WHAT WOULD YOU DO TO SAVE A LIFE WHEN A COP IS DOING THE KILLING?

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     A helpless man is being beaten to death by a uniformed police officer.  Three other cops stand by and watch.  Not the norm, as the vast majority of people who wear or carry a badge are on duty to protect the public.  And they do.  But not this day.  Not for four officers who should not ever have been on the job.  Nevertheless, it happens, and you witness this heinous, atrocious, and illegal act.  What do you do?

     A crowd grows so that - along with you - onlookers observe the man as he pleads for help.  What do you do?

     You and the others continue to watch - some as they use their smart phones to record the unbelievable conduct by all four policemen; three who do not attempt to stop the one cop from literally squeezing the life out of the man, who is now pinned to the ground and repeatedly crying out, "I can't breathe."  But the ruthlessly barbarous police officer and his three insensitive cohorts don't care.  What do you do?

     The handcuffed man - who was never armed with a weapon - is held face down with his head on the concrete roadway.  His weak and defenseless body is braced up against the wheel of a police car with the take-charge officer's knee pressed firmly on the man's neck, thereby sealing off his windwipe.  What do you do? 

     A killing is underway.  A murder is taking place.  And why?  The man whose flesh is being pummeled is Black; while those who have taken an oath to be advocates of the law are White.

     It's not important whether you - as a witness - are Black, or White, or any other skin color, race, or ethnicity.  It doesn't matter.  It shouldn't matter.  What do you do? 

     Tragically, after 9 minutes and 29 seconds, he - who is being suffocated and thus unable to breathe at all - gasps for air, and with his last ounce of strength, this 46-year old man sobs and whines as he calls out for his mother.  "Momma!  Momma!"  But his mother had died two years before.  However, in a dying moment, a person - despite his age - wants his mom.  What do you do?  What can you do?  What could you do while this man - this human being - is being executed by someone who has sworn to uphold the law, not break it?

     Earlier - prior to his body hitting the street pavement - police bodycam footage shows their suspect crying and begging officers to "please don't shoot me."  Later, camera video reveals police struggling to get the man in to a squad car, but he complains of being "claustrophobic" and that he was having trouble breathing.  What could you have done then?  What should you have done?

      Unless you're living in an underground cave with no means of communication with the outside world, you're probably well aware of the horrors that I am discussing in this column.  The names of the now-fired police officers will not be mentioned, and the trial that began on March 8th, 2021, that is ongoing for the cop who is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, will not be examined, reviewed or debated, except to note that defense attorneys argue their client is not guilty because his actions were in accordance with Minneapolis Police Department training, and that it was an underlying narcotics addiction and other health problems that are responsible for the dead man's demise.  But following two autopsies, Minnesota's Hennepin County medical examiner ruled the death a homicide caused by police restraints.  In addition, law enforcement experts nationwide agree, and blame the force of the cop's knee, mashed against the man's neck, as being overly excessive for a suspect in custody.

     As for the one officer's three accomplices, they are charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder.  Those policemen also stopped bystanders from interfering and intervening.  The trio's trial is scheduled to begin on August 23rd, 2021.

     The Minneapolis police chief characterized the death as murder.  As was first reported by the Star Tribune, The Associated Press wrote a story on June 23rd, 2020.  In The AP piece, the chief did not mince words.  "The officers knew what was happening; one intentionally caused it, and the others failed to prevent it.  This was murder."   

     So I ask you...what COULD you have done to save this man's life?  What WOULD you do to save a life when a cop is doing the killing?  If you're of a heartless mindset, and you believe that you can not or should not do anything to give or bring assistance to another person in need, then you'd be wrong.  I definitely do not suggest that you directly meddle in or obstruct an investigation by a law enforcement officer.  But as you stand on the sidewalk with your eyes fixated on what certainly appears to be the cold-blooded murder of another person, you need to do something in an effort to stop it.  You just can't ignore the policeman's savagely harsh and brutal behavior.  But you realize that an officer who is willing to forcibly restrain a suspect with an abusive amount of power would have no problem doing the same to you.  He would not hesitate for an instant to tackle you to the ground, as he did the man you are trying to save, and place you in a similar death grip.    

