Free Republic

Protests broke out in Rochester, N.Y., following the release Wednesday of police body-camera footage of a Black man who died after being injured during his arrest last March. Daniel Prude was arrested by Rochester Police in the early hours of March 23, after his brother, concerned for Prude’s safety, had called 911. Prude, 41, had left his brother’s house in below-freezing weather wearing long johns and a tank top. He had been released from Rochester’s Strong Memorial Hospital earlier that night after expressing suicidal thoughts. When Rochester Police officers came upon Prude, he was naked and in distress. Prude had...

Attorneys for former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin are requesting the dismissal of murder and manslaughter charges against him for the death of George Floyd. They're using the police training manual as justification. According to the Minneapolis Police Department training manual, officers are shown how to subdue violent or resisting suspects by placing their knee on the neck. Analysts and attorneys at Court TV explain. It's worth a full watch: "From coast-to-coast everyone, absolutely outraged, especially by that fact, the knee on the neck. Well, guess what folks, take a look at what you're looking at right here. That is...

A man targeted in an FBI counterterrorism raid was an invited guest at the White House complex five months ago. It has been one week since teams of federal agents executed search warrants on locations in Chicago and Minneapolis looking for evidence of financial support to foreign terrorist groups.

New court documents related to the death of George Floyd indicate that the deceased Minneapolis resident had a “fatal level” of fentanyl in his system at the time of his arrest by former police officer Derek Chauvin and three other officers. This has led many to believe that the actions of Chauvin were not the cause of Floyd’s death.In fact, the officer’s lawyer has asked the judge presiding over the case to drop the charges against the former law enforcement official, arguing that his client’s kneeling on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes did not lead to his demise. However,...

I wrote about all of that here. But now there is a new bombshell: on Tuesday, prosecutors who have charged Derek Chauvin with murder released a document that suggests that he had nothing to do with Floyd’s death, which in all likelihood resulted from a drug overdose. Not only that, prosecutors have known that fact for months. Former state and federal prosecutor George Parry has the story. It was linked earlier as a Pick, but I think deserves more attention: Former state and federal prosecutor George Parry has the story. It was linked earlier as a Pick, but I think...

Jacob Blake had a weapon on the driver’s side of his vehicle when a police officer, who has now been identified as Rusten Sheskey, shot him seven times in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Sunday evening. Blake was leaning into that side of the vehicle when the officer discharged his weapon.According to the Wisconsin Department of Justice, police recovered a knife from the floorboard, but the agency did not say whether Blake, a 29-year-old black man, was holding the weapon when Sheskey shot him in the back, which left Blake paralyzed, according to his family’s lawyers. Video stills of the incident appear...

New documents filed in the case involving the death of George Floyd show the medical examiner’s opinion that the victim had a potentially fatal level of fentanyl in his system. One document is a memorandum of a conversation between a court attorney and Andrew Baker, the Hennepin County chief medical examiner. The conversation included statements that the fentanyl levels in Floyd’s system were “pretty high” and “can cause pulmonary edema.” The document includes, “This level of fentanyl can cause pulmonary edema. Mr. Floyd’s lungs were 2-3x their normal weight at autopsy. That is fatal level of fentanyl under normal circumstances.”

Despite the governor's declaration, rioters continued Tuesday night to burn down the Midwestern state’s modestly sized cities and attack local residents, their homes, and businesses. MADISON — It took Gov. Tony Evers two days to wake up and proclaim a “State of Emergency” exists in Wisconsin. Tuesday, after he issued the declaration, police say three people were shot and two killed during ongoing rioting in Wisconsin streets. In his emergency declaration, the Democrat invoked the name of Minnesotan George Floyd and plugged a legislative special session to pass bills on “equity and justice.” While desperately clinging to the notion that...

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - New exhibits filed in the case against the four former Minneapolis Police Officers accused of murdering George Floyd suggest the Hennepin County Medical Examiner thought George Floyd’s fentanyl levels were at a potentially “fatal level”, but his and other medical examiner’s findings showed he died of a combination of factors.

The body of a junkie ex-con who had robbed a pregnant woman at gunpoint was placed in a golden coffin on a horse-drawn hearse while a nation whose cities were burning watched. Cannon Hinnant was laid to rest quietly in a small funeral home across the street from a gas station. The mourners, some driving pickup trucks, parked out front and made their way through the puddles to hear his youth pastor eulogize the 5-year-old boy who had been shot in the head. The deaths of George Floyd,a 46-year-old Minneapolis black ex-con strung out on drugs, and Cannon Hinnant,...

