sniff the car for drugs.
The driver called his mom when we first got pulled over because honestly, as black people, we are afraid of cops and feel they are a danger to us (this was in 2003 long before BLM). She called to check up on us 30 minutes later and we were still pulled over. She got busy and called back 2 hours later to ask what had happened. We told her we were still outside waiting for the K9 unit.
She called the station and asked for their supervisor. The supervisor called the officers and they immediately let us go. You can read the full thread here
South Carolina mom sets car on fire with her toddler inside.
