Will this Kind of Outrage Never Stop?

[Jersey Girl]

Are any of you following the Derek Chauvin trial? I've been following from day one. I hope you all are, too. It's so important.

[Chap]

[...]

But there is also the blue brotherhood of silence. If you rat on fail to allow a fellow officer to commit serious crimes with impunity, you can potentially face a life of ostracism within the department. [...]

May I suggest that it would be helpful to the purpose of your post to avoid terms such as 'rat on' and simply describe the situation for what it is? The problem is that the morally loaded term you used (which I agree is commonly used) suggests to the reader that the course of action to which it refers is in some way improper or despicable, whereas a more neutral description will enable your readers to see the question more objectively.

[Moksha]

I guess if there are any liberal policemen, they don't stay liberal very long.

I suppose being a policeman won't buy you this kind of lifestyle. To each according to need! She's a self described Marxist, just like Analytics.

https://nypost.com/2021/04/10/inside-Brian Laundrie ... ing-binge/

Yikes, running a real estate business buying and flipping homes sounds so capitalist! It's like she and Trump share a similar occupation or something. Big differences though, she's black and solvent.

[Res Ipsa]

Are any of you following the Derek Chauvin trial? I've been following from day one. I hope you all are, too. It's so important.

I haven't had time to follow it closely -- just recaps from time to time. I'm interested in your impressions.

[Res Ipsa]

I think step one is to stop thinking about them in terms of outrage, and start viewing them as a problem to be solved. The way the United States polices black folks as compared to whites originated with the black codes enacted by southern states during reconstruction and has become systemic. Outrage simply causes political factions to dig into their already entrenched positions. Problem solving is what is needed, and it's going to require an overhaul of the justice system, starting with the beat cop and ending with criminal courts.

[Jersey Girl]

Are any of you following the Derek Chauvin trial? I've been following from day one. I hope you all are, too. It's so important.

I haven't had time to follow it closely -- just recaps from time to time. I'm interested in your impressions.

I'm mainly watching the replay and moving it along with each witness. Impressions? Difficult to say since the defense hasn't presented it's side yet. Based on prosecution witnesses? They've done a very good job at presenting their case against Chauvin. Eye witness testimony was compelling and backed up by video evidence from both bystander and cop body cams. The MMA fighter picked out places in the video (Darnella's? Dannielle?) where Chauvin lifts his heel/foot and places the weight of his body on Mr. Floyd's neck. Defense tried to get eye witnesses to admit they were angry (reinforcing LE's position that they were faced with an angry mob) and not one of them did. The MMA fighter explained that he didn't get more angry, he got more professional and "stayed in my body". ALL of the eye witnesses expressed survivor guilt and cried on the stand including the MMA fighter.

Mr. Floyd's girlfriend (God bless her) fully humanized him for the jury. She loved him. He was lovable. She still loves him. He had a life that wasn't all about drugs. He had a real life with real people in it, some flawed (including her) by drug addiction, but he still lived a productive and full life in spite of those conditions. He loved his mama, he fell apart when she died. He has children. For god sakes, the jury needed to hear her powerful testimony of love and life with him. He called both his mama and girlfriend, "Mama" so when he calls for "Mama" in the video, it's hard to know who he is calling for.

Pulmonologist (that felt compelled to volunteer his expert services/assessment) testified to the effect how much oxygen exchange is needed to maintain life and discussed respiration rates (in more detail than I can understand), and walked through video (cop body cam) to identify how Mr. Floyd was using his body in an attempt to get air--rocking his hips and pushing his cuffed wrists up against the pavement and tire of the patrol car.

Forensics expert testified to the fact that Mr. Floyd showed NO signs of Fentanyl/Meth overdose or death (I think the pulmonologist did the same) because Mr. Floyd's respiration rate was normal until death where in the case of Fentanyl/Meth overdose, respiration rate would slow and finally stop. Mr. Floyd was breathing normally and trying to get in air using his body the entire time until the final moments where he opened his eyes one last time and then passed under the knee of damned Chauvin who KEPT his knee on his neck even when officers couldn't find a pulse and even LATER when the paramedic tried to get his pulse WITH Chauvin's damned knee on his neck. (Guess what side I'm on?) I mean, Chauvin didn't take his knee off Mr. Floyd's neck until AFTER both attempts at finding a pulse were made and the paramedic informed him that they needed roll and roll NOW. No. Chauvin is there stubbornly putting his body weight on a decease man. In my mind, it's indefensible.

