I was a cop for a long time. I wasn't there, but what I've seen of the incident wouldn't justify kneeling on someone's head and neck for a long time. I'm not aware of any best practice neck restraint that involves kneeling it over 8 minutes of compression. My impression of the arrest is that it was amateur night.
That said, a violation of force policy or best-practice standards (assuming there was such a violation) doesn't constitute cause if death. And the prosecution's grandstanding saddled them with a charge that involved intent, which is insane. They even took the Murder 3 (no intent) off the table.
If this is going to be a real trial, the prosecution has pretty high bar for proof, with a victim who was jacked up on at least four drugs he shouldn't have had in his system, along with chronic conditions related to his long time drug abuse. Not that I expect this to be a real trial...
The knee move was authorized. Nothing in the playbook on how long it can or can't be used to restrain someone. 8 minutes is not that long and if done correctly would no way inhibit breathing. He was a large uncontrollable man high on drugs. Hard enough holding someone small down that high. He probably gets charged though unfortunately. He'll appeal and get out early when nobody cares anymore is how i see it going down.
If Chauvin was actually trained to do something like that (as weird as it may seem) the case gets even more ridiculous. In any event, it shouldn't play out like the armchair lawyers in the internet expect.
I was a cop for a long time. I wasn't there, but what I've seen of the incident wouldn't justify kneeling on someone's head and neck for a long time. I'm not aware of any best practice neck restraint that involves kneeling it over 8 minutes of compression. My impression of the arrest is that it was amateur night.
That said, a violation of force policy or best-practice standards (assuming there was such a violation) doesn't constitute cause if death. And the prosecution's grandstanding saddled them with a charge that involved intent, which is insane. They even took the Murder 3 (no intent) off the table.
If this is going to be a real trial, the prosecution has pretty high bar for proof, with a victim who was jacked up on at least four drugs he shouldn't have had in his system, along with chronic conditions related to his long time drug abuse. Not that I expect this to be a real trial...
The knee move was authorized. Nothing in the playbook on how long it can or can't be used to restrain someone. 8 minutes is not that long and if done correctly would no way inhibit breathing. He was a large uncontrollable man high on drugs. Hard enough holding someone small down that high. He probably gets charged though unfortunately. He'll appeal and get out early when nobody cares anymore is how i see it going down.
If Chauvin was actually trained to do something like that (as weird as it may seem) the case gets even more ridiculous. In any event, it shouldn't play out like the armchair lawyers in the internet expect.