It is my understanding that the use of choke holds and other neck restraints have been banned in most police forces. The reason? Too many deaths or injuries to people being arrested. It is banned in Canada, LA, NYC and many places across the US (apparently they are banned in 24 states). I cannot speak about its use in other places. As for the question if Floyd should have been arrested, of course! Nobody has issue with him being arrested, they have issues with him dying during the arrest. The whole "Chauvin was made an example" argument is weak sauce. He used a restraint for a VERY long time (9 fucking minutes) where Floyd was not fighting back or anything. Was he power tripping? Maybe. Was he trying to send a message? Maybe. Did he mean to kill Floyd? No, I doubt it. But the end result was he choked the life out him slowly but surely. And none of the cops that were with him did anything to intervene. That is why this was a real problem here.
So you are
not arguing that neck restraints were contrary to the police
use of force policy that Chauvin had been trained in at the time. The evidence at trial included that officers received training in the application of neck restraints. I have to assume that this was not the first time that Chauvin or other officers in his police force used this restraint. This was, however, the first time anyone died in connection with its use. As stated by me in any earlier post, ANY restraint CAN be deadly, depending on the medical condition of the suspect. Whether Chauvin is as "evil" as some try to paint him to be depends on whether he had any reasonable belief that what he was doing would lead to serious injury or death. In the end, he's certainly responsible for his error of judgement. He should have checked on Floyd when his pleading became persistent. Whether murder was the right charge is debatable to me. I believe his murder conviction appeal is still pending. The fact that no other officers intervened just tells me that NONE of the cops at the scene believed that Floyd was about to die. I don't believe that any of these cops were seeking Floyd's death. I think this was a case of bad judgement, possibly tainted by irritation at Floyd's poor behaviour, not a case of cops deciding to publicly execute a relatively low level criminal.
I think some people don't understand what the Black Lives Matter movement is about. It isn't that they are better than anyone, it's a reminder to police that they are people and they matter as well. While we know police have shot and killed unarmed white people, they have a horrible track record when it comes to POC. Time and time again, we see video or hear stories about how they shot and killed people who might have been running away (like Michael Brown in Ferguson, MS), or from the use of illegal chokeholds (like Eric Garner in NY). And don't get me started on the cop who shot and killed a 12 year old with a toy gun virtually immediately after he got out of his car (Tamir Rice in Cleveland). He was basically executed. The cop shot first before even telling the kid to put the gun down. Tell me that would've happened with a white kid...
There are no stats that prove that in the US a higher percentage of black crime suspects who resist, threaten the police or others, or flee are killed than white crime suspects who resist, threaten the police or others, or flee. All the stats prove is that black Americans have more encounters per capita with police, are charged more often per capita, and are jailed more often per capita. All that means is that there is a problem with crime in black communities (mostly black on black crime). There will be no solution until the real problem is recognized, and that problem is NOT that the police are looking to shoot black suspects.
Time and time again there are sensational stories. And time and time again they prove to be something else entirely.
Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of bad policing. We ask some pretty dumb people to make some pretty difficult decisions. However, EVERYONE encounters this, not just black people.
Of course, the best way not to be shot and killed by police continues to be to ensure that you don't commit any crimes.
