New leaked bodycam footage of George Floyd: Does this change your viewpoint?

Question

A newly released video of George Floyd popped up a couple days ago showing Floyd at the stop and the moments leading up to him being on the ground. Whatever your viewpoint is, does this video flip it, reinforce it, or do you have new thoughts entirely now? (If you aren’t aware of the George Floyd case, I can go over it in an update, but I am operating under the assumption that if you clicked here, you probably have at least a rough idea of the situation.)

WhiteSteve · Accepted Answer

Doesn’t change much of anything to me. I don’t care if a suspect is combative, I mean, the whole scenario is built for that. For better or worse, we have a government-sponsored gang that rolls around enforcing a behavioral standard none of us directly created or even were consulted about, we just get born into a bunch of rules with no real input or way to change it, not without a huge ordeal. We don’t get a choice or even much of a voice. I am personally VERY uncomfortable with that, both with a complete stranger making judgement calls on my behavior, and them having the right to essentially kidnap me, and I simply can’t come up with a rational reason for why I should accept that and “go quietly.” I’m so shocked that people are so weak-willed that “just do what the officer says and nothing will happen to you” is actually considered a rational take on this kind of thing. None of this is beneficial to me in that scenario, and I care a lot more about what I think than what a bunch of complete strangers think, so I’m never just going to trust that they are correct in what they’re doing, or that the result is going to be in my best interests. Being arrested and facing charges, potentially having my freedom —the one thing I should be guaranteed to never, EVER lose under any circumstance, as that’s the one unalienable right I believe in— taken away from me for any period of time... I’m sorry, I’m just not going to accept that, and if the rest of humanity labels me an “outlaw” or a “bad guy”, so be it, I still believe myself to be righteous in that. You want to kick my ass or something, get after it, that’s how we’re naturally meant to keep one another honest. Taking my life would even be in bounds (as long as you were directly affected/involved), but taking my freedom is not. If the store owner knelt on Floyd’s neck, i’d just be like “welp... pass around counterfeit bills and eventually one of those guys is gonna have to come talk to you”, and whatever happens to you from there is your own fate of your own making. What offends me is people not handling their own business and a third party involving themselves that’s really the meat of the issue for me, I’ll just never feel ok about that. And it works both ways, I don’t want their help as much as I don’t want their harassment, I’ll handle my own conflicts as I see fit and whatever I deem to be ethical, no one else. And there’s no opt-out, not in America, seemingly not anywhere, and nothing in life makes me more uncomfortable than that. I would trade my artificially-obtained safety in exchange for the unbridled freedom my heartbeat entitles myself and all of us to.

Long rant, here I go again, lmao, but I say all that to say I 100% “get it” when people fight or elude the police, that seems like such a normal and natural reaction to what’s happening. Our society wants us to have no backbone and no heart, to just be docile and roll over when the government says so, like when I see a person go quietly, I’m just amazed that they’re accepting this fate for themselves, or maybe we’ve just been so broken that we actually believe that somebody besides ourselves actually knows better than us of what’s “good for us.” But it’s just not in me to ever believe that, to ever trust that. Cops aren’t all bad. People aren’t all bad, and cops are just people. People are however very flawed, or at very least, there’s no template as to what’s “not flawed”, all kinds of matter of opinion and perspectives and life philosophy comes into play, and these flawed people are the same pool we get all cops and all civilians from. Bottom line: there’s no hard and fast rules about pretty much anything. We attempt to make them, but they aren’t really correct in my eyes, and the ones that exist are created by the aforementioned flawed humans, so I just can’t put a whole lot of stock...

Conspiracy_Theorist · Accepted Answer

These people claiming that they won't change their minds after seeing a man actively resisting and Acting like a 5150 while being on two incredibly dangerous drugs is a moron and uneducated.

George Floyd was experiencing cardiopulmonary and psychological distress minutes before he was placed on the ground, let alone had a knee to his neck. He was saying he couldn't breathe minutes before being placed on the ground. George Floyd was foaming at the mouth as indicated in a transcript of the bodycam footage, which is indicative of a drug overdose.

The Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) allows the use of neck restraint on suspects who actively resist arrest, and George Floyd actively resisted arrest on two occasions, including immediately prior to neck restraint being used. The officers were recorded on their body cams assessing George Floyd as suffering from “excited delirium syndrome” (ExdS), a condition which the MPD considers an extreme threat to both the officers and the suspect, and requires extreme restraint. A white paper used by the MPD acknowledges that ExdS suspects may die irrespective of force involved.

The officers’ response to this situation was in line with MPD guidelines for ExdS. Restraining the suspect on his or her abdomen (prone restraint) is a common tactic in situations, and the white paper used by the MPD instructs the officers to control the suspect until paramedics arrive. Floyd’s autopsies by the Chief Examiner and Michael Baden revealed a potentially lethal concoction of drugs — not just a potentially lethal dose of fentanyl, but also methamphetamine.

Together with his history of drug abuse and two serious heart conditions, Floyd’s condition was exceptionally and unusually fragile. Chauvin’s neck restraint is unlikely to have exerted a dangerous amount of force to Floyd’s neck. Floyd is shown on video able to lift his head and neck, and a robust study on double-knee restraints showed a median force exertion of approximately approximately 105lbs.

KeziL · Accepted Answer

I read Thomas Lane's statement on what happened right when this whole mess was starting, so I didn't think it was a race issue or that the police were acting very out of line (besides the knee on the neck, not sure that was appropriate). This solidifies the fact that the police reacted accordingly to the situation, so my viewpoint is the same. Floyd had a bad reaction to his fentanyl, which was the main cause of his death. He didn't deserve to die, but the cops didn't outright murder him, they did what the situation called for.

AmandaYVR · Accepted Answer

This doesn't change my opinion at all. I'm glad this 'leaked' video is out there. Citizens of the world need to know.

The cop needs to lose his badge, lose his pension, go to jail (and I wouldn't care if he was murdered inside)... everything. This cannot be allowed to continue, and have cops protected under a larger legal umbrella that permits any action with impunity.

I think what I always thought - a man died senselessly, tragically, on this day.

Whatthefluff · Answer

I see nothing here that justifies the death of Floyd.

Kaazsz · Answer

I’m pretty sure every black person we have out on a pedestal to show the world that cops are racist, was a bad person. That “kid” in Florida was a thug who beat people up and robbed stores. The other “kid” in California was the same. I don’t know about Floyd. But none of them were innocent and it’s funny how the media portrays them as innocent good kids wielding bags of skittles.

In any case, the cops kneeling on Floyd’s neck is inexcusable. I watched a video from 2017 of a white guy who called the police because he was having a sort of panic attack and he was asking them for help. So the cop put the guy on his face on the ground, and kneeled on his back with BOTH knees.

The guy died. They laughed about it. The paramedic was like “this man is dead.”

Don’t fucking excuse the cops formtheir evil deeds, because the guy they killed was not innocent. They killed his ass. Maybe he would have died anyways. But they fucking kneeled on his neck. That’s not proper protocol. I don’t care if the motherfucker is a thug and a piece of shit. You go to court and you get a fair trial and that’s that.

Cops aren’t only abusing black people. Another problem with what seems to me to be conservatives, reacting to liberals being stupid. Just because liberals want to put thugs and criminals and pieces of shit up on a pedistal does not mean you have to become a reactionary who just denies everything about everything.

I’ve been watching videos of cops killing people since at least 2010. I had to stop eventually because the pain of seeing police brutalize people was too much for me to handle. I was so full of rage and anger. And conservative dudes want to hold up the cops like they are angels and shit.

Cops are motherfucking thugs too. Blue badge gangsters with legal guns who get to kill people at will. Fat donut eating half brain half wit mindless angry and brainwashed thugs with a hive mentality. Fuck the police, I can’t fucking stand em.

Most cops are good people in my experience though. So I don’t hate them all. But any cop that does bad shit, I hope he fucking suffers bad for his misdeeds. Suffer you fucking scum bitch.

