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— Maurice A. West II (@MauriceAWestII) May 28, 2020
posted by Rich Miller
Friday, May 29, 20 @ 9:13 am
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Not a banner set of days for cops in Minnesota, first the murder of Mr. Floyd, and last night arresting an Afro-Latino reporter for CNN on live TV, lying about it despite rolling, live video of the entire situation.
Comment by Precinct Captain Friday, May 29, 20 @ 9:19 am
I’m going to withhold judgement until we see the results of a quick investigation, and it better be quick. But from what I’ve seen so far, it looks like Van Dyke is going to have a cellmate.
Comment by PublicServant Friday, May 29, 20 @ 9:20 am
I support police officers. But, they’ve hurt their cause in two ways. First, many refuse to turn in the bad actors in their ranks. Second, following incidents like this, it often seems that they abandon their duties and simply stand back. My friends in St. Louis tell me the latter is occurring following the Michael Brown death. As a result, the crime rate is escalating way too fast.
Comment by Downstate Friday, May 29, 20 @ 9:21 am
This is a tragedy. These officers should have been arrested and jailed immediately, not just fired. But the riots that have resulted in looting and burning of numerous buildings in this neighborhood are just as outrageous. They defeat the narrative of the legitimate protest. The media coverage of this has been awful. Rioters and anarchists are not protesters.
Comment by RuralKing Friday, May 29, 20 @ 9:23 am
MLK once said “riots are the voice of the unheard.” Remains correct to this day.
Comment by Glengarry Friday, May 29, 20 @ 9:26 am
Rich,
Drug induced homicide story out of Charleston, IL that doesn’t look great for the IDOC:
http://www.thexradio.com/news/78-local-news/44826-arrests-in-coles-county-for-drug-induced-homicide
From the story……
“Cody J. Parsons has extensive criminal history with crimes of violence and was actually paroled from prison in March 2020 after serving 2 years in the IDOC for being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. Parsons cut off the ankle bracelet used to monitor him and the Illinois Department of Corrections issued a parole hold warrant of arrest for Parsons. Mattoon police located and arrested Parsons for said parole hold warrant on May 13th. However, for reasons yet to be determined, the IDOC declined to place Parsons back in prison and allowed him to remain out of jail on parole at that time.”
Comment by Downstate Friday, May 29, 20 @ 9:29 am
As bad as the situation in Minneapolis is, the Presidents comments succeeded in making it worse.
Comment by 47th Ward Friday, May 29, 20 @ 9:30 am
It’s murder. Charges need to be placed yesterday.
Comment by SSL Friday, May 29, 20 @ 9:45 am
I’m trying (and failing) to find the rationale for a law enforcement officer to put a handcuffed detainee in a neck restraint for eight minutes.
Comment by Jocko Friday, May 29, 20 @ 9:47 am
This was a filmed murder.
There’s no other discussion than to that fact.
Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, May 29, 20 @ 9:51 am
Jocko-
Exactly. The point of arrest is to restrict the person’s ability to move, so the suspect can be placed in a patrol car and removed from the scene.
Whether that suspect is later charged or released is determined at the detention center.
Why keep someone restrained, in public, with a knee on the neck for an extended period of time?
Comment by efudd Friday, May 29, 20 @ 9:52 am
Rex Huppke, in today’s Tribune:
The killing of George Floyd, Chicago’s violence and white America’s refusal to look racism in the eye
Comment by Northsider Friday, May 29, 20 @ 10:02 am
I have deep respect for Rep. West and am glad a local news outlet shared his experience, one that is impossible to ever really understand unless you are a Black American living this reality every single day under a system designed to oppress black lives in a society that seems to value animals more than humans.
The narrow white press doesn’t usually help to explain the root cause. One quick example was yesterday when there was a question during MLL’s press briefing. Something along the lines of, “A lot of my reporter colleagues are asking: with what’s happening in Minneapolis, how is Chicago prepared? Are Chicago Police on guard?” That should not have been the first question about this.
The first question should’ve been how are Chicago Police prepared to not murder another black man. What is the city doing to protect Black residents from police brutality? What checks do you have in place to hold police accountable?
I was a little girl who had to go with my mom to pick up my Latino dad from CPD and take him to a hospital after the Police pulled him over and beat him with a billy club until face was nice and bloody. And he was just brown — not Black. And that was more than 30 years ago. The system hasn’t changed, so more power to the people in MN who are taking matters into their own hands.
