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Just to steelman the alternative here, people lie, especially when they do not want to be restrained. There are also no gurneys with straps easily available to beat cops. Because people lie, you really can’t take people at their word when they’re claiming distress. If the only available restraint is sitting on the guy, and the guy knows you can’t do that if he says the magic words “I can’t breathe,” a whole bunch of people under such restraint are going to develop breathing problems. And given th fact that a fair percentage of those people will be armed, I think it’s going to cause either more cops being shot or shooting people because restraining is effectively no longer allowed.
Floyd had already been patted down and cuffed. He was uncooperative, but not a threat to the officers or others at the time. He was obviously on drugs, so his compromised physical condition was apparent regardless of his statements one way or another. It's possible for suspects in other, different encounters to lie in order to escape or threaten officers, but that wasn't part of the calculus in this case. The restraint technique Chauvin executed was simply too dangerous for someone with depressed cardiopulmonary function. Whether this was a systemic training failure or just criminal depravity on Chauvin's part is the interesting question. The jury seems to have concluded the latter.
It's probably inevitable that some percentage of people who overdose on hard drugs and then encounter police will end up dying in custody under ambiguous medical circumstances. That said, police should not be employing techniques that are more dangerous than necessary to protect themselves and the public.
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