BeMuse · Answer

The idealized black hero… It just exhibits the moral values of the black community… On day two they came out with the video footage from the store fronts that showed the same thing from a different angle without the audio. At that time it was obvious he was a criminal. It was obvious he was running game, being non compliant, and resisting arrest. It was obvious that he was the one that took it to the ground because he didn’t want to get arrested. It was obvious that most of the handling of George Floyd was by the black cop. The evidence was reviewed and the one officer was charged with third degree murder/manslaughter due to George Floyd dying in custody due to rough treatment. That seemed justified and that should have been the end of it and the courts should have taken care of the rest… But in the face of all clear evidence, people’s true colors come out and the plague of racism rose out of the black community, they attacked and beat up innocent people on the streets because of the color of their skin, they robbed businesses, they burnt down buildings, they murdered people to rob them and out of racism, they mobbed innocent people in cars, they kidnapped people, they lynch people, they extorted businesses, they rapped people, they demanded reparations because they think they are superior to their fellow Americans, they advocated for anarchy and communism because they hate what America stands for, etc. That’s what they value... It’s no wonder why they portray George Floyd as their hero and martyr, he was a crazed criminal anarchists that didn’t respect the rule of law or anyone he came in contact with.

hellacray · Answer

Ok I'm seeing a lot of people still defending this guy. And they're still saying the knee on his neck is what killed him.

After watching the footage it just confirms my suspicions. The guy was not cooperating and was very erratic. Even tho he said he's not on drugs to me it seemed pretty clear he was on something.

And one of the autopsy before already said that his death was due to drugs not the knee. And the guy was screaming he couldn't breathe before he was even on the ground.

And he can't get into the cop car cause he has claustrophobia? My guy he was just driving his SUV with two passengers what claustrophobia are you talking about?

At the end of the day I don't see any intention that they tried to murder this guy or that this was an act of racism. In fact the other two passengers was black as well, but you know what the difference is?

The two passengers weren't resisting and cooperated with the police. Now in terms of using the knee on the neck to restrain someone I'm not sure if that's a technique that was taught to them. But if it is then how can you blame the cop?

The cops arrested I have a feeling that they're going to go free. And I'm starting to think there's going to be a second wave of riots.

Cause let's be real even with this footage being released people are still going to say the cops are racists.

nolabels · Answer

Because I have conflicting feelings about the validity and "spin" of everything I see, read, and hear on media, it's been very hard for me to form an opinion about this situation.
Based on what I've seen so far, I'd been inclined to believe that the cop kneeling on the neck was the cause of death, but, now, hearing about the drugs in Floyd's system, and the calculated amount of pressure exerted on his neck, I don't know.
Still, it looks to me like the police handled the situation very poorly. This video, to me, shows Floyd to be either on drugs, deranged, or both.
I would think that the police should have had him quickly subdued and secured.
But that makes me think of another point of view: Were the police trying to accommodate Floyd's anxiety by not subduing him quickly? Maybe they should have quickly secured him at the first sign of derangement for his own good.
In my opinion, there would have been outrage by certain groups if that would have occurred.
I've also heard that there was "personal history" between Floyd and one of the police officers involved.
What to believe?
There are a lot of good police officers out there protecting our communities. I also know there are some police officers who go into police work who shouldn't be there.
But, the police are needed.
What isn't needed is the skewed, sensationalistic media that isn't presenting news and statistics in their entirety.
I believe in freedom of the press. I also believe the press has a responsibility to it's consumers to deliver the news completely and fairly.
Otherwise, it's not news, it's propaganda. What is propaganda used for? Starting wars.

