This is in fact a civil rights issue (deprivation of rights under color of law.
Once the victim was in custody, the policemen were responsible for his health.
The Statement of Probable Cause for arresting the policeman, charges him with 3rd degree murder and manslaughter.
In Minnesota, intent is not an element in 3rd degree murder, but Depraved Indifference is.
There is a 9-minute long, continuous, uncut, unedited, not-monkeyed-with video of the guy on the ground in cuffs.
The policeman doesn’t take his knee off the neck the whole time.
There are 3 or 4 bystanders maybe 6 feet away, two are videoing on their phones.
The guy says he can’t breathe.
He keeps the knee on the neck.
The guy passes out.
He keeps the knee on the neck.
The guy’s bowels/or bladder release—there’s a stream coming under the car.
He keeps the knee on the neck.
One of the bystanders identifies herself as a first responder and begs the cop to get off and check for a pulse.
He keeps the knee on the neck.
One of the other policemen who had been holding him down, checks for a pulse, and tells him, hey, the guy doesn’t have a pulse.
He doesn’t check for a pulse himself.
He doesn’t start CPR.
He keeps the knee on the neck for over two minutes (as recorded live on video while it happened from six feet away)
AFTER his fellow policeman says there’s no pulse.
At one point, Mr. Kneecap pulls out a can of mace to brandish at a bystander who tries to get closer to help the guy. He gets an angry look on his face. It’s the only time on the whole video he shows anything but a look of smug stupidity.
There is no way in hell he escapes conviction on Murder 3.
Once the police have arrested you and put you in cuffs, they become responsible for your safety.
Once a guy passes out, a knee on the neck is excessive force. (Mr, Kneecap had 10 prior excessive force charges against him. The county attorney for at least part of that time, is now the Dem Senator from Minnesota, Amy Klobuchar, who was hoping to be VP on the Joe Biden ticket.)
Once a guy you have in cuffs has no pulse, kneeling on his neck is WAY excessive force. Zombie movies are fiction, guys without a pulse don’t suddenly become the undead and grab for your gun.
And for a 19-year veteran, to keep his knee on the neck of a guy with no pulse, for two minutes, on camera, in front of witnesses, after one of his fellow cops said there was no pulse?
Yeah, that’s kinda open-and-shut on murder 3, no matter how the guy’s heart stopped.
The Constitution is supposed to protect us against this kind of crap.
How many deaths and burned out cities do you require for this cops acts?
Wordy reply there gw. There is, as always, more to this story. Let the investigation find, then tell us, what really was going down. My guess.. the two were involved in drug dealing or some other unlawful business.
Leave the civil rights out of this. Color of Authority is a better fit.