Thank you, Rep. West, for using your voice to keep reminding all of us who don’t have to live in fear for our lives about what reality looks like for so many of our fellow humans.
Comment by The Most Anonymous Friday, May 29, 20 @ 10:07 am
Not sure how much is white racism and how much is blue arrogance. The cops acted as if they were above the law.
Comment by Last Bull Moose Friday, May 29, 20 @ 10:10 am
Lock him and the rest of the crew up now. Sometimes when it’s a split second decision and a cop fires a gun and kills someone, it’s a terrible tragedy, but I can see how it would happen in an intense situation and it be an accident. You may perceive a threat on your life whether it’s legitimate or not.
With that being said, there’s no explanation for this. The guy was absolutely no threat to the officer and he and other people were begging the officer to just get off his neck. His actions were intentional when he didn’t get off him and whether he meant to murder him or not, I don’t know, but what he was doing by kneeling on his neck was a clear abuse of power that needs to be punished to the fullest extent possible..
Comment by AD Friday, May 29, 20 @ 10:16 am
=Not sure how much is white racism and how much is blue arrogance=
The two aren’t mutually exclusive. See Second City Cop for further evidence.
Comment by Joe Bidenopolous Friday, May 29, 20 @ 10:27 am
This has nothing to do with the video, but it is marked open thread.
Flapdoodle, thank you for the recommendation for the heute-show. I laughed myself silly last night watching it.
Comment by cermak_rd Friday, May 29, 20 @ 10:41 am
I keep wondering how long it will take the great majority of good cops to remain silent while their fellow bad cops keep taking actions such as this that put all of them in greater jeopardy. Maybe we just need the current generation of bad cops who were raised and trained in these harmful techniques and attitudes to retire and be replaced by newer cops who are (hopefully) receiving better training.
Comment by Original Rambler Friday, May 29, 20 @ 10:44 am
The police arrested a CNN reporter before the killer of George Floyd.
‘Nuff said.
– MrJM
Comment by @misterjayem Friday, May 29, 20 @ 10:56 am
A few musings
1. My whole life I’ve suspected my white family and peers secretly like riots. It allows them to dismiss the initial injustice and say, “see?” so they can victim blame and perpetuate the unjust society.
2. In my 12 years as a teacher we’ve booted at least four colleagues for inappropriate behavior. We didn’t rally around them. We
Comment by Proud Papa Bear Friday, May 29, 20 @ 11:05 am
Nothing says “white privilege” like thinking you can torture a man to death in broad daylight and get away with it.
Comment by Nick Name Friday, May 29, 20 @ 11:07 am
I would think if this was a bar fight and on person was filmed doing what this cop did that they would have been arrested and charged with murder on the spot.
That’s my reality and right now its near impossible to see how this officer and others aren’t facing criminal charges now.
But then I really do see why those cops haven’t been charged….
Comment by Cool Papa Bell Friday, May 29, 20 @ 11:17 am
Little to do with this explosive situation currently occurring in MN, but an idea I had for better community relations between peace officers and the communities they serve.
Require police patrol officers to be up for retention every 10 years like judges.
Most people in every community I have ever lived in have appreciated police officers who they perceive as making them safer (stopping the obvious drug house from operating, ticketing speeding vehicles in neighborhoods, etc.). So I don’t think it would be a slam dunk that people would just willy nilly toss the police as a whole out (and obviously you would have to stagger the retention votes to keep some kind of continuity in the force).
It might also direct energies in less obvious cases than this current one (where the officers have already been removed) from angered impotence to politicking to not retain.
Comment by cermak_rd Friday, May 29, 20 @ 11:18 am
Colin Kapernick was reviled for taking a knee to protest police brutality. That police officer used his knee to murder someone in broad daylight recorded from multiple angles. THIS IS NOT A NEW PHENOMENON. It doesn’t seem to matter how many videos exist to show brutal police behavior all over the country is systemic. Spare me the tears for the all the good cops that exist until all those good cops in unity and every chance they get individually, condemn the racist vile ones. Police acting like they have been badged to be judge and executioner as well must stop. The punishment for forgery is not death. The punishment for a broken tail light is not death. The punishment for looking at a gun in a store that sells them is not death. The punishment for selling loose cigarettes is not death. I could go on and on.