Louisiana State Police are investigating the death of Trayford Pellerin, a 31-year-old Black man who was fatally shot Friday night during an encounter with officers from the Lafayette Police Department. Officers were called to a Lafayette convenience store shortly after 8 p.m. Friday to respond to a "disturbance involving a person armed with a knife," according to a statement from the Louisiana State Police. The police found Pellerin in the store's parking lot with a knife, the statement says. When officers tried to apprehend him, Pellerin left and officers followed on foot. The police used Tasers as they pursued him,...

A pretty compelling video on why Floyd died from a swallowed amount of fentanyl.

Convention bets hard on hope Kamala pick will provide left-wing cover for sharp messaging return to the center. Vice President Joe Biden wrapped up the Democratic Convention Thursday night, putting an authentic and well-received closing argument at the end of an otherwise halting, depressing and frankly alien four-day rally, and previewing what may be the campaign’s calculation that a Kamala Harris VP provides left-wing cover for a rapid return to messaging from the Democratic Party’s political center. Biden used the 25-minute speech, delivered from an empty convention center in Wilmington, Delaware, to contrast President Donald Trump’s “darkness” with his own...

A Texas school district drew a rebuke from the nation's largest police union after a junior high school teacher distributed an assignment that likens police to slave owners and Ku Klux Klan members. The unauthorized assignment featured a five-panel cartoon of a slave ship officer and others with a knee on a black man's neck. It culminated with a modern-day police officer with a knee on a suspect's neck, the Washington Examiner reported. The victims, echoing the words of George Floyd, say, "I can’t breathe." David Vinson, the superintendent of the Wylie Independent School District, northeast of Dallas, apologized after...

Minneapolis, MN – An attorney for one of the officers charged in the death of 46-year-old George Floyd in the custody of the Minneapolis police filed a motion to dismiss charges on Tuesday because Floyd overdosed on fentanyl while he was resisting arrest. Earl Gray, the attorney for former Minneapolis Police Officer Thomas Lane, said in the motion that Floyd swallowed fentanyl tablets while the officers were trying to take him into custody, KMSP reported. Gray said that the bodycam video of Floyd’s arrest showed a white spot on his tongue that disappeared a moment later. In the motion to...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California lawmakers are pushing to enact nearly a dozen policing reform laws driven by nationwide outrage and protests after George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis in May. Lawmakers have until Aug. 31 to approve and send legislation to Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom. The bills include: CHOKEHOLDS AB1196 by Assemblyman Mike Gipson, D-Carson, would bar law enforcement agencies from using carotid restraints, chokeholds or similar techniques. The California Police Chiefs Association initially called for banning the carotid and chokeholds, but withdrew its support after it said Gipson broadened his bill “to include additional restrictions that are vague and...

George Floyd Case Body Cam Footage: Video from two police body cameras has been made public in the George Floyd case. The footage is from the body-worn cameras of former Minneapolis police officers Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng. The footage shows the arrest of Floyd and the moments leading up to his death. **WARNING: The video contains graphic content and language. Viewer discretion is advised.** George Floyd died in Minneapolis police custody on Memorial Day 2020, after bystander video showed former officer Derek Chauvin's knee on his neck for over nine minutes as Floyd was heard saying "I can't...

A Chicago-based charity has worked to free at least 20 defendants facing felony charges—including attempted terrorism and assault of a police officer—as an unprecedented crime wave rocks the city. The Chicago Community Bond Fund, which opposes cash bail and pretrial incarceration, has posted bond for the alleged felons, putting them back on the streets before their trials. The charity, like other community bond funds across the country, is now flush with cash, raising $3.5 million from 75,000 contributors in late May and early June. Bond funds together have taken in $90 million in the weeks following George Floyd’s death alone,...

Businesses have long based their policies on what makes money. They need to create the conditions that will bring customers back. Thus, when companies abruptly change course, people assume it is linked to the company’s bottom line. If directors perceive something that will impact their reputation and profits, they will find ways not to offend customers. That is why protests work. No one likes bad publicity. No one doubles down on decisions that lose money. When Companies Panic Such reactions can backfire. Companies sometimes panic and do not follow what their customers think but act out of fear they might...

It is said that, in every large organization, the fecal matter flows downhill. Anyone who has ever worked in government can attest to the truth of that statement. But, for dramatic proof of that proposition, take a look at this picture. This is an illustration from the Minneapolis Police Department’s official training materials on how to safely and properly subdue a suspect suffering from “excited delirium,” a potentially lethal medical condition which, due to the rising use and abuse of illicit drugs, has grown to epidemic proportions on the streets of America. Look closely. The depicted suspect is flat on...