I've been busy with a variety of things recently, so haven't had as much time for the blog as I would ordinarily have. One thing I have done was, yesterday, I read the body cam transcript that details the arrest and subsequent death of George Floyd. You can find the entire transcript here.
The body cam in question was worn by J. Alexander Kueng, who was the black officer involved. Everything in the transcript confirms what we discussed here weeks before: Floyd's non-compliance, the police recognition that Floyd was seriously impaired, the call for an ambulance, etc. There will be no surprises for you as you read the transcript but, by the same token, you'll be left without any doubt as to why this transcript wasn't released earlier. It's very clear from all available evidence that Floyd ODed on fentanyl and was not killed by anything the police did or did not do.
For a good running commentary on the early part of the transcript, see Larry C. Johnson's coverage: Body Cam Transcript Tells a Different Story on the Death of George Floyd.
All of the above was very obviously known to the Dem authorities and anyone who did any remotely serious inquiry into this incident. Instead, they used a false narrative to try to throw the whole country up for grabs for a malign Leftist political purpose.
Conservatives who went along with this, even referring to Floyd's supposed 'murder' or 'killing' by police should be ashamed.
UPDATE: To his very great credit, President Trump has refused Minnesota's Dem Governor's request for aid. I quote Don Surber:
Now the Democrat governor wants taxpayers in 49 other states to pay for the damage by his fellow Democrats.
Hahaha.
President Donald John Trump told him no.
The Star-Tribune just reported, "The federal government has denied Gov. Tim Walz’s request for aid to help rebuild and repair Twin Cities structures that were damaged in the unrest following George Floyd’s death.
"Walz asked President Donald Trump to declare a “major disaster” for the state of Minnesota in his request to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on July 2. More than 1,500 buildings were damaged by fires, looting and vandalism in the days of unrest that followed Floyd’s May 25 death in Minneapolis police custody, racking up more than $500 million in damages, according to Walz."
It was not unrest. It was organized chaos.
Organized. Dem sanctioned. Earlier in the week Minnesota LE officials stated that it could have been contained or mitigated. Public safety was way down on the list of Dem priorities, and now they own it.
Republican Congressman Tom Emmer of Minnesota wrote to the president, "If the federal government is expected to assist in the clean-up of these unfortunate weeks, it has an obligation to every American — prior to the release of funding — to fully understand the events which allowed for this level of destruction to occur and ensure it never happens again."
By now, we all have learned that these incidents that are breathlessly reported by Dimcrat Media as police killings cannot be trusted. Rodney King, Michael Brown, now Floyd. We all know enough to wait for the rest of the video. What is infuriating is how GOP pols NEVER learn this. They always shoot their mouths off and join the mob. Why are there so many of these hacks out there?
ReplyDeleteAdd Trayvon Martin to this list.
Deletehttps://amgreatness.com/2020/06/22/americas-castrated-generals-and-cuckolded-experts/
DeleteSebastian Gorka @ American Greatness joins the lynch mob to add credibility to his screed.
"George Floyd should be alive today and there is no reasonable justification for how he was killed at the hands of the Minneapolis police. While he had an extensive and violent criminal record, the manner of his arrest and subsequent death rightly have led to criminal charges against the officers involved."
Despicable.
Disgraceful.
DeleteWill Gorka want his crow roasted, broiled, fried or fricaseed? Seriously, I’d bet that he knows far less about what actually happened with Floyd that day than any of us here..,
DeleteBebe:
DeleteThat is my point. But his academic pedigree not only gives him license, it encourages him to pontificate to we morally lesser beings on subjects about which he is utterly ignorant, both generally and in detail, with great erudition aimed at condescension.
One fact that has been proven over the last four years is that those who would purport to be our betters at methodology, research, critical thinking, morality, or ethics have demonstrated that they are no more qualified, and in reality possess fewer experiential (expert) qualifications morally or otherwise, to lead a gaggle of geese out of a wet paper bag than the average village idiot, their academic "credentials" not withstanding. A college degree, other than arguably STEM related, is clearly the most over rated nothing-burger in the history of the West, and the adulation of it may well be the death of the West.