As for the rioting and looting, the best clap back I saw was “I don’t know, but we tried peacefully taking a knee and y’all had a problem with that too.”
Until you understand that a large swatch of our community does not feel served or protected by law enforcement there cannot be peace, which makes this something no one should look away from. I am an educated African American woman who is married and have two degrees. My honest first gut feeling whenever I come into contact with a police officer is not “Thank God they are here.” It is please God, don’t let this get out of hand. I feel fear.
As for waiting for the bad apples to retire…the lives of my sons and husband cannot wait any longer. We’ve been waiting all of our lives. Collectively, we can’t breathe.
Comment by Sideline Watcher Friday, May 29, 20 @ 11:20 am
I’ve tried to follow the stories from multiple sources in order to discern some truth. So far I’ve come to a few conclusions.
1) The police department errored by not arresting the involved officers after they were fired.
Yes, the officers may have managed to bond out and be out of jail, but arrests would have sent a message that some justice was being pursued.
2) The district attorney should have immediately filed charges.
3) The primary involved officer probably should have been removed from the force long before this incident.
4) The mayor may have errored in ordering the police to retreat from that district … I’m still on the fence on that one.
5) Protests are a valid form of residence; rioting is not.
All the riots will do is turn the area into another burned out and failed community, doing more overall damage in the long run.
Now the question is will more damage be done by letting the riots and fires continue, or by attempts to use the National Guard to protect firefighters and by the police trying to control the riots?
The second question is how many businesses will attempt to rebuild, and how many years will it take for the area to recover … if that even happens?
Comment by RNUG Friday, May 29, 20 @ 11:33 am
@RNUG
===All the riots will do is turn the area into another burned out and failed community, doing more overall damage in the long run.===
I hear what you’re saying but I think the murder of George Floyd is what showed us a “failed community” and started the “overall damage in the long run.”
Comment by The Most Anonymous Friday, May 29, 20 @ 12:28 pm
===I hear what you’re saying but I think the murder of George Floyd is what showed us a “failed community” and started the “overall damage in the long run.”===
This may be the vicious cycle in a nutshell. The investment needed to improve the area goes elsewhere because of stigma. There are parts of the south and, especially, west sides of Chicago that haven’t seen significant investment since 1968. The avenues out of cyclic poverty are impaired by the after affects of cyclic poverty. While you can look at Appalachia, and see many parallels, the difference in many northern cities is directly the result of racism.
Comment by Proud Sucker Friday, May 29, 20 @ 12:38 pm
Derek Chauvin - the officer in the video - has been arrested.
Comment by Nick Name Friday, May 29, 20 @ 12:42 pm
Sorry. Here’s a link:
https://tinyurl.com/yd2rd8yw
Comment by Nick Name Friday, May 29, 20 @ 12:45 pm
Charged with third degree murder and manslaughter.
Comment by Nick Name Friday, May 29, 20 @ 1:20 pm
3rd degree murder and manslaughter. I guess the question for proportionality is would that have been the charge for a random guy who did that to another random guy in handcuffs?
Comment by cermak_rd Friday, May 29, 20 @ 1:53 pm
A handcuffed, compliant person had excessive force used on him that resulted in his death. Had the same scenario happened in combat, it would be a war crime. Yet this happened in America. Not some 3rd world underdeveloped place. It happens too much, nothing changes and after the fires burn out it is forgotten.
We need to stop segregating ourselves based on skin pigment. We are all Americans, all human and all the same inside. Our character and our actions is what we should be judged by.
Comment by FormerParatrooper Friday, May 29, 20 @ 2:09 pm
This video is beyond disgusting and maddening, but what concerns me just as much, after 30+ years in law enforcement, is that the officer and his fellow officers all were obviously aware this was all being recorded, including the bystanders begging them to take his knee off his neck……and the officers apparently weren’t concerned and felt their actions would hold up to scrutiny? Wow
Comment by Former Merit Comp Friday, May 29, 20 @ 3:05 pm
What’s also so tragic - the crime was passing a counterfeit twenty, which is something that could happen to anyone who uses cash. How do you know when you get change whether or not it’s counterfeit?
Comment by TinyDancer(FKASue) Friday, May 29, 20 @ 4:26 pm