MCheetah · Answer

My opinion has always been that George Floyd was a man who, regardless of what happened here, got his life taken when that shouldn't have happened, and whose death was served as a political martyr for scumbags like Black Lives Matter and ANTIFA to make the world even sh*ttier than it already is. Had he been white or this not been within the last eight years, no one would have cared about his skin color; it would've just been an innocent (enough) man needlessly killed by a cop in a tragic incident. But since we live in Clownworld now, this has become about "police brutality" and "defunding the police" because the many human beings nowadays have the mental capacity and understanding of sea slugs and want to latch onto whatever hot-button political issue that makes them feel better for a moment to absolves them of their own sh*ttiness and sin. Thank goodness for police cams, but regardless, he was an unarmed man who didn't need to die, let alone let human trash destroy America "in his name."

TL;DR: It's still a shame what happened to George Floyd, but the people exploiting his death are almost the worse thing to happen from this, something he likely wouldn't have wanted regardless of this situation.

ColoradoKid · Answer

The poor guy was in cuffs surrounded by police. There was no need for how he was pinned to the ground. I don't agree 100% with police all the time but I respect them for the dangers that they face on the daily. But there is a line that they should not cross. Killing someone who is in cuffs is just like shooting someone in the back that is running away. I agree that black lives matter.. but so do the rest of all races. It takes one rotten person at the exact time to cause a world of shit. That cop did exactly that. It takes more people to smear that shit around and make a horrible situation worse by looting and rioting. Yes they got a lot of attention but was it the attention that they needed to get thier point of a senseless death at the hands of police while in custody brought up to a better light. Not in my opinion. They made a bad situation worse. They took the attention off of Floyd and gave it to the chaos and destruction. Yes by all means March and protest and tell the world about how its wrong to kill someone that is in cuffs. Let them see that. Not the video of a burnt out fipped over police car or a video of a building on fire. I know that there were peaceful protesters in that group that had no intention on doing more than protesting and marching. Again the bad apples get the wrong attention.

Espresso-Grande · Answer

No. He didn't deserve to suffer and die. Gasping for air for over 8 minutes is murder. He didn't do anything to warrant being murdered. Cops are law enforcers They're meant to arrest criminals and let the judiciaal system bring them to justice. Chauvin acted as judge, jury and executioer... and he enjoyed watching the life go out of poor George Floyd. It's so obvious he took pleasure in murdering him. An arrest shouldn't end in the death of someone before they've even had a chance of a fair trial.

1truekhaleesi · Answer

I work in healthcare and take care of drunk, belligerent patients everyday. About half of the time, these same patients are also withdrawing from various, or multiple, drugs. I care for these patients in addition to my patients who truly want to get better. I have never once laid my hands on a patient to injure them. I've worked in healthcare since I was 18. A majority of the time, you can talk a person down. About 2 years ago, a patient with severe psychosis strangled me and a coworker was able to talk her down without bringing physical violence to her. I went through months of therapy because of that.

It doesn't matter if George Floyd was doing/acting something suspicious. Everyone is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Given that logic, cops kill all innocent people.

chrissykerdock · Answer

in honesty he should've been cuffed and taken away i don't get why he was put on the ground... they did do that right away but they just didn't get him in the car securely or he resisted but they could've taken a billy stick and beat him with it rather than kneel on his neck... but i don't get all the violence and destruction... yes he died needlessly but this was only the 8th killing of a black man without a weapon in the past 12 months... no reason to burn down america... shame on our leaders for letting it happen.

Daniela1982 · Answer

Why don't we have body cam videos of blacks killing whites? Because they don't have body cams. But no one protests when a white woman is killed by 2 black teens in an attempted car jacking. This whole BLM is a load of crap as blacks kill more blacks that whites do.

_SOARER · Answer

doesn't change my opinion at all. I already knew he was probably a junkie who got the cops called on him. This shit happens all the time in poor neighborhoods.
This very same thing happened in my old neighborhood 3 years ago. Lucky for the police they showed up and they guy already died from overdose. but he trashed the store and was screaming "Leave me alone!" If the cops showed up 5 min earlier they probably would have restrained him and he would have died in their custody.

We have to fix our drug problem to prevent more George Floyd situations.
He would have never tried to use that fake bill, overreacted to the police, or had that heart-attack if it wasn't for his drug abuse.