If one believes in the wisdom of Proverbs 3:5 then the admonishment goes doubly for the purported "understanding" of strangers.
Gorka is one of those characters, like Van Jones during Obama years, whose notoriety rises because he was fired/dismissed from the administration--but whose previous accomplishments wouldn't fill a thimble. And they turn out to be media whores whose principal talent is running their mouths. Quelle surprise!
DeleteThe body cam transcript is an absolutely fascinating read. I’m surprised they didn’t cite Officer Lane for being curt to Floyd. Floyd was a mess. Foaming around his mouth because (he said) he’d been “hooping”. How many of the general population know that that is ingesting psychoactive drugs via enema? Floyd had been ultra-determined to get himself very, very high. He was not complacent or compliant, and, while complaining he couldn’t breathe from the time he was first arrested, he kept a constant stream of verbalization going… He was higher than a kite.
ReplyDeleteIf this doesn’t bring masses of reasonable doubt to their trials, I don’t know what would. The breathless media reporting was based on an NBC patchwork of civilian cell phone video clips, carefully narrated step by step so that the public would see what NBC wanted them to see. Many of us knew that once the officers’ body cam recordings were made available, the picture would change radically. It has done that.
This is much better documented than the Trayvon or Michael Brown incidents. It won't go well, in the end, IMO.
DeleteThe fake news media will try to ensure that most people never hear about the transcript, the autopsy report, the fentanyl, or anything else that might conflict with their anti-American propaganda.
Delete>It won't go well, in the end, IMO.
DeleteUnfortunately it's a long time until the end.
Where do the officers go to get their reputation back? Derek Chauvin is now going through a divorce, and may still be in prison.
And other officers are going to see what was done here, in Atlanta, and sounds like Chicago is playing dirty, and protect themselves by being super careful. The increase in murder rates in those cities is an indication of that.
@ NSPalmer, if there's a trial it'll be out there.
Delete@ Ray, you're right--the cities that enabled the crazies can't walk it back and will have to live with the consequences. It won't get better soon.
Mark, what is the timing of these trials? I suspect Ellison already knows he's going to lose. When the cop goes free, the rioting is going to start all over again. So will Ellison make sure that happens in late October? That's my question.
DeleteThomasG wrote:
Delete>> I suspect Ellison already knows he's going to lose. When the cop goes free, the rioting is going to start all over again. <<
For Ellison, that's a feature of losing the case, not a flaw.
I have thought from the get go that the prosecutors overcharged the suspects, and will never be able to prove the charges that they filed. The prosecutors had the body cam footage, and must have known it will never support a conviction on what they charged them with. It's a set up for round 2 of the riots.
The failure to convict the police officers will be portrayed as proof the entire system is incurably racists/corrupt, and must be torn down, rather than reformed. And the MSM will blame Trump.
I've never heard of them releasing bodycam transcripts in lieu of the video. Is this common?
ReplyDeleteThe video must be even more damning.
You're right. I believe what's going on is that the transcript was made for one of the officer's motion to dismiss, which means the state is still withholding the full video. I may be wrong, but I believe that's the deal.
DeleteThe left's next move is to ban any information critical of the "killer cop" narrative. They will say it's hate speech against an innocent victim of police violence. That we would even ask questions proves how racist and evil we are.
Delete[Police knocking on Mr. Palmer's door.]
DeleteOfficer Weissmann: Mr. Palmer, open up.
Mr. Palmer: What do you want?
Officer Weissmann: You're under arrest.
Mr. Palmer: What for?
Officer Weissmann: Comments on Wauck's blog on July 11, 2020.
Mr. Palmer: What did I say?
Officer Weissmann: You said, "That we would even ask questions proves how racist and evil we are." That's hate speech, Palmer, and you admitted it. Boys, break the doors down. CNN, you got that?
