After following the Floyd murder on and off for all this time, I am left with an unsettling question. Someone here will know the answer, for sure.
Derek Chauvin was kneeling on George Floyd all that time with one hand in his pocket. Why would his hand be in his pocket, and seemingly so deliberately? I have seen police deal with troublesome suspects, but never with one hand in their pocket.
Has it been authoritatively reported anywhere why he had his hand in his pocket?
Any police or former police, please tell us about your thoughts on his hand.
I think it’s just hard to see since he’s wearing black gloves and his hand is on his dark navy blue pants, so it looks like it’s in his pocket, but it’s just resting on his leg.
But, yeah, I always noticed that too. His hand appearing to be in his pocket always made him look really casual/relaxed during the encounter.
Most people are a lot more likely to lose their balance with their hand(s) IN their pocket(s) since they can’t quickly move their arms out. They also can’t break their fall if they need to.
I disagree. I’ve observed that a lot of people will place their hand on their back while having sex in order to maintain balance and maximize thrust. Sorry but I can’t post videos of this here.
Are gloves part of the police uniform? Or do some cops just wear them because they think it looks cool and fearsome? If the latter, what would they be allowed to wear apart from gloves, would a Hannibal Lecter mask be accepted?
A lot of US cops assume the suspect will have something sharp on them, like a syringe or knife, and the gloves give some degree of protection if they put their hands on it by accident.
I feel like the nitrile glove thing also got more common as the opiate, and particularly fentanyl, problem got bigger. More cops worried about getting it on their hands when rifling around in a purse or car.
I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of them also then realized that wearing them means that they can arrest someone without getting (the suspect’s) sweat/puke/spit on them as well.
At the risk of being dinged for threadjacking, though I don’t really think it is or I wouldn’t ask: What do y’all think about cops wearing tactical gloves, like https://www.palmflex.com/ironclad-super-duty-stealth-gloves.html
? They always strike me as overly agressive/macho, but I have friends who say that’s nonsense.
IANALEO. I wear work gloves when I’m doing stuff around the house; chainsawing, weed whacking, fence repairing, etc. I get fewer cuts and scratches, plus my vitiligo affected hands do not burn. If I were working with the downtrodden in my community I’d wear nitrile gloves under tactical gloves.
Not in Europe, I have never seen that. Never thought our arrestees were cleaner.
“With one hand in my pocket, and the other one choking a suspect!”