Clueless members of the right are bemoaning the "unfair" treatment of Derek Chauvin who was just found guilty on all charges concerning the death of George Floyd. As an engineer who can think clearly no matter the circumstance, I see this as justice.
- Yes, I know that Floyd was a street dirt bag.
- This does not have a damned thing to do with his murder.
- Yes I know that Floyd was under the influence of drugs.
- And so apparently did Chavin at the time of his actions. He told a bystander "he's probably on something". That should be a red flag for cops to tread easier, NOT harder. People on drugs are idiots but that does not give the cops the right to treat them like their lives don't matter. AT ALL.
- Yes I know that Floyd had underlying health conditions.
- But he would clearly still be alive if Chavin hadn't treated him like a sack of potatoes. Chauvin simply didn't care.
Here are the facts. George Floyd underwent an autopsy. The county medical examiner listed the official cause of death as “cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression,” and concluded the manner of death was homicide. With respect to the use of the word homicide by the coroner the definition is thus: “homicide occurs when death results from a volitional act committed by another person to cause fear, harm, or death.”
Homicide means killed by someone who effectively and for all intents and purposes meant to do it. That's what "volitional act" means.
I don't care if Floyd was on Death's door before the cops touched him. But when I saw that video of a man who according to Chavin "probably on something" and who was pleading for his life because he could not breathe, I cannot ignore that or give the callous, inhuman asshole of a cop any kind of break. Floyd was clearly struggling to breathe and the cop was just sitting on top of him going "well then don't commit crimes then". And that is where Chavin went off the rails.
As soon as Floyd went into cuffs he became Chavin's PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY. Instead Chavin acted like "fuck this fool, he got what he deserved". And for 2.5 minutes Floyd LOOKS dead on the ground, has stopped moving at all and that greasy asshole Chavin didn't bother to see what's wrong, is everything OK, are you still with us, etc. At the very first sign of respiratory distress Chavin should have picked Floyd up off the ground and let him stand on his feet, lean against the squad or sit in the back seat with the AC on.
Look at the picture below. LOOK AT IT. Floyd was dead already and Chavin was playing pocket pool, "just doing his job". I'm very sorry that some humans like Floyd are just kind of street dirt. They behave like scum and they are in fact scum. But they are still humans and it is not the job of the police to literally squeeze the life out of a man who is completely incapacitated for whatever reason and then act like it's OK. This kind of jackboot behavior must stop and if Chavin has to be the poster child for police stupidity and careless handling of precious human life then it's too bad for him because he fully deserves life in a cell for what he did. And may all other cops get a clue from this judgement.
