It's murder surely? (**Trigger upsetting content**)

[Nymeriastark1]

The video of the man who was killed in America by the police officer's has just come up on my Facebook news feed. I couldn't watch all of it and had to hide it as it was just so upsetting to watch. Fucking disturbing actually. You can see the officer putting pressure on his neck while looking right down at him as he is literally suffocating to death. It's murder surely?! It was almost as if he was enjoying it. Please tell me charges are going to be pressed against these police officer's. I keep thinking about it getting upset that these men are going to get away with it.

@annamaria14 I agree definitely a power thing, 100%. What kind of training and background checks do they do in the US to become a police officer? Is it strict, because there seems to be a lot of people who slip through the net and go on to commit crimes like this while in a position of power.

It can't be common for someone to go from no criminal background at all, to full on murder.

It disgusting the way those officers behaved, I can't believe they just carry on even when he's clearly unconscious they don't even attempt CPR.

I've just googled for an article I read once comparing UK and USA police. Whilst I don't think our police force is perfect what was clear is that we spend more time training our police officers and have a centralised system so the training should be the same throughout the country where as the USA it's down to local budgets.
This article touches on it, prospect.org/justice/expert-u.s.-police-training-use-deadly-force-woefully-inadequate/

Just been thinking about this more this is by no means an excuse for their actions but might explain the poor training if the police forces are decentralised and funding is from taxes specific to that area it stands to reason that in the deprived areas there will be less tax income there less money for the police so you'll end up with more of a milita than a trained professional, in the very place were you need a well trained force. Did some research and quickly came across this www.nbcnews.com/feature/in-plain-sight/police-pay-gap-many-americas-finest-struggle-poverty-wages-n232701
It is making sense to me why they have a problem not only is there instutionalised racism but a lack of consistency in funding and training.
I wonder if the poorer states have a worse record for police brutality?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Kelly_Thomas

Kelly Thomas was a 37 year old white man who was beaten to death by 6 police officers in July 2011. he was homeless and schizophrenic. his crime was standing near a bus station. i understand that black lives matter, and fully support that stance. this is just another example of the police killing a citizen who had not even committed a crime.

he was systematically beaten, tased 5 times, and ultimately suffocated by an officer or two kneeling on his chest. the entire incident was captured on bodycam. at the end, you can hear Thomas screaming for his father, saying he couldn’t breathe. he was taken, unconscious, to hospital and died 5 days later without regaining consciousness. he died from ingesting his own blood, and from pressure on his thorax. he was also beaten until he was unrecognisable.

nobody stood trial for his murder. all charges against the only 2 out of the 6 officers involved that were charged, were dropped.

black lives matter. i tell the story of Kelly Thomas as another example of the endemic violence casually meted out by US police, safe in the knowledge that they will never have to answer to anyone for their actions.

absolute power corrupts absolutely.

It is murder, again. They should be charged and the paramedics should be fired

George Floyd was murdered

It was filmed and there are a number of witnesses

All the police have to be charged

Ze1tGeist I don’t think anyone is saying white men are not beaten by the police. But white men who fit particular presentation will be targets for many police. Every black man (particularly young) is a target for many police regardless of their presentation

It’s awful - I’ve felt so upset today about this. I only watched some of the video I couldn’t watched jt all.

There is a go fund me for the funeral costs and a
Memorial run by his brother if anyone wants to
Contribute.

This is just absolutely shocking

I can't believe the only action taken already is them being fired!

@CherieBabySpliffUp

There's a photo online of the policeman kneeling on George Floyd's neck in civvies wearing a hat with "make white great again" across the front. How was he be allowed to serve when that is in the public domain? Freedom of speech I guess There is also footage of protestors being heavily sprayed with mace whilst doing nothing wrong.

@CherieBabySpliffUp

The murder of George Floyd is horrific, and it's disgusting, and I can only hope it will be prosecuted as it ought to be. (I think it might. God, I hope so.)

