Posted by Jim Donahue
Jun 1, 2020 | CopConscience
Manufactured Outrage – The George Floyd Story
Last Monday, May 25, 2020, was Memorial Day in the United States. It was also George Floyd’s last day on earth. At the early age of 46, Mr. Floyd passed away during a medical procedure in a Minneapolis hospital, according to police reports.
In the years prior to his death, Floyd spent five years in prison for armed robbery. He was no angel (not that any of us are) and being handled by law enforcement and corrections officers was not new to him.
In the hours immediately preceding his death, he broke the law by attempting to make a purchase with a counterfeit twenty-dollar bill. In the process of being arrested, Mr. Floyd was taken to the ground by the officers at the scene. After he was handcuffed, he was held in place by Officer Derek Chauvin who used a neck restraint.
Watching Ofc. Chauvin use the restraint was not a pretty sight. But then, most use-of-force events are not pretty to watch, especially if you are an untrained civilian. It was reported that Floyd told the attending officers, “I cannot breathe,” more than once. Sounds bad.
Once on the street, rookie cops quickly learn that it is quite common for people who have been arrested and are on their way to jail to suddenly claim some kind of horrible medical problem.
“I can’t breathe.”
“I’m having horrible chest pains.”
“I’m feeling dizzy and have no sensation on my left/right side.”
“When you punched me, I think you broke my arm, wrist, hand, shoulder, ribs, yadda, yadda, yadda. I need to go to the hospital.”
Experienced lawbreakers are doing everything they can to delay their entrance into the jail because they know that they have a much better chance of escaping from a medical facility than they will have escaping from a jail cell.
It’s an old song and most cops quickly grow tired of hearing it. It is usually shrugged-off unless there has been some evidence of the problem previously as the incident unfolded.
Ultimately, after an unknown amount of time dealing with the criminal, (Floyd) at or near the store, medics arrived to check him over and he is then he was whisked off to be checked at the hospital and ultimately, held at the local Iron Hotel.
THE COMMUNITY SPEAKS OUT
As is common these days, members of the public were recording videos of the incident. A few seconds of it were parsed and presented to public via social media.
It was intended to show the ‘awful’ things the four ‘bully cops’ did to this poor, defenseless, unarmed man who did not deserve such harsh treatment. As a result, Minneapolis citizens began to protest against what they saw as excessive force being used by their local cops.
They didn’t like it and they took to the streets to let their opinions be known.
They had every right to do that.
Over the years, experience has taught cops everywhere a lesson. The average Joe in the community believes this falsehood: Contemporaneous videos which are recorded at the scene and shown later tell the entire story. And, of course, they are always 100% accurate.
Many times, the videos meet those expectations. In this case though, the video led the viewer to a conclusion which was 180 degrees off-the-mark.
People demonstrated in the streets of Minneapolis. They appeared in huge numbers and their voices were loud. Their demands and their desires sincere. All of that is very much part of the fabric of America; it has been since our founding.
Read more –
https://copblue.com/manufactured-outrage-the-george-floyd-story/
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