George Floyd's family wants to do an independent autopsy

Your attempts at apologetic for this piece of human excrement masquerading as a police officer sickens me almost as much as watching that video of a man being murdered by that same agent of the state. There is no excuse for what was done to that man. I really don't give a flying fuck if he was a felon, and had spent time in prison. You don't murder a man for allegedly passing a bogus $20 bill.

Could Mr. Floyd have had an underlying condition that facilitated his death in the conditions as they were? Yup. Doesn't change the fact that the cop acted with a blatant disregard for the life of someone who was already under his control. The fact that he thought it was OK to do so in broad daylight, while being filmed speaks a lot to exactly what kind of scum he is, and that he felt he could act with absolute impunity because he wears a magical blue suit that absolves him of responsibility or accountability. Predictably, the apologists for the police state will swarm to his defense, no matter how indefensible his actions may be.

Now that we know that there was very likely some history between Mr. Floyd and his executioner it has put the entire situation in a new light as well.

Perhaps he didn't actually intend to kill him, but it was pretty obvious that he didn't give a damn either way.

None so blind as those who will not see.

Your expressed rage is obvious and ostensibly understandable. You watched this video and reached your conclusions based on what you saw with your own two eyes and heard from the commentary of the individual who was making the recording. Your colorful language clearly conveys your emotional responses to this snippet of tape. Although you denounce the cop, you do not comment on his weight distribution technique that is fairly obvious in the video—shifting to his right side—which would be done if he were modulating control of a still struggling prisoner. So I have to question your assertion that it demonstrates “blatant disregard for the life of someone who was already under his control”. The plain fact is that if you choose to fight a cop or cops, not just in the US but just about anywhere in the world—from Argentina to China to Europe to Zimbabwe—you are looking for trouble. Big trouble. Because essentially all legal systems give cops BROAD discretion in responding to any form of violence—even those associated with “resisting arrest”. And if the individual who is not complying with the arrest is powerful or intimidating, and is resisting vigorously but has underlying medical conditions that are not obvious, bad outcomes can and do occur. The nature of the original offense really does not enter in. The Eric Garner case comes to mind. But I assume—based on your colorful language—that you will choose not to understand that point. Or the nature of the adrenaline rush engendered by the “victim”s” aggressive actions.

However, there may be one point on which we can agree: you state “Now that we know that there was very likely some history between Mr. Floyd and his executioner it has put the entire situation in a new light as well.” Indeed. It may well reveal Mr. Floyd’s motives for vigorously resisting arrest. If we ask ourselves—”If I ran a nightclub, with or without a liquor license, and wanted to employ a bouncer, would I ask the applicants about any criminal history and then knowingly hire someone with repeated convictions for violent felonies?” I suspect I would ask and not hire anyone convicted of a violent felony. The club owner’s insurance company would probably want that sort of thing. So that just might give Mr. Floyd, while he was being confronted by these particular cops while “under the influence”, to immediately panic about the prospect of loosing his job/income, and vigorously attempt to escape, thus precipitating this terrible outcome. Think about it.

Finally, I assume at this point (based on the preliminary statements that have been made public) that the family will not like the conclusions drawn from the official autopsy. I think they have already called for a re-evaluation of the evidence by an outside expert such as Michael Baden. More power to them. I am willing to wait for all of the evidence to be presented before I reach a final conclusion. But I suspect the family will be sorely disappointed by the final result—and that when the dust settles, the cop (or cops) in question will collect enough money in settlements for false arrest from the city and/or state to be able to retire to nice big hurricane-proof houses on the sunny shores of Florida (or elsewhere on the Gulf) with an expensive fishing boat docked nearby. In other words, a very different outcome than the recent case in Minneapolis where the Somali cop shot and killed the Australian woman...

But have a nice day.

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