Nearly a year after the death of George Floyd, there is justice. Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis cop, who inexplicable kept his left on Floyd’s neck for more than 9 minutes, has been found guilty on all counts for second- and third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Unlike George Floyd, who committed the crime of passing a bogus bill at a food and liquor mart, and faced Derek Chauvin as judge, jury and executioner. Chauvin got a fair trial. While the precise cause of George Floyd’s death was the subject of some debate, he had a pre-existing heart condition and was under what one expert considered a lethal cocktails of street drugs, Chauvin’s knee on the next was the thumb on the scale. It was the unnecessary and cruel incident that certainly hastened Floyd’s death if not a direct cause of it.
Why, especially on a holiday evening, was a man who committed an offense that probably required nothing more than a ticket to appear in court, treated like an armed serial killer, finally captured by the law? Why were there multiple officers needed? Why wasn’t Floyd, on obvious distress, not rushed to a hospital? Why did three other officers who must have known better leave Chauvin to his deadly choice of tactics?
Those officers will have their day in court, and unlike Chauvin, who chose not to speak for his own defense, will get a change to explain themselves.
As an American I am proud that the justice system worked, but there is still something troubling about this case. How it was hijacked before the justice system could act, but those who would detour around peaceful demonstrations to burn and loot and injure people and t he livelihoods of people who were innocent. People who nothing to do with George Floyd or Derek Chauvin and the demonstrations continued for weeks. How so called “leaders” of the black community like Representative Maxine Waters, could fly to a city she does not represent, and by her words, all but promise there would be hell to pay if the verdict went the other way. The same Maxine Waters who wanted impeachment for a President she blamed for inciting a riot last January. The hypocrisy was unmistakable and indefensible, but that’s exactly what Nancy Pelosi and the other left-wing leaders are doing. It’s only a crime if the other guy does it. The Chauvin verdict is a win for American justice. The behavior of Maxine Waters and her ilk is simply a disgrace.