Yes, we agree.The unwashed masses see the optics and scream terrible but the knee to neck restraint is a time tested method with few deaths/injuries used by police/military in many countries around the world to subdue unruly suspects/criminals/enemies. Chauvin was simply doing what he was trained to do.
Police are trained to not care if they injure or kill people.
You can do knee on someone safely.
You can also do it unsafely.
The question is whether or not you care which you are doing and when it is proper to escalate to that technique at all.