‘I Can’t Breathe’: 4 Minneapolis Officers Fired After Black Man Dies in Custody

[Hards Alumni]

Well said.
On the other hand,. the president wants to send in the military to extrajudicially kill suspected looters. That'll ease tensions, for sure.

He'll never do it.  It's just red meat for his base.

[GBPhoenix1993]

My brother is a policeman in the state of Washington and a damn good one who keeps a level head and treats people with respect (at least from what I've seen when riding along with him).  I hate to see other law enforcement that make him and others like him look bad.

Just an incredible couple of weeks of bad judgment by the police force in the Twin Cities.  From the negligent homicide, arresting a journalist trying to cooperate with officers, beating on people who clearly are trying to leave the protest area already, just an incredible lack of judgment by so many in authority.  I get it, they have a horrible job right now, but their decisions have been so poor, it's crazy to think these guys have ever had any training at all.  It's so bad, it's almost unfixable.  Maybe the National Guard will fair better in controlling things. 

[muwarrior69]

Your last sentence is intriguing and a good point. I was just reading a letter by a former Federal prosecutor saying not to expect arrests for months so the DA can build a case but you're right they'd be behind bars already hoping for credit for time served if they were normal citizens

See, that is the problem. To the black community our judicial system does not even treat them as "normal citizens"; they have always been something less. I hate to say it but Minneapolis is a sanctuary city. Where do their  black citizens go to find sanctuary?

[Jockey]

I don't like rioting either.  So maybe prominant black athletes should lead a peaceful protest by kneeling during the national anthem?  Or wearing an "I can't breathe" shirt during warm-ups before a game.

What do you think of those ideas?  I'm sure they will be well received right?

It would just give the racist-in-chief and his followers another reason to do their hateful, racist thing.

[mu_hilltopper]

I've gotta wonder. Would it have eased tensions if the police had arrested these four cops? By them doing nothing, did people get the message that it is business as usual -that there are no consequences for killing blacks?

Very much agree.   They should have arrested them immediately.  I get it .. they don't want to over or under-charge, but charges can be amended.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

It would just give the racist-in-chief and his followers another reason to do their hateful, racist thing.

Whoa. Whoa. Whoa.  You don't like the president?  Get da fuq outta here.  I had no idea!   

[Jockey]

https://twitter.com/marcorubio/status/1266342997077131265?s=19


Marco Rubio with an excellent tweet.

Garbage. Rubio actively supports a racist in the White House. Merely a case of CYA.

[muwarrior69]

Very much agree.   They should have arrested them immediately.  I get it .. they don't want to over or under-charge, but charges can be amended.

Just finished watching the presser with the Governor. He wasn't even asked that question. About 40-45 minutes in the state police comissionser was asked why they were not in custody. He responded by saying they have to follow all proper procedures before an arrest and charges can be brought; yet some looters were arrested. I wonder, were all the proper procedures followed for them.

There is a two tier justice system; one for those in government and one for the rest of us.

[Pakuni]

Just finished watching the presser with the Governor. He wasn't even asked that question. About 40-45 minutes in the state police comissionser was asked why they were not in custody. He responded by saying they have to follow all proper procedures before an arrest and charges can be brought; yet some looters were arrested. I wonder, were all the proper procedures followed for them.

There is a two tier justice system; one for those in government and one for the rest of us.

Once you make arrests, the four cops have Miranda rights, making them less likely to talk and possibly cut a deal (namely the three who didn't kneel on George Floyd's neck). So I can understand the slow pace.
But it's striking that the same state police taking their time with that case are willing to arrest a TV reporter on the spot, supposedly for not obeying their orders when the tape shows he was asking them where they wanted him to move. Quite the disparate treatment.

[muwarrior69]

Just reported that the one cop has been arrested.

...according to Fox News.

[Dish]

I'm going to ask a bunch of dumb questions, because I simply don't know the answers here.

-The entire process of the phone call to the police about the alleged forgery of the $20 bill, to the police showing up, Floyd being suffocated to death, his being pronounced dead...that time table can't be more than 90 minutes, right?

-Where I'm going with this is, with the body cams, the eyewitness cams, a sworn statement from everyone...what here would take a relatively long time (say weeks/months) to issue an arrest warrant?

I guess what I'm getting at is, it wasn't like this was a long drawn out event, the physical evidence seems fairly isolated, there can't be more than a dozen people that would need to be interviewed (?).

I'm sure there's people here that understand the judicial process way better than I do, and I understand the state wants to make sure they have i's dotted, t's crossed correctly before filing charges, but should it take weeks/months in actuality for charges to come up?

[GooooMarquette]

Once you make arrests, the four cops have Miranda rights, making them less likely to talk and possibly cut a deal (namely the three who didn't kneel on George Floyd's neck). So I can understand the slow pace.
But it's striking that the same state police taking their time with that case are willing to arrest a TV reporter on the spot, supposedly for not obeying their orders when the tape shows he was asking them where they wanted him to move. Quite the disparate treatment.

Seems like the right balance from the beginning would have been to arrest the one cop, and announce that the other three were being investigated. That probably would have prevented a lot of the violence in the past couple of nights.

[Dish]

Nevermind me previous post, Chauvin has been arrested.

[GooooMarquette]

Just reported that the one cop has been arrested.

...according to Fox News.

It's true, per MPR news.

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2020/05/29/george-floyd

[muwarrior69]

It's true, per MPR news.

