# Minnesota trial of Derek Chauvin (killer of George Floyd) reactions **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 30, 2021, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-trial-of-derek-chauvin-killer-of-george-floyd-reactions/939024 "2021-03-30T13:14:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 40
**Author:** ![LivingGhost371](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b9e5f3/32.png) [@LivingGhost371](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LivingGhost371)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2021, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-trial-of-derek-chauvin-killer-of-george-floyd-reactions/939024/781 "2021-04-23T00:04:58Z")
Same with the idiots calling for Potter to be charged with Murder 1. What’s her motive? That she’s such a racist that she wanted to kill a random black suspect that she meets on a random night in the middle of her career? Admittedly I’m a strong police supporter, but that video looked to me like an accident to me. I doubt you’re going to find 12 jury members that think it wasn’t an accident, even setting aside the fact that most juries want to see premeditation on the order of days or at least hours, not the legal standard that it could be a split second. As for CA, I agree that this is a textbook examples of how juries will punish you if you overcharge. I’m not familiar with Florida law but I’m assuming that they could have gotten a manslaughter conviction even if you believe that CA’s wild story about drowning in a pool was correct. ---
**Author:** ![LivingGhost371](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b9e5f3/32.png) [@LivingGhost371](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LivingGhost371)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2021, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-trial-of-derek-chauvin-killer-of-george-floyd-reactions/939024/782 "2021-04-23T00:12:09Z")
It wasn’t the prosecutor that rejected a plea bargain in this case, it was then attorney general William Barr after the the deal was worked out and only needed his approval. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2021, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-trial-of-derek-chauvin-killer-of-george-floyd-reactions/939024/783 "2021-04-23T00:13:28Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > (Post must be at least 5 characters, so here they are. Up yours, discourse character requirer.) If you don’t mind posting in italics, adding two asterisks would have brought the character count to 5. ---
**Author:** ![LivingGhost371](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b9e5f3/32.png) [@LivingGhost371](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LivingGhost371)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2021, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-trial-of-derek-chauvin-killer-of-george-floyd-reactions/939024/784 "2021-04-23T00:15:08Z")
I looked at the social media accounts of a couple of people that were arrested for major roles in the riots. While I do believe that there were right-wing instigators also involved, a lot of the major actors had a lot of leftist content on their social media accounts. Some were from the city, some from the suburbs, and some even out of state. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2021, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-trial-of-derek-chauvin-killer-of-george-floyd-reactions/939024/785 "2021-04-23T00:15:52Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Some mistakes are so far beyond the pale that penalties are warranted. Kim Potter is facing manslaughter charges for accidentally shooting Daunte Wright. That was a mistake, one so bad that it may merit a prison term - but it’s not what I would call abuse. > > Eric Stillman made a fatal mistake in shooting Adam Toledo, but I don’t think that was abuse either. I tend to agree on those cases. The Chauvin killing of George Floyd was egregiously outrageous: it took place over time and it was plainly an unjustifiable use of force. The 2014 killing of Eric Garner, choked to death because he’d been selling loose cigarettes, falls pretty close to the Chauvin case in terms of ‘clearly abuse of police powers.’ And there are others. But these recently-in-the-news cases (the fatal shootings of Wright and of Toledo, and also of Ma’Khia Bryant in Columbus, Ohio on April 20) do not meet that bar of looking plainly abusive to most onlookers.\* (To some any death of a black person at the hands of police is _always_ the result of abuse, and to others it is _never_ the result of abuse. I’m not talking about those types of people, here, but about the middle ground of people, who are willing to be fair and to be empathetic about all parties to such tragedies.) In cases like Chauvin’s, the sense of justice inherent in most emotionally-healthy people is outraged by his abuse of police power. In cases like Kim Potter’s, there’s dismay at the concept that she mistook a gun for a taser----but there’s also the complicating factor that the policy of her police department (apparently) was STOP AT ANY COST SOMEONE WITH AN OUTSTANDING WARRANT FOR A MISDEMEANOR. And that policy (if that’s what it is) is a problem If some substantial portion of the nation cries for Kim Potter’s blood, but ignores the problems inherent in the system (such as the STOP AT ANY COST policies and the pretextual traffic stop policies and the “make everyone bow to your authority” training policies), then we will never have fair and just policing. \ \*eta: I do see the shooting of Wright as abusive, but not necessarily due to abuse by Potter. Instead, I believe the ‘pretextual stop plus STOP SUSPECT’ policy in this case was abusive and a bad policy. