The wall of silence is collapsing. There is a phrase that is frequently repeated in the United States when there are allegations against the police. The speech, then, is in every instance of the “blue wall of silence,” the blue wall of silence, which the police draw around their uniformed colleagues. No other cop is condemned.
Much of this wall has worn off in recent years, including criminal proceedings and in the courts. But now, in the course of the operation of African American George Floyd, who was killed in a police operation, there are cracks in the wall – deep cracks. One policeman after another has appeared in a Minneapolis courtroom over the past few days to testify against former officer Derek Chauvin. Schaufen is accused, among other things, of second degree premeditated murder, which in German criminal law closely corresponds to manslaughter.
This group of policemen on the witness stand was unfamiliar in itself. What was also unusual was the clarity with which the officers distanced themselves from the actions of Chauvin, whom they sometimes served for many years. It all started with David Pleuger, the ex-president of Chauvin. When asked by prosecutors, he said Chauvin had no right to place his knee on George Floyd’s neck – not after his hands were tied to the ground. Blogger said that at least when there was no more movement from Floyd, Chauvin had to end the stranglehold. He also stated that the defendant had not notified him after the accident that he had had his knee pressed over Floyd’s neck.
Prosecutors want to portray Chauvin as “a traitor to Bishara”
Minneapolis Police Senior Officer Richard Zimmerman who now heads the Homicide Division said this use of “lethal force” was “absolutely unnecessary” and “inappropriate.” In total, the prosecution called in more than six police officers, who all said roughly the same thing: Chauvin used excessive force in the operation against Floyd. Strangling confinement is permitted for a limited time if the person is in extreme danger, but not if the person is still on the ground. “This is not what we train,” said Katie Blackwell, Minneapolis Police Department official. Witnesses have said all this and the like so many times that Judge Peter Cahill warned prosecutors not to repeat their statement.
Accordingly, the prosecution follows a clearly defined strategy. Chauvin should be presented to the jury as the maximum possible, “as a traitor to Bishara,” the prosecutor’s representative said. “What Chauvin did is in no way compatible with our education, our spirit, or our values,” said Medaria Aradundu, Minneapolis Police Chief. In other words, the allegations discussed in the courtroom do not generally concern the police, but only the dismissed policeman, Chauvin.
Defense attorneys want to argue that Floyd died of heart failure and drugs
There is no legal alternative to this. After all, the police are not a docking institution. Prosecutors also know from past trials that juries are showing a great deal of understanding for police officers who perceive them to be doing dangerous work. But that is precisely why the procedures underway also carry risks, writes the magazine Nation: “By focusing on the isolated misdeeds of the chauvinists, the entire system of police brutality is getting a free pass.”
Chauvin’s story was also criticized as a lone misleading understanding that the entire criminal justice system in the United States needs fundamental reform. Washington Post. Prosecutors have until the end of this week to call witnesses. Then it was the defense’s turn.
Chauvin’s attorneys suggested, among other things, that they would argue that Floyd’s death was not a direct result of the stranglehold that Chauvin had lived for more than nine minutes. Instead, the 46-year-old Floyd died of a combination of heart failure and a high dose of drugs that were present in his blood at the time of his arrest. A judgment is expected in early May at the earliest.
