Minneapolis police officer (now former police officer) Derek Chauvin is in custody and charged with the 2nd Degree murder of George Floyd. Although the three other police officers (now former) who have been charged with aiding and abetting Floyd’s murder are out on bail, Chauvin remains behind bars.
This website holds that all thinking citizens should strongly support all police officers and serving military personnel who are on the frontline tackling criminals on the streets and foreign enemies on battlefields. As we wrote recently in our article “Blue Lives Matter,” those who have to engage literally in life and death engagements should not be subjected by armchair critics and Monday morning “know-alls” to nit-picking scrutiny and Queensbury boxing rules. When men and women in uniform are in physical combat with opponents who are not limited by the Queensbury rules, we should be understanding when they, in the heat of battle, stray outside the rules. They are, after all, acting in our defense – and offense – and in our interests, and cannot be expected to jettison emotions and instincts.
This understanding only applies to battlefield conditions and we should expect our “soldiers” to always keep to the rules in all other settings.
The actual arrest of George Floyd was a battlefield engagement. Not even the most vociferous armchair critics have claimed that Floyd was innocent of trying to pass a forged $20 bill. None have suggested that he fully co-operated with the two police officers who were first on the scene. Although the MSM propagandists and far-left agitators purposefully avoid mention of Floyd’s criminal history, they do not deny it. This criminal history, which includes an attack on a pregnant Black woman in pursuit of a crime, and initial resistance of arrest is sufficient to categorize him as an enemy combatant.
He was also a large man and must have appeared to be capable of effectively resisting arrest. Police officers who came to arrest him had no initial reason to view him as a sick man or a dying man.
Thanks to a revolutionary MSM and far-left Democratic Party, intent on inflaming racial tensions to pursue a narrative for the election, we have all seen, over and over and over again, video of a portion of Floyd’s engagement with the four policemen. Few people, including this writer, knowing that Floyd was about to die, can fail to feel sorry for a man whose last words indicated he was struggling to breathe. Nor can we resist being judgmental when Officer Chauvin seems to ignore his cries and keeps him pinned to the ground by his neck for eight or nine minutes.
But we are all – reporters, politicians, readers and viewers – nothing more than armchair judges. It is the task of coroners, medical examiners and ultimately judges and juries to assemble the full picture of facts and make judgments.
In the case involving Floyd’s painful death and the actions of the police officers involved in his arrest, this task was only partially embarked upon when the State of Minnesota’s attorney general decided – amidst a politically inflamed and violent atmosphere – to arrest and detain in custody all four police officers on the most serious charges, including murder.
At this point we recommend readers visit the American Spectator website for August 6th and digest the facts assembled by George Perry in his article “Who Killed George Floyd”. Perry is a former state prosecutor and now practices law in Philadelphia.
It is common knowledge that the Minnesota coroner’s report and findings on Floyd were rejected by Floyd’s family and they were funded to employ two doctors (Baden and Wilson) who issued their own report. The latter report attributed Floyd’s death to Chauvin’s prolonged restraint on his neck.
What seems to be beyond dispute is that Floyd suffered from a serious heart condition, as well as other medical problems, and therefore was not as robust as he appeared. He had very recently and recklessly ingested a large amount of fentanyl and a lesser dose of methamphetamine, in combination enough to cause death from breathing problems.
It seems like Floyd was suffering from severe respiratory problems before his arrest and that these could be reasonably attributed to his persistent complaints that he could not breathe.
The four police officers could not have been expected to know Floyd’s medical history or his reckless drug taking.
Chauvin and one of the other three officers were called to the scene of arrest because the two officers who initiated action could not physically handle Floyd. It is not improbable that Chauvin, as a bigger and stronger man, was called in to provide the muscle as well as the experience and determination required.
The knee on the neck restraint that Chauvin employed was one officially taught to officers. Floyd at the time of his offence was a sick man. His arrest was not unreasonable and justified by nearby evidence of a reported serious crime of passing counterfeit money.
It is our claim that none of the four officers should have been charged or incarcerated – and at most suspended from duty – until a full investigation had been completed.
It may be that a criminal charge against Chauvin plus discharge from the force will be justified, especially if new relevant facts are unearthed. But until then, Chauvin should be suspended from the force and freed from prison.