100% agree
Yes, and you know why? Because that is exactly what happened, not only for Floyd but for others. It is all very nice for a poster to claim they braver than everyone else, but it turns out that most people will not do anything that stupid- and brave. This has occurred several times and so far- no one, NO ONE has been the “tough guy”- what makes anyone here so sure they are braver than hundreds of bystanders?
Because of course- we do not really know the guy is dying until he is dead. And if anyon edoes intervene, and the guy does not die- then who is to say he would have if people had not intervened? There will be jail. All to maybe, possibly save someone whom you do not know?
Sure if a big sign pops up “THIS GUY WILL DIE IN THREE MINUTES IF SOMEONE DOES NOT INTERVENE” then that would be different. But no one knows that.
So, you are not risking your life and career to save someone’s life- you are risking it all to help someone whom the cops think is a dangerous criminal- and who likely IS a dangerous criminal. Sure Floyd was not dangerous (he was a criminal, however) but how do you know? Maybe that guy just killed three kids with a machete minutes ago. And your intervention will let him get away - to kill more kids.
As Saintly Loser says:
and
The one real idea besides filming that has come out of this is calling 911 and describing the situation, maybe asking for a supervisor. You might even call out “Hey your supervisor is on his way!”- maybe the cop will think twice.
No one here will be the tough guy since no one was the tough guy IRL. Claiming to be “that guy” is a claim to be very exceptional.
A parallel from 32 years ago:
Absolutely not a parallel, many people tried to intervene on behalf of Floyd including a 911 dispatcher who was watching the incident on video, an off duty rescue squad member and and passers by. The fact that they were not successful is not their fault; there is very little that can be done to stop homicidal thugs when they are cops.
Are any of the people critical of the public response even familiar with the incident?
ideally people would attack abusive cops in the process of committing murder the same way people should attack any other murderer in the act, but it’s hard to tell which police acts are fatal or justified or not
yup. until good cops face punishments when bad cops do bad things it’ll never stop.
as it stands other cops and the brass punish good cops who report abuse and cover up for bad cops.
they need military style communal punishment to reform things.
One thing I’m curious to know from the internet tough guys: what did you do after you heard about Floyd’s murder? I assume that if you were willing to charge four armed killers, you must have hit the streets during the pandemic to protest the killing?
I’ll be candid. I want to be alive. If I bum rush a cop, they can shoot me dead. Call m me a coward or whatever - I can take it. If that were my family or good friend, yeah, I’d probably say ‘fuck it’ and try to break it up. I wouldn’t do nothing. Filming and making that known - especially with an increasing number of police convictions - is not a nothing act. It’s important activism. And for me, it’s probably a middle ground between nothing and falling on your own sword.
I feel what’s necessary is an independent oversight organization, completely separate from the police, that has the authority and resources to investigate and prosecute police officers accused of crimes or accused of colluding in the cover-up of a crime by another officer.
What we’ve seen is we can’t trust the police to monitor themselves. Even if it’s done through separate departments within the police.
Unfortunately all you can mostly safely do is to video the incident while yelling, “You’re killing him.”
Otherwise you’re risking your own beatdown or death.
You’re 100% right, IMHO.
And to be honest, even that is not without risk.
That is true. But that level of risk is pretty common for people to take, and I think I would do so.
So the thread takeaway is: If a cop is killing someone in front of you, you can’t physically prevent that death, but you can video it to deter future deaths.
Nobody in this thread has yet suggested a better course of action. If you have one, let us know.
How do you know the man is dying? Is there like a video game thing showing his hit points? 
And we have also suggested dialing 911.
Cops violently subdue perps a 1000 times a day or more, and usually they deserve it. About once a year the cop goes too far and the guy dies. So, you want to bet your life on that one chance in a million?
Try almost 2, 000 times a year. The truth hurts. You were off by a factor of thousands.
…RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC – An estimated 1,900 people died in the United States during arrest or while in police custody June 2015 through May 2016, according to a new report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics and RTI International. [rti.org]…
Sure, a estimated 1900 times a year for-The arrest-related deaths report represents a national accounting of persons who died during the process of arrest, including justifiable homicides by law enforcement personnel and deaths attributed to suicide, accidental injury, and natural causes.
Now, in how many of those 1900 did the cop actually murder a guy he was arresting? Those were so rare they were not even included.
Here is the actual study:
https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/ardprs1516pf.pdf
Nobody tried to physically intervene on Floyd’s behalf, and some posters in this thread are being critical of them (and of other posters in this thread who have said they would not have tried to physically intervene).
Of course they didn’t, that’s not something that happens in real life, only after the fact on the internet. But many people did try to intervene.