One of the main arguments being advanced by Eric Nelson, sole attorney for Derek Chauvin in his trial for the murder of George Floyd, is that the hostile crowd itself prevented the officers from attempting to perform CPR in the last minutes of Floyds life.
Even the prosecutions use of force experts admitted repeatedly on cross-examination that a hostile crowd would justify Chauvin keeping Floyd restrained until an ambulance arrived. An officers duty to provide care is overridden by his duty to keep himself, the suspect and the bystanders safe.
As was evident from the videos (and admitted to by the bystander witnesses), they were shouting obscenities at the police, threatening them with bodily harm and, in a few instances, had to be held back from rushing the officers.
And of course, because of the presence of the angry crowd, the EMTs themselves did not stick around to provide care, but did a load and scoot, heaving Floyd into the back of the ambulance and driving three blocks to get away from the mob on the street. They didnt even want to work inside an ambulance near this feisty group.
As it becomes increasingly obvious that the belligerent onlookers themselves may have gotten George Floyd killed by creating a dangerous situation for the officers, media commentators leap in to do backup work for the prosecutors by sneering at the idea that the officers might have felt threatened by a few rowdy teenagers.
Oh, the big pansies! So, a few teenagers yelled at the officers. Show me just ONE example of disaffected urban youth going from agitation to brawling!
Heres one! One Saturday morning in May 2019, six teens beat the crap out of an off-duty firefighter on the Upper East Side because he stepped in to defend an elderly couple from the youths harassment. -- youtube.com/watch?v=fNkN1CGnVCc
And heres another: A mob in Chicago attacked an older white man in 2016 for voting for Trump. -- youtube.com/watch?v=2IaAo_rQ4O4
This one is outside a church in Memphis in 2016 after services. The instigating event is entirely unknown. -- dailymail.co.uk/video/news/video-1276019/Massive-brawl-breaks-streets-South-Memphis.html
But the police were armed! Yeah, what are they going to do if one of the bystanders rushed them? Shoot him? Shoot them all?
Heres a video of (armed) cops making an arrest in the middle of a crowd of rowdy teenagers at a carnival two years ago. -- youtube.com/watch?v=YvB_M8c0dMs
And heres a 2019 video of a mob of students surrounding an (armed) police officer restraining a student. One student kicked him in the face. -- youtube.com/watch?v=0BlZaLgNPpA
Heres a brawl that broke out in 2017 after a woman on a bus was bumped with a book bag. The mayhem continued with an attack on (armed) police officers called to the scene, who were bitten and spit upon. One boy tried to take an officers gun. -- youtube.com/watch?v=cbrlm10qbiE
So, yes, I see your point, MSNBC, its completely crazy for the officers to have felt threatened by the agitated crowd of urban youth hurling epithets at them.
At least we can count on our media to report fairly on any case of a black man dying in police custody.
No, my mistake! For important news about America, we turn to the British press. It seems that Floyd had a long list of criminal convictions, including holding a gun to a pregnant womans belly during a home invasion robbery in Texas. See dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8366533/George-Floyd-moved-Minneapolis-start-new-life-released-prison-Texas.html.
You wont read about that in The New York Times! The Times briefly mentioned a home invasion in a single article about Floyd last June (27th paragraph -- seriously). I guess they didnt have space to mention Floyds pistol-whipping a pregnant woman.
Even the Houston Chronicles major retrospective of Floyds life skimmed past the violent home invasion in a few sentences about his period of struggle: In 2009, Floyd went to prison after pleading guilty to aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon.
That was it, in a deep dive article on Floyds life that was 1,500 words long.
It seems like an intriguing story to me. How about an interview with the victim, media? Anyone interested? Nah, lets get to the story on Officer Chauvins taxes!
Yes, the Minnesota Department of Revenue and the Oakdale Police Department have done their part for BLM by poring over Officer Chauvins state tax returns and are now charging him with tax fraud. They claim that, over the past five years, Chauvin and his wife underpaid the State of Minnesota about $21,000 in taxes. Theres a real clickbait story!
There have been hundreds of news stories on Chauvins alleged tax fraud. (George Floyd, I assume, was always punctilious about his taxes. Probably an early filer.)
Rioting is good for ratings. Dont expect the media to report the truth.
Continued here:
Ann Coulter: Chauvin: The case against the mob - Today's News-Herald