If black cops were called on him, same outcome would have happened. People made it racial.

JKingOff · Answer

This video didn't change my opinion one bit, I still think those police officers should spend the rest of their life rotting in a prison before they're condemned to hell. To all those ignorant dumb bigots that ever advocated for these law enforcement officers the only thing that I have to say to you is suck on that you motherfukers. This man was murdered, in cold blood with use of excessive force and no probable cause. JUST BECAUSE YOU WEAR A BADGE DOESN'T MEAN YOU'RE A GOOD GUY! Thank you for posting this. Everyone needs to help this video spread so it can go viral and justice can be done. These officers deserve nothing less then to be put in prison with a bunch of other inmates and beaten on a daily basis by the same people they beat.

BCRanger10 · Answer

Earlier on, I thought that Floyd had been outright murdered. Then I learned that he died at the hospital (or on the way there). Then I started reading more about the MPD police chief, Derek Chauvin, and George Floyd's history and started to become skeptical about murder charges.

I saw this video earlier in the week and after seeing it, murder is completely out of the question. The cops are by no means totally blameless here, but at worst they should be charged with assault. If they press forward with murder, they will lose. And if you ask me, I think that some on the left want that to happen because then it will "confirm" that there is systematic racism and it will add fuel to the fire.

It is all a very tragic situation. The fact that this was hidden from the public makes it infuriating and less sympathetic. George Floyd should not have died. However, he was no saint and Chauvin is not a satanic murderer.

V12NI · Answer

1. Don't do drugs
2. Don't do crimes
3. Don't resist arrest when you got caught
4. Be respectful

These are such simple things that could have saved his life.

He was on drugs. Cops were respectful at first. He was resisting and crying that he can't breathe while he was sitting in the car and asked if he could lay down on the ground.

Yeah the cop held that knee way too long, but Floyd's own actions led to this incident. I'm sure the cop didn't believe that Floyd actually couldn't breathe, because he was saying the same thing when he was just sitting.

Hannah_le · Answer

Okay to put everything aside it’s not okay for anyone to kill anyone 😂 I mean like even if he was white , black , Hispanic , Asian it should still go viral because a cop which we cannot do much they have more power and can't go around killing someone just so easily.

scetoaux · Answer

There is no racism evident anywhere. The arrest and restraint of George Floyd was 100% justified. Putting a knee on any mans neck for 9 minutes is completely unnecessary and a man needlessly died. George Floyd is not a hero or icon, he was a lost soul that gave his life because of the mistakes of two men. Himself and the cop that killed him.

genericname85 · Answer

that video doesn't really add any new information to me. i've not followed that case closely. i don't even understand why he was stopped in the first place but man the guy really behaved suspicious. just fucking do what the officer says. it's not so hard to just show your hands or put your hands on the wheel when they say it but for some reason he just did not manage to follow the simplest orders.

of course that by no means excuses what happened to him. i'm by no means defending what the officers eventually did to him but if i was the officer, i would have been nervous too. i mean you gotta think about that as the police man, just a quick reach under the seat or in whatever place can pull out a gun and that was your life. i understand why those poor bastards over-react so much. but in this case, there was no reason to knee on his neck and slowly murder him. at the point where his hands were in cuffs, there was no danger.

ChefPapiChulo · Answer

the dude was pretty terrified. and he's letting them know he has health problems. My viewpoint I don't think has changed much after watching that. It only reinforces my belief that cops have too much power. Which stems from the idea that its a job not many choose to do. Especially in areas where there is a lot of crime. So in return for their service, working a difficult and stressful job, they are protected by the judicial system when they make mistakes. I believe its a mixture of the high amounts of stress and a bit of systematic racism is what makes cops become pigs.

MissDawn7961 · Answer

the police officers were just doing their duty ! as the saying goes - don't do the crime if you can't do the time - ! anyone who commits a crime deserves to do their time in jail and if they do not get caught by man to go to jail , then God will step in and justice will be served ! thanks

New leaked bodycam footage of George Floyd: Does this change your viewpoint?

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