Quote:
Originally Posted by MarchHare
How noble of these Little Eichmanns to turn on Chauvin after they themselves were also charged. Too bad none of them had the courage and basic human decency to do the right thing when Chauvin had his knee on Floyd's neck for nine minutes.
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I'm conflicted. One of the guys was an officer for four days, asked twice to his superior training officer (Chauvin) if they should turn him over and expressed concern about Floyd entering delirium but was shot down, and would later administer CPR to Floyd in the ambulance. At least that's how his attorney presents it. Of course he helped restrained Floyd while he was ultimately murdered and anyone not wearing blue would be charged with the same thing as this officer (well actually much more) and a man is dead in part because of his actions.
Following orders, deferring to authority, it shouldn't happen in situations like this but we know it does. The Stanford Prison experiment shows how much the average person will defer to authority and abandon their own morals. It's unfortunate, but probably the vast vast vast amount of new officers put with Chauvin that day would have ended with the same result. I'm far from suggesting he shouldn't face consequences for his actions (or inactions) but I also do find myself feeling sorry for him because his life is now ruined. I guess, akin to a speeder who runs over a pedestrian? I'm not excusing their actions but they didn't set out to kill someone and now have to live with it (which is better than Floyd gets).
More about the issues with the system, Chauvin and his partner (both with multiple complaints) shouldn't be the one training these guys. They clearly shouldn't have even been on the force, but the police unions will fight to keep them until this happens.
At the very least it will (hopefully) make the next cop put in this situation to question authority and act with their morals (if they have any) rather than try to use following orders as an excuse. Might start to see some actual reasonable judgement and push back against thug cops if individual cops start being held accountable for their actions/inactions. Might be less inclined to stick up and lie for Officer Bill if the next time you're on a assignment with him, you're afraid he's going to punch some innocent bystander in the face and have you fired/charged for helping him out.