Good Mornin’! Good Mornin’!
George Floyd was buying cigarettes with what a young clerk thought was a counterfeit twenty-dollar bill according to a news report on BBC.com. He was out of work and had moved to Minnesota from his native Texas. The 46-year old had been a bouncer at a local club and was a regular customer at the store. No one has said if the bill was actually fake but the kid was following protocol and demanded the pack of smokes back. George didn’t want to and the kid called the police. He also thought George was “drunk” and “not in control of himself.”
The police arrived and George was sitting in a car with two other folks (unidentified.) One cop pulled his gun and ordered George to show his hands. No one has said why it was necessary for Thomas Lane to pull his gun but he went on to “put his hands on Mr. Floyd and pulled him out of the car.” George then “actively resisted being handcuffed.” The story goes on to say that he then became compliant after being told why he was being arrested. But they tried to put him in the cop car and he struggled and told the officers he was claustrophobic. More cops showed up and tried to put him in the police car. During that time, Policeman Chauvin pulled George away from the passenger side and he fell to the ground, face down, with handcuffs on. Witnesses said he was distressed.
I’ve never had claustrophobia but I’d imagine you don’t recover quickly if suffering from it and being in handcuffs on top of it all. The report says that George was restrained by officers and then Chauvin placed his left knee between his head and neck. That’s when George said he couldn’t breathe. He also pleaded for his mother and begged saying “please” over and over.
The officer held his knee there for nearly nine minutes total but six minutes in, George became non-responsive. Bystanders were yelling at the cops to check his pulse but “couldn’t find one.” Why did he keep his knee there for the extra three minutes? Was it part of his training? Did he think George was faking? After not finding a pulse and with the suspect in handcuffs, you’d think it’d be ok to remove your knee.
The officer didn’t until George was rolled onto a gurney and taken to the hospital. He died an hour later. George died over that pack of cigarettes he wouldn’t give back and supposedly a fake twenty-dollar bill and what looks like to be an overzealous cop. Is there more to the story? Yes, on both sides. But what if…what if someone was in the store and saw what was happening and stepped in and paid for George’s cigarettes?
The world would be a different place today. Maybe we should look for those holes in our daily lives where we can step in and help out. A little kindness always goes a long way.
Find where you can give some today, you may save a life and possibly a country.
You never know.
