Why haven't they been arrested yet? Why?

[ShambalaHambala]

The officers who murdered and were accessories to the murder of George Floyd. Can anyone give me a logical reason for it? I've been up all night watching footage of the riots. There look to be upwards of 150 officers stood outside Chauvin's house protecting him and his family. Minneapolis is on fire. Why not arrest the murderer? It's clear as day that he murdered Floyd in cold blood. As a black woman, with black brothers, and black friends and family across America, I feel sick. I can't sleep. I can't stop crying. I don't agree with the violence that has happened across minneapolis but I feel the rioters' pain. I can't make sense of this.

[Needamanicure]

Instead of starting a new thread on the same subject it would be easier if you just added to the other thread

[Needamanicure]

which incidentally was the OP's thread as well on the same subject.

It is disgusting. If I lived in states (glad I don't) I would be protesting/contacting local senators etc etc etc

[dreamingbohemian]

I hear what you're saying AcrossthePond, not all Americans are racist (if for no other reason than not all Americans are white) but as an American myself, I don't disagree with people saying 'the US is racist'. Not just because the level of racism is appalling on an individual level, but because it is structurally racist as in, it is deeply embedded in every institution, in politics, the media, schools, law enforcement, I mean it is everywhere. In city planning, in maternity services, literally everywhere.

I think it's important to see where things are not as bad as elsewhere, so that you can try to build upon progress that has been made, but we have to be upfront about how bad things really are.

[Puzzledandpissedoff]

They never get prosecuted

Not quite ...

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-45352610

www.nytimes.com/2019/10/14/us/fort-worth-police-officer-charged-murder.html

www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2020-01-28/police-handcuffed-man-shot-and-killed-inside-cruiser

globalnews.ca/news/6919350/charges-laid-ahmaud-arbery-shooting/

www.vox.com/2019/1/18/18188086/jason-van-dyke-sentencing-laquan-mcdonald-chicago-81-months

[Moondust001]

I'm going to be 100% upfront that I do not remotely think what has happened is right, and the person(s) responsible should be held to account, up to and including murder charges brought.

If that is approriate I I believe it is and will be.

But even in the UK people suspected of murder, even when it appears to be glaringly obvious do not get arrested and the key thrown away until there has been an investigation, and that can take several weeks. Acting too precipitively can throw away a conviction. The reason we have justice systems, no matter how imperfect they may be, is because mob rule and revenge are never appropriate. And you cannot talk about human rights for some and not others. He and his family (especially his family) have the right to not be attacked and murdered, no matter what he did.

I am totally disgusted by police brutality - and whilst we may not have the same extremes here in the UK, please remember that we are not exactly spotless in this regard either. But if we believe in the rule of law, then we must also expect and hope that the law is extended to every citizen equally. Even those who are the worst examples of human beings. To do anything less demeans the entire concept of justice. Until a "suspect" has been properly investigated and a prosecutor has agreed the proper charges, many people, even when suspected of murder, are not held in custody unless they are a flight risk or a danger to others.

[LivingInColour]

We have the same extremes in the UK... this isn't just a USA problem. Too many Black and brown people have died at the hands of police brutality.

If you're not aware, you need to follow pages on social media that have the information. It's not going to be printed in the biased tabloids here, they may well have been presented online buried by other news.

[EmmaA91]

This has been on my mind a lot since I heard about it - it's just utterly heart breaking. I'm just so sad over the whole situation and it's just awful. I feel for him, I feel for his family and I feel for you. I firmly believe all lives matter, but all lives can't matter until black lives matter - this isn't going to help but as a white woman, I am so sorry. ❤️

[LivingInColour]

And for those on posts like this that perceive themselves to not being racist, if you're white, you benefit from a system that is.

Simply saying you aren't racist isn't enough in this day and age, don't you think Black and brown people want to live honest and peaceful lives too? Anti-racism work is uncomfortable, it won't coddle you, but simply open your eyes and give you the tools to implement the necessary changes within yourself, your home and workplace.

The "I'm so shocked" etc responses online is your privilege speaking. Imagine how WE feel everyday. Micro and macro aggressions, misogynoir, covert and overt racism to murder.