But to correct the record, the horrible racist with the white supremacist hat is a different person than the police officer. (I think it got conflated because he's related to a woman who was defending the officer's wife on facebook; they also have similar face shapes.)

This doesn't make it betternot for a second, and I'm in no way suggesting that it doesbut it's not the same guy.

It is definitely murder and it sickens and saddens me. I just don't understand how anyone can do this and live with themselves.

(If it helps, here's an article about it: www.snopes.com/fact-check/make-whites-great-again-hat/)

However, this is of course beside the point. The point is that George Floyd's death is horrific, horrifically not an anomaly, and must be met with justice.

That's bloody horrific @Ze1tGeist. I never heard that case.

We can talk about deficiency in training. But how much training does a person need in order to understand you shouldn't taser someone 5 times or kneel on someone's neck because they won't be able to breathe?!

Lack of training is not an adequate defense in these cases, especially where it pertains to someone non aggressive and unarmed.

America has a policing recruitment problem. It also has a huge gun problem, and I wonder if it doesn't result in a general increase in underlying violent tension, particulary for PO so that they are already braced to be aggressive?

Totally sickening, I hope the scumbag gets the punishment he deserves

Yes it was murder, I see no way out for the officer in charge given the video evidence. There will be a conviction but it will be to appease the public. As in everything is good now, the bad cop has been convicted. We are all good now

Black men are still being lynched in America.

I can remember reading somewhere that many officers are recruited from military backgrounds, many with untreated trauma, many already indoctrinated with supremist beliefs and as before stated there is no federal regulation of police forces. Its easy to understand how many police forces become little more than armed militia.

Its a terrifying thought that this is in the so called land of the free.

nymeriastark1 - It does seem A very backwards place compared to the UK

That's exactly how I would have described it. When I lived temporarily in the USA in the 1980s I was struck by the very high levels of ignorance and racism - and that was amongst the white middle class people that I mostly interacted with. God knows what the ignorance levels were among the less well educated.
I found the US to be incredibly insular and very old-fashioned compared with the UK. It was quite a shock.

Murder and nothing short of murder. Bystanders were pleading with the cops for his life but were held back by a cop threatening mace. This is the most disgusting and disturbing thing I have ever seen, he wasn't even resisting arrest.

@CatherineOfAragonsPomegranate I agree it doesn't take any training to know you are suffocating someone.

The lack of training is a sign of a lack of investment if they are poorly trained they are probably poorly vetted, monitored, which will lead to a lack of discipline and the hardest ones will end up ruling via aggression meaning good police officers will leave or be to frightened to do anything. Which all compounds to worsen the problem doesn't make it acceptable but does show how it could be resolved by have a more unified system and funding although I doubt any president would manage to get that to work as some states would probably revolt.

I have to say - i think if i were a bystander i would have done something more. I would have Pushed him off that man. It is that man's life!!

The look on the police man's face is just disgusting.

It is "you are black, you are dirt and you are worth nothing, I am happy that I get to kill one of you".

@80sMum I am kind of shocked at you seeing the problems in the USA and not in the UK. I guess that it makes everyone feel better to think that their country is superior. "We are not as bad as that".

I am from the UK originally. I moved abroad for most of my life, and I moved back to the UK last year temporarily, to see how it is, thinking about moving their permanently.

I was disgusted at the class system, cruelty, coldness and racism everywhere. The UK is also a white nationalistic society that hates foreigners.

If you described the UK to some one else, you would describe it as:

We have a royal family. We agree that one family is better than all other families. We give them the right to rule over us. We give them loads of palaces, while many people live in poverty.

We are obsessed with class, and constantly talk about class we are in, so we can keep other people down and make them feel bad about themselves. "We are not like those poor scumbags, we are better, we are middle class".

We are a racist society. White british people are superior to everyone else. Because we are just the best!

I couldn't take the racism in the UK, and I moved away again. The UK is a very cruel country.

And I am white before anyone asks. As a white person I was disgusted by the racism in the UK. I do not want to live in as racist a society as that