[George Floyd]
BSN: “According to Forbes Magazine “Lane’s video shows that after 36 seconds of speaking with an employee at Cup Foods, who called police on Floyd for allegedly using a counterfeit $20 dollar bill Lane and Keung approached Floyd’s car.”
Photo: YouTube
Apparently, it took Minneapolis Police officers Lane and Keung a mere 36 seconds to decide George Floyd was guilty of something.
New details are filtering out from a new video of George Floyd’s deadly interaction with Minneapolis police illustrating institutional racism at work.
Many of us have focused on the 8 minutes and 46 seconds (now said to be over 9 minutes) that murderous killer-cop Derek Chauvin sat on Floyd’s neck. But another important timeline is now emerging in George Floyd’s murder case.
36 seconds.
That is apparently all it took for officer Thomas Lane and officer J. Alexander Keung to decide that George Floyd was guilty of allegedly trying to pass a counterfeit $20 dollar bill. Reportedly, 36 seconds is the length of time the video shows them speaking to the employee at Cup Foods who called police.
36 seconds to assess one party’s side of the story—without allowing George Floyd to explain? This is but one part of the outrageous takeaway from the new video which was released Wednesday to major media entities. The new video, along with the audio transcript paints a picture of the racist utter disregard these police officers had for the life of the man they were about to murder.
According to Forbes Magazine “Lane’s video shows that after 36 seconds of speaking with an employee at Cup Foods, who called police on Floyd for allegedly using a counterfeit $20 dollar bill Lane and Keung approached Floyd’s car.”
Reportedly, the video shows that George Floyd was never given a chance to state his case. Moreover, not long after the first 36 seconds, officer Lane is said to be pulling his gun and yelling “Put your fucking hands up right now!”
Think about that for a moment. Here is an officer pulling a gun on a Black man in mere minutes, at best, after he spoke to the Cup Foods employee.
All this over a counterfeit bill? And do we really know if it was a counterfeit bill?
Would this kind of rapid-fire judgment have been done if George Floyd was white? So, even before George Floyd knew what he had allegedly done these racist officers were already belligerently threatened him with gun violence. After this, a distressed Floyd is pleading with officers before they drag him out of the car and proceed to handcuff him. Not long after Floyd is telling officers he is having trouble breathing—and that he had previously contracted COVID-19.
None of this moved these callous cops. Things were about to get much worse. Murderer Derek Chauvin would soon arrive with officer Thomas Thao.
And as the world knows Chauvin would sit on Floyd’s neck for at least 8 minutes and 46 seconds.
Now, this should be emphasized: Floyd was already handcuffed when killer-cop Chauvin arrived on the scene. So, we have four police officers and a handcuffed Black man. Four police officers can’t take a handcuffed Black man into custody without murdering him?
The video and audio show us just how racist and insensitive American policing is to Black people. These officers showed no care for Floyd and treated him as if he was some violent suspect. All this, over an alleged counterfeit $20 dollar.
There’s another thing to consider here: why did the Cup Foods employee initiated this deadly encounter? A few reports say a scanner proved the bill was counterfeit. More investigation is needed here to conclusively prove the bill was in fact a counterfeit.
One anomaly here is this: how many businesses really check denominations smaller than a $50 to make sure they aren’t counterfeit? Many of us have no doubt, at some time, had a $100- or $50-dollar bill checked. But a $20 dollar bill?
Moreover, even if it was a counterfeit bill does that indicate Floyd knowingly passed this bill? Would it not be entirely possible the bill was passed on to him without his knowledge?
However, regardless of the facts here, none of this justifies the behavior of these killers with badges.
Because, even if Floyd purposely had passed that bill, being murdered on a sidewalk when you’re restrained by four cops, is unjustifiable and indefensible. The same thing can be said for being choked to death because you may have been selling “loosie” cigarettes, as was the case with Eric Garner when he was murdered by Daniel Pantaleo as he said, “I can’t breathe.”
One reporter, MSNBC’s Shaquille Brewster said he heard George Floyd say “some variation” of “I can’t breathe” around “28 times.” Brewster also said, from what he saw that Chauvin was actually on Floyd’s neck for about “nine and a half minutes.”
There is one more thing to get at here: why is the public being denied the right to see this video? Major media organizations have been shown the video on the condition that it not be shown to the public. The body-cam footage came from the bodycams of Lane and Keung.
Some will say this has to do with protecting the legal integrity of this case. However, there is a transparency problem here. If police weren’t the defendants here would this video be withheld?
Police are public servants that are given a “license to kill.” As such, they should be held to a higher standard. When they kill and murder people a higher level of transparency should be expected.
Trust and integrity in American policing has taken a severe hit because of the murder of Floyd. Is this the real reason why this video is being withheld?
Could it be authorities are fearful this video will further enrage Americans, especially when they see these officers deciding Floyd is guilty after a mere 36 seconds?
