Posted on 06/04/2020 5:14:13 PM PDT by NautiNurse
Attorneys for two former rookie Minneapolis police officers on Thursday rejected accusations that their clients aided and abetted the killing of George Floyd, casting blame instead on a senior officer who allegedly ignored his younger counterparts.
[snip]
“What is my client supposed to do but follow what the [senior] officer says?” Lane’s attorney, Earl Gray, argued in court. “The strength of this case, your honor, in my opinion is extremely weak.”
[snip]
Defense attorneys said Kueng, 26, of Plymouth, was working his third shift ever as a full-time officer and Lane, 37, of St. Paul, was working his fourth day as a full-time officer on the day they encountered Floyd.
[snip]
“At all times Mr. Kueng and Mr. Lane turned their attention to that 19-year veteran …” Plunkett said. “[Kueng] was trying — they were trying to communicate that this situation needs to change direction.”
Charging documents show that Lane asked twice if they should roll Floyd onto his side and was rebuffed by Chauvin. Kueng took Floyd’s pulse and told his colleagues, “I couldn’t find one,” according to the criminal complaint.
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
Think the OJ trial.
I'm going to guess that you on right on this. The officers are being charged so that the prosecution can threaten them with lengthy sentences. They fired the officers instead of putting them on leave, and most likely their lawyers told them to invoke their 5th Amendment rights. Now, the only way they can induce testimony is to threaten them. Again, just guessing, but had they not been fired they would have willingly cooperated in giving testimony.
Each case has to be evaluated on its individual facts, so I'm not going to speculate on other hypotheticals. That crap can go on forever. But let's look at this case ok? Tell me how the police are being treated here.
With regards to the justice system they are being treated better than non-police would be under the same situation. They were not arrested and charged instantly, etc.; there was no crowing DA all over the media the next day touting how these dangerous men exceeded the law and are now facing charges, etc. - this took days and weeks to get to the point where these guys got booked.
I don’t see why police should be treated any differently. Any time someone dies in custody or through a shooting, the officers responsible should have to go through the same justice system the rest of us do if we shoot someone breaking into or invading our homes. Condemned or exonerated by jury.
Thank you for the info! We’re in for a rain soaked weekend. Very glad to have a movie recommendation. Cheers!
Well, yeah.
If they had been suspended, they would have been contacted by IA, as you have mentioned in the past. As an employee, you’re supposed to cooperate, which is basically immediately relevant information. How many rounds fired, and in what direction? In this case, there’s zero immediately relevant information, so they would have moved to a legalistic response.
Which sounds like this: “I need to contact my union rep and my lawyer. And when are you going to issue me a new pistol?” I suspect that the reason for firing them immediately, without an investigation was to deny them union representation and city paid defense.
Strange to post about unions on FR, but NO ONE is looking out for the individual patrol officer other than his fellow officers. All the ills of society are laid at his feet, and when things go wrong, which they will, the guy who drew the short straw is hung out to dry.
No, that’s bs. A civilian’s failure to act to stop the commission of a crime is not a crime.
The difference is they are trained AND REQUIRED to respond, civilians aren’t.
Tough situation for the newbies IMO, and the newbies put the veteran in a tough situation.
Juries- they’re magnificent.
I’m talking about the overall incident - person detained, died in custody. If the cops rolled up on this incident and everyone involved was a non-officer, everyone in the general vicinity would be arrested. You know that as well as I.
And they should be used more when investigating the police - remember, this is the same department that initially said Officer Noor did no wrong when he shot Justine Damond.
Common Law puts a limit on the power of juries. A fair one IMO.
That they treat the charged fairly will be sufficient.
On the flip side...the past complaints, that should have removed at least 2 of them from duty ling ago, had to be because senior folks lobbied to keep the “hit squad’ employed...
The guy was high on Fentanyl and meth. Several police officers tried to put him in a squad car and he resisted and they couldn’t. The guy was 6’5” and very muscular. Had to be restrained.
A tragedy. But what does this have to do with Race?
Dont you mean the veteran put the newbies in a tough situation?
We were just following orders!!!!!!
Good point
Did you expect the newbies to wrestle with Chauvin or draw their weapons on him? What about the cop standing up?
The people stubbornly defending the two dirty veteran cops (Chauvin and Thao) have no valid argument for their position. This is why the dirty cop supporters resort to insulting and demeaning those who don't meet their agenda.
If the body cams solidly support what the rookies are reporting, I hope the justice system will have mercy upon them.
I believe it’s in the police report.
Do you have a link to the police report?
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