I believe the transcript was made for rookie Officer Lane’s motion to dismiss the charges against him. He has tried to paint himself as the good guy, the one who kept urging Officer Chauvin to turn Floyd over because he feared Excited Delirium. Chauvin replied to the effect that that was why he had him in that position, indicating that he had already considered that, and that was why he was keeping Floyd on his stomach. Lane is not impressive. His attitude and nasty language toward Floyd from the very beginning of their encounter showed him to be different - in a negative way - from the others. Keung was firm with Floyd, but respectful. Lane was not.
DeleteAs for Palmer’s concerns, the autopsy report and the complaint with statement of probable cause were already published in the media. As was this transcript.
Yeah, I was struck by Lane's attitude, as well. The language seemed unwarranted in the circs. Chauvin, by contrast, comes across as calm and rational and not shooting his mouth of unnecessarily.
DeleteAs can happen, we may hear a great deal via Officer Lane’s court filings in his attempt to get himself off the hook. Here is an interesting article from a Minneapolis television channel:
DeleteCourt filings shed more light on former officer Thomas Lane’s training
https://kstp.com/news/court-filings-shed-more-light-on-former-minneapolis-police-officer-thomas-lane-training/5787727/
It sounds as though Lane made a number of mistakes. Some before Chauvin and his partner arrived. And he was strongly in favor of restraint. In the photo where Lane and his partner are dealing with Floyd on the sidewalk, Lane is standing off and letting his smaller partner deal with the much larger Floyd.
What a tragedy. Lane starts off using too much profanity. You can bet this part of the transcript will get broad airplay. Then he calms down.
DeleteWhat happened to Floyd is terrible. If the drugs killed him, hopefully, that will come out in court. He sure doesn't come off as an aggressive monster (problem for the defense?).
You really need the video to make complete sense of the transcript.
I feel even worse for the officers involved because, really, it doesn't appear they did anything wrong. Your life and career destroyed, all because of a bust that never should have happened in the first place.
Officers are called to a store because someone allegedly passes a counterfeit $20. Big deal. For this a man dies, and careers are ruined?
And keep in mind: the US government is printing counterfeit money in the TRILLIONS and everybody calls it a good thing.
Here is rookie Officer Lane’s quick bio. Will he get extra points for his college degree and extracurricular social work?
DeleteHe joined the police department as a cadet in February 2019. He didn't have a history of complaints. Lane had been on the police force for four days when Floyd died, according to his attorney Earl Gray. Lane was "doing everything he thought he was supposed to do as a four-day police officer,” Gray said.
After earning a bachelor's degree in criminology from the University of Minnesota in 2016, Lane worked as a juvenile corrections officer for Hennepin County and as an assistant probation officer.
He previously worked as a server and bartender at different restaurants and was a sales associate at Home Depot, according to his police job application. Under volunteer experience, Lane listed that he helps Somali youth in the Cedar Riverside neighborhood with their homework and tutors them in science and math activities.(emphasis added)
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/05/us/minneapolis-officers-background-george-floyd-trnd/index.html
A real Boy Scout. I had only noticed that he had “bad eyes”, a short fuse and a penchant for the f-word. His attorney is emphasizing his short term - 4 days - yet he took the lead in his partnership with Officer Keung.
If George Floyd died of fentanyl poisoning then he was, for practical purposes, dead before any of the policemen stepped out of the car.
DeleteI am of the mind that Singapore has the correct state of mind concerning drug dealing. At the very least transportation of fentanyl without a license or distribution without a prescription should be a capital offense.
Body cam evidence is never released when it contradicts The Narrative espoused by the establishment. In this case, The Narrative is "Floyd was murdered by police."
ReplyDeleteE.g., the recent police shooting in Detroit, the body cam evidence was released because it revealed the falsity of the claim that the perp was unarmed. Police shooting a perp who shot at them may be politically problematic, but ideally you don't want cops getting the blue flu.
In other words, the body cam evidence is used to reinforce a political message or agenda. Only secondarily is the body cam evidence used to reveal the true facts of a police encounter.
You could wager that the Floyd body cam evidence was problematic for The Narrative because it wasn't released. Every. Single. Time.