https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8576371/Police-bodycam-footage-shows-moment-moment-arrest-George-Floyd-time.html

The excuse of the public prosecutor was that the state police slow-walked the investigation and that salient witnesses were not co-operating, among the Ofc. Harrity, who was riding with Noor that night. Just for that, Harrity should have been fired. Freeman was disinclined to convene a grand jury, favoring some alternate procedure available under Minnesota rules of criminal procedure. He had to call a gj and put Harrity under oath before he’d talk.

Noor was also treated rather delicately by the legal establishment compared to Chauvin et al. (He was eventually convicted of 3d degree murder for blowing away a middle-aged woman a propos of nothing). Liberals really should not be allowed discretion over anything of consequence.

Waal, how many other people in his class at the academy do you see photographed with the mayor? Betsy Hodges, heckuva job.

The only place the textbook, roll-played scenario exists is in the textbook and in the classroom. Real life is serendipity, and it happens fast. And it can be deadly.

The shooting of Justine Damond is a true tragedy. And it has all the earmarks of being a product of affirmative action. The officer who shot her should not have been wearing a badge.

Thanks again FR. Getting people to escape their preconceived ideas about policing is as hard as getting them to change their voting habits.

And yet it took seven months before public pressure finally forced the city to send the facts regarding her death before a grand jury.

There are problems in the Minneapolis PD. And Justine Damond’s death is a strong suggestion that those problems aren’t tied to racist white officers.

I don’t get what point you’re trying to make.

If it’s that this interaction with Floyd was not a perfect textbook-manual type of interaction that would be taught in training courses, you are probably correct. But that is not at issue. I am certain that, even before Floyd was placed on the ground and Chauvin applied the knee to the neck, Officer Lane’s use of the f-word could and would and even should be criticized as non-ideal.

But – if you’ll excuse the expression – BFD. At the time Lane said it, apparently Floyd was acting very erratically and not following instructions, particularly instructions about where to put his hands, which are ultra-important. People have sometimes been killed because a cop misinterprets what someone is doing with his hands as reaching for a weapon.

Lane doesn’t curse at Floyd after the hand problem, so I am pretty sure that the cursing initially has to do very specifically with the hand problem, and Lane’s fear that Floyd is about to do something violent.

After that, they are quite patient with Floyd for a long, long time. He does not cooperate. Apparently, when he gets into the car, he hurts himself. They have called for EMTs. While they wait, they have to restrain him to prevent problems for both Floyd and themselves. Floyd himself asks to be placed on the ground. They choose a method that apparently was approved by their local police force. It either killed him, or made no difference as he died from one or the other of either a heart attack from heart disease or breathing cessation from a fentanyl OD.

I don’t see how Lane’s cursing is even relevant to the issue, except as a less-than-ideal interaction by an alarmed cop, trying to get a large strong person to cooperate with instructions.

I’m on record here, when George Floyd died, saying that in my opinion, Chauvin was out of line, especially by using the knee on the back or neck. It’s not that the technique is illegal. I wouldn’t know Minnesota or Minneapolis law. But it’s a violation of many state and municipal agency guidelines to use that technique, even though it is quite effective. Primarily because any choke or hold technique that involves the neck, back or spine can result in death or irreparable physical trauma, even when executed by people who are highly trained. In the end, most agencies are risk averse when it comes to wrongful death lawsuits.

Still, not every agency forbids them. Mine does. And the forensic report reads that the hold, as ugly and ill-advised as it might have been, didn’t kill George Floyd.

With regards to the word ‘fuck. You said:

“It is not good police work to ever use it.”

That’s wrong.

“It’s police who are telling me this, so everyone who is telling me it’s “just for emphasis” might want to take it up with policemen they know. ”

It certainly wasn’t me and I am going to flatly disagree with the people who said that. I suspect any of the men or women who trained me would disagree as well. I spent 8 years as a Field Training Officer myself. I’ve also been a martial arts instructor for 18 years. And a DT instructor (Defensive Tactics) for 7 years with my agency.

There is indeed a place for the word. There is a category of person, regardless of their color or the socio-economic strata they swim in, of a certain cognitive rigidity (not ability) that will often only respond to such language, especially when they have a mind to resist. Sure, it’s not PC to say or admit, especially to people who don’t have to do that job everyday. We spend a lot of time and effort trying to be civilized while immersed in the forces of incivility. We’re taught to say official things and articulate things differently after all. It forces us to wear many hats, many masks, if you will.

Law enforcement places a lot of emphasis on training persuasion, like ‘Verbal Judo’, a course offered by the deceased Dr. George Thompson. It’s a wonderful tool and I use it every day.The George Floyd incident had gone beyond the point where Verbal Judo, or persuasion, is effective. Here’s an ugly fact for you:

Sometimes, when someone is resisting arrest or lawful commands, a good, old-fashioned “Don’t you FUCKING move!”, barked right from the base of the belly, can work wonders. Yes, it’s coarse and crude and ugly. But it can save lives. Many criminals are coarse and crude and ugly and you need to speak their language to be understood. I don’t believe the people you have spoken with are being completely honest with you.