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2021, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-trial-of-derek-chauvin-killer-of-george-floyd-reactions/939024/786 "2021-04-23T00:17:22Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > > [@bobot](#): > > > > (Post must be at least 5 characters, so here they are. Up yours, discourse character requirer.) > > If you don’t mind posting in italics, adding two asterisks would have brought the character count to 5. Easier way to do it: append the character string   It’s HTML code for a non-breaking space, and is invisible but fulfills the character requirements (I made it visible here by appending escape characters). ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2021, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-trial-of-derek-chauvin-killer-of-george-floyd-reactions/939024/787 "2021-04-23T00:17:41Z")
> [@LivingGhost371](#): > > I looked at the social media accounts of a couple of people that were arrested for major roles in the riots. While I do believe that there were right-wing instigators also involved, a **lot of the major actors had a lot of leftist content** on their social media accounts. I haven’t seen any evidence of this; if you do, could you post it? (my emphasis in the quote) ---
**Author:** ![LivingGhost371](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b9e5f3/32.png) [@LivingGhost371](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LivingGhost371)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2021, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-trial-of-derek-chauvin-killer-of-george-floyd-reactions/939024/788 "2021-04-23T00:23:01Z")
You can believe me or not believe me, but I can’t support this statement. When I saw a name mentioned in the media I’d look to see if they had a Twitter / Facebook / Instagram, and I don’t remember any of the names nor did I keep screenshots or anything. I didn’t see any with MAGA content, three or four with BLM type content and three or four with nothing political. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2021, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-trial-of-derek-chauvin-killer-of-george-floyd-reactions/939024/789 "2021-04-23T00:50:18Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > If you don’t mind posting in italics, adding two asterisks would have brought the character count to 5. Thank you. Just the problem solving tip I needed. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2021, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-trial-of-derek-chauvin-killer-of-george-floyd-reactions/939024/790 "2021-04-23T01:27:51Z")
So “a lot” actually means “maybe 3 or 4.” From something you can’t even remember. Yeah, that’s compelling evidence there. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2021, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-trial-of-derek-chauvin-killer-of-george-floyd-reactions/939024/791 "2021-04-23T01:34:50Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > In cases like Kim Potter’s, there’s dismay at the concept that she mistook a gun for a taser----but there’s also the complicating factor that the policy of her police department (apparently) was STOP AT ANY COST SOMEONE WITH AN OUTSTANDING WARRANT FOR A MISDEMEANOR. And that policy (if that’s what it is) is a problem To my knowledge, no department has a “STOP AT ANY COST” policy. I don’t believe Potter would have _deliberately_ shot Wright to prevent his escape, and I believe a high speed chase (if it had occurred) would have been terminated if it had been determined to be too dangerous. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2021, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-trial-of-derek-chauvin-killer-of-george-floyd-reactions/939024/792 "2021-04-23T01:50:41Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > In cases like Kim Potter’s, there’s dismay at the concept that she mistook a gun for a taser I would be dismayed at the concept if I thought it were true. But I’m even more dismayed because I never bought that Johannes Mehserle mistakenly pulled a taser instead of his pistol in the [killing of Oscar Grant](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Oscar_Grant) and I’m not that inclined to believe Potter either. The load weight of a firearm is so much more than a taser I’m naturally skeptical of that oh, so easy excuse. Especially in the case of Mehserle who testified that he spent almost every evening practicing quick draws with his firearm. I do believe Mehserle at least accidentally discharged, but I think both of them negligently pulled firearms instead of tasers because that is what they had accustomed themselves to do in stressful situations. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2021, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-trial-of-derek-chauvin-killer-of-george-floyd-reactions/939024/793 "2021-04-23T02:45:38Z")
