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Disgraced former police officer Derek Chauvin at his murder trial.
Derek Chauvin has just been found guilty on all three counts, including the murder of George Floyd. More to come.
I don’t know what happening elsewhere in OC, but here near the Brea-La Habra border there was a sudden burst of honking car horns — nice to hear.
UPDATE, April 21: Hat tip to Alternet, which pointed me to this document, the police statement issued shortly after the death of George Floyd, which is so off the mark it makes one wonder how it could be done by anyone who had expected the slightest oversight:
On Monday evening, shortly after 8:00 pm, officers from the Minneapolis Police Department responded to the 3700 block of Chicago Avenue South on a report of a forgery in progress. Officers were advised that the suspect was sitting on top of a blue car and appeared to be under the influence.
Two officers arrived and located the suspect, a male believed to be in his 40s, in his car. He was ordered to step from his car. After he got out, he physically resisted officers. Officers were able to get the suspect into handcuffs and noted he appeared to be suffering medical distress. Officers called for an ambulance. He was transported to Hennepin County Medical Center by ambulance where he died a short time later.
At no time were weapons of any type used by anyone involved in this incident.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has been called in to investigate this incident at the request of the Minneapolis Police Department.
No officers were injured in the incident.
Body worn cameras were on and activated during this incident.
The brazen distortion here is not surprising, but it is — though less literally than the actual facts of what happened that night — completely breathtaking. And that is a big part of what is left to fight — and why we should that thankful that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz took the investigation away from the local district attorney and handed it to the state’s Attorney General, Keith Ellison.
The New York Times had some interesting opinion columns about this yesterday. Writing about them will take a while, so I’ll probably put them in a separate post if and when I do.
From my speech to Fullerton Council tonight:
…So I was glad to see that after seeing the overwhelming video and witness evidence of Officer Ferrell’s needless murder of Hector Hernandez, the police chief fired Ferrell the next day, three days later he was arrested, and finally, today, after a long and fair trial, he was found guilty of murder.
Oh wait. I read my notes wrong. That was Derek Chauvin and George Floyd, in Minneapolis, not Fullerton. It’s easy to get confused, the killings were only two days apart…
*Does this mean we are going back in time when Cops drove home drunks, took juvenile delinquents to Juvie for an overnight stay….so they could see what jail was all about? When burglars were rock stars, when Hardened Criminals got Life or the Chair? When
wives and husbands caught screwing around by their significant other were gunned down with the cheater and got off without any jail time? Yeah, those good old days….that may be coming back…..NOT!!! In the bad old days, Blacks ran their own neighborhoods, White Cops never came in and had a tough time finding time to send a Patrol car. The same for the Chinese and Hispanic neighborhoods. Remember the Guardian Angels in NYC? How about the Minutemen on the Southern Border? What about the Crypts and Bloods? What about the Black Panthers? Now-a-days, the old Seniors operate the Volunteer Safety Force…and Neighborhood Watch programs. They get a City Phone and a mock-up uniform….. How is that working out for places like
Anaheim, Santa Ana and Costa Mesa?
Time travel isn’t possible.
What?
What”
What?
Did they?
They did?
What?
Yes, their founder is running for NYC Mayor.
How about ’em?
It’s “Crips.”
What about them.
Seniors get “mock-up uniforms”???
Do those cities have this programs, or not have them?
I think you should write about these “Volunteer Safety Forces” — that sounds interesting/concerning.
*Doctor D.,
Sorry for our constant references to history and old stuff. It is just that when they write the history of the 20-20’s…..it will probably just be a Virtual Reference to recovering from a well-known disease called: “Trumpism”. As you now know Chavin’s buddies have all just been indicted and undoubtedly, the Justice Dept. will be taking the entire Minneapolis PD into a long term Consent Decree process. As far as the Cryps or Crips…..that depends on what side of the street you live on in Compton. As Spike Lee said: “Just do the right thing!”
Yeah, yesterday I was gonna add this, but I saw that you saw it too and added it to your update. It’s pretty wild….
And a great example of exactly how truthful many police incident press releases are. As well as media accounts which are often just stenography of whatever the police tell them. And it’s what the public ends up believing, if there’s not video contradicting it.
Hm, can someone find the first police press release about Kelly Thomas? That would be interesting to see.