Medical examiner same thing re: Fentanyl/Meth overdose/death. Ruled that the subdual restraint caused Mr. Floyd's asphyxiation and death ruled a homicide. The other doc assessed the same.

The defense attorney has had very few moments where he countered in any useful way. He's doing his best for his client. He tries to divert attention away from expert testimony re: Fentanyl/Meth overdose/death to things like drug tolerance states and there's no safe dose of either drug, completely ignoring the characteristics re:respiration rates and the fact that this is easily determined on video. He brings up scenarios that don't include the fact that a man had his damned knee on Mr. Floyd's neck and two other officers pinning him down (reducing lung capacity) for nearly 10 minutes, and tries to take that out of the equation...but he can't. It's on video tape and some of the videos are synced together to show different views at the same time...so client is screwed. Each time he goes out on a limb, the prosecution returns and shoves him off it.

No idea what's gonna happen when defense calls experts or whatever. I think they only thing they can do is raise the what ifs and it's not going to cut it because again...it's all on video tape where the jury has a front row seat to the incident. If need be, they can go to the respiration rate and count it for themselves.

If you haven't see the testimony of the witnesses I mentioned above, you'll have to search around for it. I can't recall the names as I normally would. JB is post op over here and I've been hopping to it for almost 2 weeks now...catching the trial as I can without missing too much of it in replay. My failure to recall names isn't a sign of disrespect. Just lack of time to let the names sink in as I am watching.

One thing that made me feel so horrible and tearful (besides the torture and killing of Mr. Floyd) was when the medical examiner testified to the abrasions on Mr. Floyd's face from being shoved into the pavement. I don't know why that bothered me so much, it's just so horribly dehumanizing what they did to him and somehow the abrasions on his face served to drive home that point. I mean I just felt it in my gut.

[Res Ipsa]

Thanks, Jersey Girl. Sounds pretty horrific. It will be interesting to see what, if anything, the defense is able to accomplish.

[Jersey Girl]

Thanks, Jersey Girl. Sounds pretty horrific. It will be interesting to see what, if anything, the defense is able to accomplish.

ETA: Just got back from a "run" and about to turnaround and go out again but...thought of something I didn't include. LE after LE right up to the top cop (Chief) testified that Chauvin violated training and department policies. It is a rare occasion when LE testifies against it's own. And yet, even they couldn't stomach what Chauvin and the other two did. Not one of the three (Tao was the one watching the "crowd" of bystanders) broke ranks. Not one. Any one of those cops could have at least tried to bring the incident to a swift end by getting off Mr. Floyd's body.

But they didn't.

in my opinion: Chauvin is a psycho puffed up with his own power and authority. Don't think that will last long now...

[ajax18]

The way the United States polices black folks as compared to whites originated with the black codes enacted by southern states during reconstruction and has become systemic

That's interesting that the northern states and western states went on to adopt the policies and policing practices of the defeated side in the Civil War. It's almost as interesting as why police just randomly hunt down harass and even kill black people for no other reason than the color of their skin in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Was Minnesota where Stonewall Jackson's headquarters actually were?

[Res Ipsa]

Thanks, Jersey Girl. Sounds pretty horrific. It will be interesting to see what, if anything, the defense is able to accomplish.

ETA: Just got back from a "run" and about to turnaround and go out again but...thought of something I didn't include. LE after LE right up to the top cop (Chief) testified that Chauvin violated training and department policies. It is a rare occasion when LE testifies against it's own. And yet, even they couldn't stomach what Chauvin and the other two did. Not one of the three (Tao was the one watching the "crowd" of bystanders) broke ranks. Not one. Any one of those cops could have at least tried to bring the incident to a swift end by getting off Mr. Floyd's body.

But they didn't.

in my opinion: Chauvin is a psycho puffed up with his own power and authority. Don't think that will last long now...

I agree that the testimony about violating training and procedures is pretty significantly, both for him and for the other officers present. Yikes!