George Floyd Death…Truly A Shame

George Floyd Death…Truly A Shame That In A Perfect World …Could Have Been Avoided

BUT we are not perfect and neither is the World. So what is the truth about what happened?

We have seen many videos, shown individually, that show actions that favor, to some extent, both sides. The problem with showing them that way is they tend to show only what helps the prosecution or defense. I believe the court should have ordered the Prosecution to show all videos that are available in a logical order. Why didn’t the prosecution show the video from the store across the street from the patrol car CLEARLY showing Floyd having difficulty walking, dragging his left foot and falling…because it helps the defense? What about Floyd dumping a white powdery substance from his left rear pocket with his left hand when he was sitting on the sidewalk before taking that walk to the patrol car…because it too helps the defense…BUT they are trying to snow over the fact that Chauvin is on trial for murdering Floyd…not anything else.

Did Chauvin kill Floyd or did he die from drug abuse, drug overdose, and preexisting cardiovascular conditions? The video that was not shown by the prosecution that supports drug issues should have been shown along with the others because it clearly supports all the toxicology reports and helps the defense…what’s wrong with showing all of the truth…not just part of the truth?

I wrote this just after the incident; “On the use of a choke hold…I was the head Firearms and DT (Defensive Tactics) Instructor for my FBI Division. I did not teach the choke hold to either FBI Agents or Police Officers. I demonstrated the choke hold…explained that it is “the use of deadly force” … and it can be used, if not prohibited by their Agency…just like you can shoot to kill when necessary…to save a life.

I didn’t teach it because, in my opinion, it required a skill factor that required more training than we could provide in the time allotted for any DT training. We dedicated many weeks to the use of handguns, rifles and shot guns for the proficiency in the use of deadly force and a single week for DTs covering every aspect of handcuffing, control, disarming, self-protection, extraction from a vehicle, and on and on and …oh yea, choke holds…not nearly enough time.

I used a choke hold once in my entire career of some 3 decades working the FBI’s Violent Crimes Program. That was after exchanging shots with and during the arrest, of an extremely tough, bad guy, who decked my partner twice, took a hostage (12 year old little girl), after I shot back. We ended up in a “fight for survival” where I knocked him out with an “extreme” choke hold. He never stopped fighting…until he was out cold!

That was extreme, justified, and legal even if he had not survived the fight…that’s how extreme the situation must be in my opinion, before the use of a gun or choke hold (deadly force) can be used…in my opinion.

So, is the use of deadly force allowed…justified………absolutely…but you had better be ready to explain how you were protecting yourself or somebody else!

Being a lawman is unlike anything else in the world. In war, a soldier has rules of engagement on whether to kill or not. Lawmen are not allowed to toss in a hand grenade to clear a room…soldiers are. Extreme? Not at all…being that a Police Officer is less likely to be shot, sniped or IED’d than a soldier that is good… but his “Rules of Engagement” are much less clear, not well defined! He truly has to make his own Rules of Engagement as he moves down that street!

We must, because of the dangers our Police, Lawmen face daily…we must… give them the benefit of doubt…”

The question becomes did Chauvin apply a choke hold to Floyd…In my opinion based upon the videos I have seen…he did not!

In my opinion, Chauvin did not apply a choke hold to George Floyd. Did Chauvin apply a knee to Floyd’s neck “area”, jaw “area” head “area” …in  my opinion he did, but should that have killed Floyd…NO!

What Chauvin did was extreme…but did it kill Floyd?  I do not believe it did. As I have written many times, cutting off the blood to the brain, such as a choke hold does, causes unconsciousness in 5 to 10 seconds…no more. So if Floyd was alive for some 9 plus minutes, after the so-called “Chauvin choke hold”, what the hell was it?

All police academies teach restrain holds and techniques along with come along holds. These officers attempted to use most every technique they knew to cuff Floyd but the best they could do is to get Floyd’s right hand cuffed properly but not his left…it’s clearly shown on video that they could not.

Why not? Because Floyd would not cooperate and was very strong. That’s not uncommon either. What you have to do is escalate force to control someone like that and the best thing to do is put them on the ground, first. Then use the knee on the head area, preferably on the ear…that’s the most painful, and a relatively small COP may be able to control a larger person without causing any injury. It appears to me that Chauvin at no time had his knee on Floyd’s throat or carotid artery. Also, for it to be murder there has to be Intent…what was Chauvin’s intent …to kill or to control…big difference?!

Should Chauvin have eased up…maybe …maybe he did…remember “beyond a shadow of a doubt”!