      Why with all the people who are watching this crime being committed, why with bystanders digitally documenting the homicidal slaughter of another person, did nobody use their phones for the express purpose that such devices are made?  How could you, as you intensely concentrate on the killing of this man, allow another individual - be him a police officer or anyone else - to continue this display of merciless atrocity without you contacting police headquarters?  Why when this man is being choked to death do you not telephone the police chief, the local district attorney's office, the city mayor, or even the FBI?  Why would you wait and focus on a dying man without trying to help him?  You probably would do more for a dog that is being harmed.  Why not a man?  Why not George Floyd? 

     People tend to not want to be involved with a police matter.  They generally figure that if a cop has another person in handcuffs there must be a legitimate reason.  But no individual should ever be inhumanely mistreated; regardless of what he is being suspected of doing wrong.  George Floyd was not even being accused of a violent crime.  He was not dangerous, and yet torture was applied that wouldn't be appropriate for a convicted killer.

     One eyewitness did call 911 after Floyd's lifeless body was carried on a gurney and placed in an ambulance.  "I believe I witnessed a murder" were the words spoken to a dispatcher.  Other witnesses called police after Floyd had died, and they reportedly had given emotional accounts of what they saw.  But apparently, nobody contacted superior authorities while Floyd was being battered.

     George Floyd was apprehended on May 25th, 2020 after a store clerk alleged that Floyd used a counterfeit $20 bill to purchase cigarettes; currency that he probably didn't even know was fake.  It's quite possible that Floyd received the money from another store or from an ATM.  But the suspicion of criminal activity was all that four rash and irrational police officers needed to arrest George Floyd.

     The incident launched a series of protests in Minnesota, followed by uproars across the United States and around the globe, as people were motivated to demonstrate against police brutality, the lack of police accountability, and racism against Blacks worldwide. 

     No American should have their constitutional rights violated.  In fact, any person on United States soil is protected under the same laws.  The Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution prohibits the federal government from using "cruel and unusual punishment" on anyone.  The Amendment - part of our Bill of Rights - limits "Uncle Sam" from imposing unduly harsh penalties on criminal defendants, both before and after a conviction, and the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the Cruel and Unusual Punishment clause extends not only to the federal government, but to the governments of all 50 states.  Without question, the policeman's assault on George Floyd was cruel and unusual, and there's not a lawyer, a judge, a jury, or any level of court that will ever convince me differently.  Remember also, Floyd hadn't been formally charged with a crime, let alone convicted for anything.

     A settlement was reached on March 12th, 2021 in a wrongful death civil lawsuit that was filed by George Floyd's family.  The city of Minneapolis agreed to pay $27 million.  But that still doesn't bring back George Floyd.  And nothing ever will.

     I venture to guess that most Americans, at this point, have seen one or more of the videos that were recorded on the day George Floyd was killed.  Such camera footage was widely circulated on the Internet and broadcast on television.  If you've viewed any of those painfully chilling and heart-wrenching images, you become - as I do - more and more disturbed each time you see one.  I doubt, however, you can even imagine how Floyd's fiance, his father, his five children - the youngest being a now 7-year old daughter, his four siblings, and the rest of his family feel when they have seen what was done to someone they loved. 

     George Floyd's neck was being crushed.  He was not a threat.  But even when he was not moving a muscle, when he was totally motionless and not responsive at all, when there was no pulse, the now former police officer continued to apply with recklessness, unconscionable force by grinding his knee on to George Floyd.

     Let's be clear.  Not all cops are as wickedly hurtful as the evil one who fatally injured Floyd.  Only some.  So there are others whose immorality have yet to be recognized.  And those bad apples in the barrel, should have been left on the trees, to decompose in the orchards; never to be picked.  Unfortunately, a small amount of these foul fruits made their way in to produce departments throughout the United States.  Of course, actually, I mean police departments.  It's time those apples - that are rotten to the core - be identified, before their poison kills more Americans.

     Whether you were in Minneapolis, Minnesota on the site where George Perry Floyd Jr. - son of George Perry and the late Larcenia Floyd - perished from the Earth, or you have been deeply agitated and downright sickened when watching one of the videos from that devastating day, you cannot deny what you have seen.  I hope a judge and jury can't either. 

     And that's The Controversy for today.

     I'm Gary B. Duglin.

     "We'll talk again."

The Controversy is a publication of GBD Productions.  Founder and Editor-In-Chief of The Controversy is Gary B. Duglin.

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Photo credit: The George Perry Floyd Jr. Family (George Floyd)

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