When I first saw the video footage of the death of George Floyd, I was shocked. I had been a police officer for 29 years in Southern California and we had never been trained to kneel on a suspect’s neck. I had lived through the Rodney King video and its aftermath. That video didn’t bother me at all. I realized that all Rodney had to do was to comply with the LAPD officers’ lawful commands and the beating would stop. And it was a beating. The public, enraged by the media and its constant recycling of the video didn’t seem to understand that a nightstick (or baton), was a piece of police equipment given to officers to enable them to overcome resistance and obtain compliance from violent and recalcitrant suspects.
Overcoming resistance to arrest is an ugly, but necessary process. There is no way to make it look pretty. You can take away the nightstick from law officers, but whatever replaces it, would not be as effective or would be just as ugly to see. The Simi Valley jury that acquitted the four LAPD officers in the Rodney King case apparently understood that. President George H. W. Bush, who sent rabid federal prosecutors to effectively put those officers in double jeopardy, did not understand that. But the whole Rodney King video, trials and riots were just a prelude to what would happen after the George Floyd video came out.
The maniac media immediately labeled the death of George Floyd the result of racists cops murdering a Black man. Other than the fact the felony suspect, ex-con Floyd, was Black and the officer, Derek Chauvin, who restrained him was White, race didn’t appear to be a factor at all. There were no racial slurs heard on any of the body cams or civilian videos. But the visual of a White cop, restraining a Black suspect was enough for leftist, slanted press to proclaim that this was proof of racist cops and systemic racism in all of law enforcement.
The reality is that Floyd was actually arrested by Black officer J. Alexander Kueng. This was rarely mentioned in the press. Kueng’s partner, Thomas Lane, is White. Chauvin’s partner, Tou Thao, is Asian. The biased media would have you believe that George Floyd was murdered by four White Supremacist, racist cops. The propagandists from the fourth estate just kept showing the video of a pathetic Floyd on the ground with Chauvin’s knee restraining him, saying, “I can’t breathe.” Of course the first time George Floyd said that he couldn’t breathe was when he was in the back of the police SUV, before he was placed on the ground.
Even though the Chief of the Minneapolis PD and the head of their training division testified that they didn’t train their officers to restrain a suspect like Officer Chauvin did, a Minneapolis PD training manual shows that exact move and has a photo showing it. What kind of police leaders are such cowards that they would sell their own officers down the river so that they can look good to the anti-police mob? One wonders how they can look themselves in the mirror after perjuring themselves like that. No wonder Minneapolis PD can’t retain their experienced officers or recruit new officers. The tidal wave response has affected law enforcement agencies all over the country.
The next day after the video was released, virtually the whole world believed that Officer Derek Chauvin had killed George Floyd. But was the knee to what looked like Floyd’s neck, what really caused his death? A free YouTube video, “The Fall of Minneapolis”, brings into serious doubt that the Minneapolis police had anything to do with George Floyd’s death. This video brings out a conversation between Hennapin County Prosecutor Amy Sweasy and Dr. Andrew Baker.
In Prosecutor Sweasy’s sworn deposition she related a phone conversation with Dr. Baker who performed the autopsy on Floyd. Dr. Baker told her that there were no medical findings that showed any injury to the vital structure of Mr. Floyd’s neck. There were no medical indications of asphyxia or strangulation.
Why, then, did Dr. Baker testify that Floyd died after police “subdual, restraint and neck compression” caused his heart and lungs to stop. Dr. Baker testified that heart disease and drug use were factors but not the “top line” causes? The autopsy showed that Floyd’s blood contained fatal levels of fentanyl and methamphetamine and that he had an enlarged heart and had COVID. Those weren’t the “top line” causes of death?
Dr. Baker testified that he was not pressured by anyone to add anything to his autopsy report. Yet how could he come to the conclusion that the restraint and neck compression caused George Floyd’s heart and lungs to stop? Was the original autopsy report changed? Was Dr. Baker’s view of the cause of death altered after he was contacted and interrogated by two FBI agents? Why would he do such a thing? The answer might be found in his earlier statement to Prosecutor Amy Sweasy.
Dr. Baker also told her, “Amy, what happens when the actual evidence doesn’t match up with the public narrative that everyone’s already decided on? This is the kind of case that ends careers.”
It is bad enough that the so-called progressive politicians and the woke press made a saint out of a violent felon thug, they caused and then cheered on the “mostly peaceful” riots that caused death, injury and billions of dollars of property damage throughout our country. The Minneapolis City Council then voted to give Floyd’s family $ 27 million dollars.
Now four police officers are in prison for only doing their job the way they were trained. With the information presented in “The Fall of Minneapolis” there needs to be a new trial. If all of the exculpatory evidence is presented, these officers should be acquitted and they should be awarded at least as much as George Floyd’s family was so generously given. And every mealy mouthed politician, race-baiter and woke media outlet should be made to pay for the damage they’ve done to American law enforcement and public safety.
6 thoughts on “Kangaroo Trial – Buz Blog”
Yea Buz, U R right. But; who cares? When I lived in Anaheim, CA in the 1990’s, I was in a restaurant on a Saturday when two vehicles came into the parking lot filled with young men. One was a VW MicroBus. About 12 exited the vehicles some with short clubs and all walked toward Anaheim City Hall. I walked over to the VWbus as I left and looked in. There were “stop Shell Oil, restore freedom to the oppressed” signs inside. Later, I read – heard many senior citizens were injured while peacefully protesting with signs supporting the Anaheim PD and Congressman Dornan in keeping INS agents in the jail to check citizenship B 4 being release for a later court appearance. 78 % of felony arrests were of illegal aliens . I believe these 12 young people were supported as a LA Communist paid “rent-a-mob” as I referred to them. The racial element of these “mobs” and their growth throughout America’s cities are a reflection of the Marxist inspired politics that elects city councils because “We the People” are not electing the best of our towns and cities but rather ignoring our constitutional duty. Let’s make America great again.