I remember the Oscar Grant killing. As I recall, they started making tasers bright yellow or something to make it more which one was in your hands. I totally agree with your analysis though. ---
**Author:** ![Deeg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deeg/32/2955_2.png) [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2021, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-trial-of-derek-chauvin-killer-of-george-floyd-reactions/939024/794 "2021-04-23T04:10:12Z")
And “major role” means “no one important enough that I can find their social media”. I wonder what “leftist” means? Not rabidly pro Trump? ---
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2021, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-trial-of-derek-chauvin-killer-of-george-floyd-reactions/939024/795 "2021-04-23T04:17:44Z")
I’m going to me too both you and **Tamerlane**. The weight of the gun, the coloring of the gun, and the opposite side draw of the taser make it hard to believe a mistake. It’s also telling that as soon as police lose total control over someone, their first thought is to pull out a weapon. At this point I’m starting to wonder if tasers do more harm than good. > [@LivingGhost371](#): > > **lot of the major actors had a lot of leftist content** on their social media accounts. > [@LivingGhost371](#): > > **three or four** with BLM type content Wow, that’s the quickest backpedaling I have ever seen. A lot of major actors, or 4 that you can’t remember the names of. What’s next, Tucker Carlson said he knew a guy? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2021, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-trial-of-derek-chauvin-killer-of-george-floyd-reactions/939024/796 "2021-04-23T04:49:40Z")
Yep, it takes several types of radicals and reactionaries to turn a peaceful protest into a riot. Anarchists, professional looters, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2021, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-trial-of-derek-chauvin-killer-of-george-floyd-reactions/939024/797 "2021-04-23T10:14:40Z")
…law enforcement officers assaulting, spraying or shooting at peaceful protesters, journalists and bystanders; right-wing groups encouraged by politicians to initiate violence; professional provocateurs… ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2021, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-trial-of-derek-chauvin-killer-of-george-floyd-reactions/939024/798 "2021-04-23T11:13:14Z")
It still seems to me that the “mistakes” are usually at the level of the cop doing something they should not have been doing in the first place. Absent a fear for your life, I can’t see why you would need to pull what you think is a taser and then shoot it immediately without looking at it to confirm it was actually your taser. I can’t see why the first response to seeing someone in (what you think is) your home would be to pull a gun and fire at them. Even in the Ma’Khia Bryant situation, where she apparently had a knife, I have to question why the chosen action was to use a lethal rather than non-lethal weapon, and whether or not there were any actual de-escalation techniques used. Is there any sign that the police actually want to resolve these situations in a non-lethal manner? Because, if not, I would call that abuse. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2021, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-trial-of-derek-chauvin-killer-of-george-floyd-reactions/939024/799 "2021-04-23T11:50:12Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Is there any sign that the police actually want to resolve these situations in a non-lethal manner? In order to de-escalate, police must first obtain control over the situation. In order to obtain control over the situation, the police must establish their authority. Where their authority is not respected, police must amplify their power sufficiently to overcome the opposition. In other words, police de-escalate by escalating. This follows similar procedural wisdom on the most appropriate way to save a village. ---
**Author:** ![LivingGhost371](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b9e5f3/32.png) [@LivingGhost371](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LivingGhost371)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2021, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-trial-of-derek-chauvin-killer-of-george-floyd-reactions/939024/800 "2021-04-23T13:50:49Z")
Someone that has BLM content on their social media there’s a good chance they’re a leftist. As I noted I saw several that had no content as opposed to being “rabidly Pro-Trump” and I didn’t classify those as leftists. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-trial-of-derek-chauvin-killer-of-george-floyd-reactions/939024.md?page=39) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-trial-of-derek-chauvin-killer-of-george-floyd-reactions/939024.md?page=41)