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2020/05/29/george-floyd

Yes, here on ABC as well.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/dangerous-protests-erupt-overnight-george-floyds-death-minneapolis/story?id=70924047&cid=clicksource_4380645_2_heads_hero_live_hero_hed

[Pakuni]

I'm going to ask a bunch of dumb questions, because I simply don't know the answers here.

These aren't dumb questions.
Two reasons I can think of for the slow movement:

First, once you make an arrest, your suspect now has Miranda rights. A suspect who has and who exercises his rights (as these cops surely will) is less likely to provide information and cooperate with the investigation ... and maybe even slip up and say something incriminating.

Second, this obviously will be a massively high profile case and the defendants will have outstanding legal representation. This isn't some poor black guy off the street who's going to end up with an overworked and possibly underskilled public defender whose primary task will be to cut a decent deal as expeditiously as possible.
Best to take your time and get it right than hurry things up for the sake of the public, make a mistake and provide the defense with reasonable doubt.

[muwarrior69]

These aren't dumb questions.
Two reasons I can think of for the slow movement:

First, once you make an arrest, your suspect now has Miranda rights. A suspect who has and who exercises his rights (as these cops surely will) is less likely to provide information and cooperate with the investigation ... and maybe even slip up and say something incriminating.

Second, this obviously will be a massively high profile case and the defendants will have outstanding legal representation. This isn't some poor black guy off the street who's going to end up with an overworked and possibly underskilled public defender whose primary task will be to cut a decent deal as expeditiously as possible.
Best to take your time and get it right than hurry things up for the sake of the public, make a mistake and provide the defense with reasonable doubt.

So will the taxpayers be paying their legal fees? Will the trial be in Minneapolis or will a change in venue be granted?

[Dish]

These aren't dumb questions.
Two reasons I can think of for the slow movement:

First, once you make an arrest, your suspect now has Miranda rights. A suspect who has and who exercises his rights (as these cops surely will) is less likely to provide information and cooperate with the investigation ... and maybe even slip up and say something incriminating.

Second, this obviously will be a massively high profile case and the defendants will have outstanding legal representation. This isn't some poor black guy off the street who's going to end up with an overworked and possibly underskilled public defender whose primary task will be to cut a decent deal as expeditiously as possible.
Best to take your time and get it right than hurry things up for the sake of the public, make a mistake and provide the defense with reasonable doubt.

Thanks, makes a ton of sense now. I had just read somewhere on Twitter that they were waiting for autopsy results to come in as well, which actually never occurred to me, and that certainly is a big part of the process here that seemed obvious but I never thought of.

[Pakuni]

So will the taxpayers be paying his legal fees?

Good question. I imagine he'll try, as he was a city employee acting within his official capacity when this occurred. However, the city will fight that in court, likely arguing that kneeling on a person's neck was outside official policy and therefore the city should not be responsible for his defense. It'll probably end up in court. Just my speculation.

Edit: For all I know, this may be addressed in the CBA. That wouldn't necessarily prevent litigation over it, but it may be a determining factor.

[Tortuga94]

I know the city of Minneapolis had to arrest the one officer that was doing the kneeling to show that they're doing something about this, but the officer is going to post bail and won't spend any time in jail. He will be free to go home and sleep in his own bed and will likely have a trial 6-12 months from now in either a suburb of Minneapolis or some rural part of Minnesota because the defense will claim he can't get a fair trial in the cities.

[wadesworld]

https://twitter.com/OfficialMLK3/status/1266040838628560898

This.

https://twitter.com/marcorubio/status/1266342997077131265?s=19


Marco Rubio with an excellent tweet.

I agree except for the self defeating part. The game is rigged against the people who are rioting. They've been defeated over and over. They cannot win. Heck, some people tried to peacefully protest and the cops came through spraying tear gas. Nothing they can do will change anything, so I don't think you can say it's self-defeating when there's no path to victory no matter what.

[The Sultan]

It would just give the racist-in-chief and his followers another reason to do their hateful, racist thing.

Can you just not type stuff like this?  It adds nothing to the discussion. 

[muwarrior69]

Good question. I imagine he'll try, as he was a city employee acting within his official capacity when this occurred. However, the city will fight that in court, likely arguing that kneeling on a person's neck was outside official policy and therefore the city should not be responsible for his defense. It'll probably end up in court. Just my speculation.

...and the taxpayers will have to pay to see if they have to pay?

[Hards Alumni]

These aren't dumb questions.
Two reasons I can think of for the slow movement:

First, once you make an arrest, your suspect now has Miranda rights. A suspect who has and who exercises his rights (as these cops surely will) is less likely to provide information and cooperate with the investigation ... and maybe even slip up and say something incriminating.

Second, this obviously will be a massively high profile case and the defendants will have outstanding legal representation. This isn't some poor black guy off the street who's going to end up with an overworked and possibly underskilled public defender whose primary task will be to cut a decent deal as expeditiously as possible.
Best to take your time and get it right than hurry things up for the sake of the public, make a mistake and provide the defense with reasonable doubt.

Miranda rights?  That's hilarious.  Those cops were told by their union bosses the SECOND that video was released to not say a damn thing to anyone about what happened.  The cops knew that before they got arrested as well.   They were fired from the force, but they're still members of the union. 

[warriorchick]

...and the taxpayers will have to pay to see if they have to pay?

Doesn't the union usually provide the attorneys for cops who are criminally charged?