Amen
Wr. Williams, Good Morning, you wrote “That video didn’t bother me at all. I realized that all Rodney had to do was to comply with the LAPD officers’ lawful commands and the beating would stop. And it was a beating.”, the problem is the law says failure to comply means most any method to subdue is allowed. In regards to the Rodney King incident, after the fact we found out that Mr. King had mental issues and he was very annebriated from whatever the drug of the day was, in reality he could not make a rational decision to comply. Now, thirty plus years later, we saw a similar type beating in Tennessee several years ago, the suspect was beaten to death, he did not comply, but an internal investigastion determined the officers should have stopped the beating to check on the health of the suspect, there were signs that the suspect exhibited brain impairment. Seven officers were fired by the department. Things have changed over a third of a century, police departments are slowly realizing that using suspects as punching bags (that came out of the Memphis internal investigation) is not allowed any longer. I am a big time law and order guy, I belong to a family just full of police officers and firemen, but I believe police need to continually keep upping their game to not only keep the public safe, but also protect the rights of the suspect. Have agreat day…
George, thank you for responding to my column. I don’t mean any disrespect to you, but your opinion is based on ignorance. When you state, “the problem is the law says failure to comply means most any method to subdue is allowed,” you are unequivocally wrong. Since years before I retired in 2002, almost all law enforcement agencies trained and had manual sections in “The Continuum of Force.” This continuum states that the officers presence, will, in many instances, be all the force that is needed. The next level is to verbalize a command, If compliance is not obtained with words, the next level is to use physical, hands on tactics like wrist locks, holds and continuing up to punches and kicks when necessary. If compliance is still not obtained, then the use of less lethal weapons like batons, pepper spray, tasers. Etc. Lethal force should only be used to protect the officers’ lives or other peoples lives.
I believe you are also mistaken that Rodney King’s state of intoxication and/or mental issues made him incapable of making a decision to comply. I know of no legal decision or precedent that states that, although defense attorneys have often argued that.
As far as the Tennessee beating, in the video I saw, the suspect was attempting to comply with the officers orders, but they just kept beating him until he died. And then those officers gave each other high fives. I think that was in Memphis and the seven officers were not only fired, I believed they were arrested for murder. And they should have been.
George, like you, I have a lot of police officers in my family. My dad, both of my grandfathers, a great uncle and a cousin were all on LAPD. I also had an uncle who retired from Hawthorne, California PD. (I wanted to be a bank robber, but I didn’t think I would live past my first family reunion.) I served 29 years on the Long Beach Police Department. I do have to say that just because one has police relatives, doesn’t mean he knows how difficult it is to arrest and handcuff a suspect who doesn’t want to be arrested. It’s sort of like saying you could assist in a surgery because you stayed at a Holiday Inn.
My partner and I were assisting two other officers in arresting a 5 foot 9 inch, 160 pound suspect one time, and it took us over 10 minutes to handcuff him, and all of us were 200 pounds and three of us were 6’1 to 6’3 and all of us were in good shape. So, I really mean no offense, but until you’ve been in that situation, your opinion is not based on reality, only supposition, and has little credibility. And your punching bag reference is way out of line with anything I saw in my 29 years. I hope this helps you understand my view, based on experience and observation. Buz
Mr. Williams, thanks for taking the time to respond. You wrote “. I don’t mean any disrespect to you, but your opinion is based on ignorance. When you state, “the problem is the law says failure to comply means most any method to subdue is allowed,” you are unequivocally wrong.”, well II have been wrong before and I’ll be wrong again, but I disagree with “ignorance” as to why I was “wrong”. Let me explain, after the Rodney King arrest and riots, that caused 100s of millions of dollars in damage, the courts awarded Rodney King over 5 million dollars in damages. Police have legally used fists, rubber bullets, tasers, batons, their own vehicles, and guns to handle failure to comply commands. I believe that constitutes almost any method available for PD use. Medical professionals have determined that a signigant percentage of suspects shot by police in stand off situations are mentally incapable of following police commands. This is not to say police were necessarily wrong in their actions, it is to say the system does not have the infrastructure to accomodate suspects with mental illness. The L.A. police did not break the law in their handling of Rodney King, they were operating in a system with no structures for mentally incompetent suspects. As a former LEO, my hat goes off to you. I have a family member in the local PD and we worry every day about his safety. FYI, the “punching bag” comment came from the Memphis PD internal review of the beating death of Tyre Nichols.
George, I would agree that in the Memphis case the officers did use Tyre Nichols like a punching bag. I believe they are paying for their brutality and cowardice. You did make a statement that needs to be addressed. You wrote, “Medical professionals have determined that a significant percentage of suspects shot by police in stand off situations are mentally incapable of following police commands.” First, who are these medical professionals? How did they determine their diagnosis? And what is a “significant percentage”? Without that info, your statement seems to be just wishful speculation.
Also, most larger departments have a department psychologist or psychiatrist. Some officers have degrees in psychology, but there would never be enough to handle every situation. While perfection is something to strive for, it is something that can never be reached in law enforcement or any other human endeavor.
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