Arresting the officers that commit those crimes does not eradicate the racist system it was built upon does it? The police and prison system is a corrupt and racist institution.

[ShambalaHambala]

@needamanicure does it really matter? I asked a completely different question.

[Annamaria14]

I hope this makes people in the UK think about racism too.

I was born in the UK but moved and grew up in another EU country. I am white.

I moved back to the UK to live there for one year last year, and I decided to leave again because of racism.

So to say again, I am white, but with a foreign accent.

People in the Uk said to me:
To Fuck off back to my own country
Are you over here taking our jobs
They made fun of my accent

I couldn't take it, and I moved out of the UK , just due to this, the racism.

So if I get it as a white person, it is ten times worse for BAME's in the UK.

I hope that everyone on this thread thinks about how they can improve racism in the UK.

[Annamaria14]

I remember in the UK-

An indian man telling me that he got spat at most weeks, and told to fuck off back to jos own country every week.

[Annamaria14]

Challenge the white superiority in the UK. We can't go on as a world like this

[hardboiledeggs]

It's awful. Murder pure and simple. Should have been arrested immediately after the footage was released. Poor guy did nothing wrong.

[knittingaddict]

There's a podcast I listen to called The Worst Year Ever. They've done a 30 minute plus podcast in the last few hours about this. It mostly covers the riots afterwards, but I found it very interesting

It may not be your sort of thing and there is swearing, but you might want to give it a try.

This is a link, but it'a available on other podcast streaming sites:

www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-worst-year-ever-49377032/

[itsgettingweird]

It's just so distressing to watch.

It's hard to find words to discuss this because I don't believe there is discussion to be had.

The literally killed him because they could - that's murder.

[AKissAndASmile]

They had 75 police officers outside the murderer's house last night protecting his home.

[JudyCoolibar]

I thought Amy Cooper didn’t go past threatening to call the police and lie to them. In the video, she doesn’t actually get beyond holding her phone? If she had carried out her threat, it would have been illegal as a false allegation

She did call, @PlanDeRaccordement. Apparently she'd disappeared by the time they turned up.

[JudyCoolibar]

In fact, she exacerbated what she was doing by putting on a panicked voice during the call, as if she was being threatened at that moment, when she well knew that nothing of the sort was happening.

[JudyCoolibar]

If they arrested the police now, they only have enough evidence to charge them with illegal use of force on Mr Floyd. So, because they want to charge them with murder if they can, they have to wait for the medical examiners cause of death report.

That's interesting. I would have thought they would prioritise the post mortem, given that proceeding with charges is probably the best way of dampening down the protests.

[dreamingbohemian]

I think the initial post mortem was inconclusive so they need to wait for a more detailed one.

But I do think they could charge him with illegal use of force for now and amend the charges to include more serious charges later. You can't add new charges once the trial starts, but I think you can beforehand.

For example, if you assault someone and they are in a coma, you will be charged with assault. If they then die, they will amend the charge to murder or manslaughter.

You only need probable cause to file charges, it is hard to see how a video of this incident does not constitute probable cause in itself.

As I said earlier, the mayor is a lawyer and he said that charges should be filed now. He said if it were anyone else (other than a cop) they would already be in jail.

[Aretheystillasleepbob]

police unions. They argue that police need to protect themselves from violent criminals and many, many (white) US citizens believe this.

[x2boys]

The family want an independent postmortem which is fair enough apparently over 500,000 dollers have been raised for the families legal.fees ,and this man was murdered because he allegedly paid with a forged 20 doller bill,they said at first he was resisting arrest but footage apparently emerged showing he was compliant it's hard to see how the police can get away with this.

[haverhill]

The situation reminds me very strongly of the Rodney King event in the early 90s. That was shocking enough ( he wasn’t killed) and resulted in widespread riots.

[dreamingbohemian]

Yes. The LA riots happened after the officers were acquitted.

They were caught on video beating the crap out of him and still got acquitted.

This is why posts like a previous one about not harassing this murdering officer now because that's just mob justice and we need to respect the rule of law -- that sounds great in theory, but the justice system in the US has zero legitimacy to a lot of people. If you want everyone to respect the law, then the law has to be seen as fair, and it so clearly is not when it comes to police brutality.