Charles 46277 Loc: Fulton County, KY

OK, I see. I recently got warned here because I merely mentioned a fact that had political significance for some people.

If I may present my opinion here, it is that the press should not be allowed to report crimes or lawsuits until the case for each side is presented in court. In Britain, if a suspect is picked up, the police merely say, "Mr. Jones is assisting the police in their inquires." My opinion is that if a story is damaging to anyone, it would be counted as libel unless the source can prove it is true (like other countries). In America, the accused must prove it is false, which is nearly impossible in most cases. (How can police officers prove they did not mean to kill? We cannot begin to judge that without hearing both sides and cross-examining all the witnesses and evidence.)

After the trial, the press can report it as they please, and people can protest as they like. No rights are stifled by waiting for the trial. And of course, pretrial reports are tainted by undisclosed sources we cannot cross-examine or even identify.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

I have seen the videos, and what you don’t seem to know is the portions of the bodycam videos have been leaked long ago - what you are referring to is that a judge has been asked to formally release them. They change absolutely nothing. It is well known that George Floyd was no angel - he had been convicted of crimes 8 times and served 4 years in prison for armed robbery. He was also a good sized man, played high school sports and had been employed as a bouncer. None of this or his resisting arrest changes the fact that he was handcuffed, unarmed, and of no danger to the large number (4) of the officers present. It’s certainly clear to me that if he had gotten quietly in the police van and ridden to jail, he would still likely be alive. It also seems clear that he had been ingesting drugs. BUT none of this changes the fact that excessive force was used, even for minutes after he had no pulse and that excessive force resulted in his death.

It is also clear to me from first hand knowledge and videos, that some of the protestors indulged in vandalism, looting, arson and wanton destruction of property. The videos from my city show both black and white individuals carrying out the violence and destruction, just as there were both black and white protestors. Here in Raleigh, every single glass store window for blocks of downtown was smashed, every building spray painted with graffiti, fires set inside buildings and many hundreds of thousands of dollars of goods stolen. We have a friend who owned a business downtown and not only was his store completely looted the first night, they came back a second night and smashed everything inside just for the sake of destruction. His loses after insurance exceed $100,000. Many of these store owners have their entire life savings invested in their businesses and many will never reopen including a hardware store that has been in downtown since the 1800s. Our police ignored the destruction going on two nights in a row and concentrated on protecting the police department, the governors Mansion and the Capital building, allowing the mobs to destroy our city with impunity until the 3rd night when a curfew was imposed. By then it was too late.

I’m certainly not equating the property damage to the loss of Mr. Floyd’s life, but neither does it do anything to further race relations or cause social change. Everyone was hurt and everyone is angry. It’s going to be a long time before we can have an unemotional discussion on any of these subjects, and I for one, do not appreciate you stirring the pot yet again on this forum. If you want to start a political, religious, or racial argument, put it where it belongs - in the attic, where I see that it has been correctly moved to. Better, yet take it to a completely different forum where those types arguments are promoted and enjoyed.

BigDen Loc: Alberta, Canada

Afraid of the truth are you? George Floyd killed George Floyd. He was dead regardless of ANY police intervention. Have you never heard of drug overdoses? Actually the police followed Minneapolis police procedure to the letter. The same procedure had been used over 230 times by the same department with no adverse results.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

A police officer should never kneel on a suspect's neck, especially if the suspect has already complained of having problems breathing.

BigDen Loc: Alberta, Canada

This article was posted because there has been censorship that has lead to a lot of death and destruction. It was posted in the hope that more people would see the truth about the incident that triggered the riots. There is nothing political about this post. There has been no politic responses, yet the post has been moved to the attic. This is further censorship and makes it clear that UHH administration is part of the problem, not interested in being a part of a solution.

Good bye

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

I notice you are leaving without bothering to tell us whether it is standard police to kneel on the neck of a suspect.

I too will leave - I don't hang around the Attic, but that alone will be evidence that is hard to refute.

BigDen Loc: Alberta, Canada

You really do need to educate yourself about excited delirium and how it is to be handled. The knee is not relevant to Floyd’s death. Get over it!

BigDen Loc: Alberta, Canada

Look a couple posts above yours. I did tell you and yes it is standard procedure in many US cities and much more around the world.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Not anymore.

tradio Loc: Oxford, Ohio

That makes sense to me. The media should be responsible for their reporting.

ecblackiii Loc: Maryland

It's in the Attic, which is for political commentary of Hedgehog members

BigDen Loc: Alberta, Canada

It is NOT a political post. That is the problem with the move to the attic. The move is pure censorship.

mwalsh Loc: Houston

Had these bodycam videos been leaked the week of Floyd's murder...the protests and the riots would have been bigger...the destruction more widespread.

The bodycams prove that Floyd was in handcuffs within moments of the cops knocking on his window...he offered no violent physical struggle and he was terrified, begging the cops not to shoot him when he was still in his car.

For the OP to state that the videos showed Floyd did resist arrest reflects a huge bias.

The videos unequivocably prove that Floyd was never ANY kind of threat to the cops. He was a pain in the ass, one could say he was uncooperative. But he was obviously terrified and freaked from the moment he saw the cops.

There had been talk of Floyd having been violent, having resisted arrest. These videos prove that to not be the case...takes that element of defense for the cops off the table.

I guess he verbally resisted arrest...the cops could have verbally subdued him...since they had him physically subdued from the start. I imagine George's plaintive whining was irritating...the arrest was taking too long...so they just killed him.

ragon Loc: Wisconsin

I agree. This video was leaked recently and does change everything.

steve03 Loc: long Lsland

Wasn't the video shown on the networks made by a young lady witness at the Scene? Not by a police cam.