May 13, 2023

"[Jordan Neely] was on a list informally known as the Top 50, a roster of people in a city of eight million who stand out for the severity of their troubles..."

"... and their resistance to accepting help. The list is overseen by a task force of city agency workers and social-service nonprofits; when homeless-outreach workers see someone in the subway who is on the list, they are supposed to notify the city and try to get that person to a shelter. Despite that, and an open arrest warrant, Mr. Neely was out on his own on May 1, when he began ranting at passengers. A Marine veteran, Daniel Penny, grabbed him and choked him to death; Mr. Penny has now been charged with manslaughter.... At a news conference on Thursday, Councilwoman Pierina Sanchez, referring to Mr. Neely’s presence on the list, said: 'Our city knew exactly who Jordan was, where he was and what his history was. And yet we failed him.'... The goal of the list is to connect disparate bureaucracies across a vast city...."

The city failed more than just Jordan Neely. It failed everyone who felt threatened by him, including the one who felt called to apply force to stop him and who now may go to prison for misjudging the extent to which the law permits the application of force, and everyone who sees what is happening to Daniel Penny and feels constrained, going forward, about taking any action in the presence of a threat and who must nevertheless go underground and shut themselves into subway cars that may or may not carry a "Top 50" person and who are given only the insulting comfort of the knowledge that the city's disparate bureaucracies are connected.

77 comments:

Joe Smith said...

Apparently he had been arrested over 40 times.

That's 40+ mug shots.

Blow those up and fill the courtroom with them along with the charge on each photo.

It would make a good backdrop for closing defense arguments.

Jupiter said...

"The list is overseen by a task force of city agency workers and social-service nonprofits;"

all of whom are well-paid, and will continue to be well-paid, as long as they are careful not to solve the problem they created. There are plenty more where Neely came from.

Sebastian said...

"And yet we failed him"

The prog BS is a tell. Giving priority to the insane repeat criminal over the public interest and the most basic function of government.

"The city failed more than just Jordan Neely. It failed everyone who felt threatened by him.

But it didn't fail-fail him: it dealt with him as progs prefer. It didn't fail-fail everyone else: progs like the insecurity, justify the threats, criticize any defensive actions by the public, and want normies to sit back and take it.

Freder Frederson said...

and everyone who sees what is happening to Daniel Penny and feels constrained, going forward,

You say this like it is a bad thing. I know some people here think we should have the right to kill anyone we don't like or is disruptive. But you? Why on earth did you go to law school if you think vigilantism is such a good idea?

Dude1394 said...

Of course, "we failed the person" who will give us democrats the most advantage politically. They don't give a crap about the women accosted, the people assaulted, the people made to feel afraid to go to work in that shithole of a city. FOR A DECADE!!! Just like the mass murderers on watchlists that they ignore, while knocking down the doors of republicans for process crimes and searching out trespassers to charge them with sedition. Disgusting excuses for humans.

No, let's focus on the one that will get us some more good old summer of love riots.

Anthony said...

everyone who sees what is happening to Daniel Penny and feels constrained, going forward, about taking any action in the presence of a threat

Which I believe is the whole point of the exercise.

wendybar said...

Don't worry. Al Sharpton is there to spew his hate and racism. Obama's point man to the rescue. We can thank Obama for the division, and hate. His fundamental change was Cloward and Piven. They are overloading the system as we speak, so get ready for their next step.

Gunner said...

They are trying to George Floydify this guy but even the dumbass lefty Twitter white people aren't buying it. They understand homeless crazies too well.

WK said...

How many other lists does the government have out there?

Fred Drinkwater said...

Althouse, you are starting to sound like me. That way lies madness :-)

hombre said...

This is a tough call for a prosecutor. Self-defense or defense of third parties is an affirmative defense and normally a jury question.

Sometimes circumstances justify the prosecutor making the call. My predisposition would have resulted in a refusal to prosecute. Alvin Bragg's would not.

Either decision, however regrettable, is defensible. It does seem unlikely that even a NY jury will convict.

The real culprit here is leftist criminal justice reform and/or mental health reform. Both argue against confinement for reasons having nothing to do with the public good.

n.n said...

Self-defense... The evidence indicates that the restraint may have triggered a preexisting condition, but the homicide occurred without a direct correlation.

Oso Negro said...

Daniel Penny did not "choke Jordan Neely to death". He applied carotid pressure until Neely passed out, and placed him in the recovery position. He was alive in the ambulance and died later at the hospital. From the carotid pressure? That will be sorted out in the trial.

Caroline said...

No way this guy gets convicted. For every bleeding heart rabble rouser, there are tens of millions of Americans saluting the guy’s courage. Too bad we don’t have the cojones to gather and demonstrate in support of him. But hey, that’s exactly how you get the Proud Boys, doing the job no one else wants to do.

Readering said...

I've been mugged in the subway. It's scary. But an unarmed guy who had not hit anyone was killed. Let the jury do its job.

Yancey Ward said...

"Blow those up and fill the courtroom with them along with the charge on each photo.

It would make a good backdrop for closing defense arguments."


No judge in New York would allow such a defense for Penny.

baghdadbob said...

Neely was "at risk," but in ways the author didn't acknowledge.

Neely was "at risk" to the lives, well-being, peace and property of the people stuck in the hell-hole known as the NY Subway system.

Full disclosure, I interned as a messenger, riding the subway all day, summer of 1978. It was arguably more dangerous then, murder-rate-wise, but the great de-institutionalization of the mentally ill had not yet happened.

Yancey Ward said...

"Self-defense or defense of third parties is an affirmative defense and normally a jury question. Sometimes circumstances justify the prosecutor making the call. My predisposition would have resulted in a refusal to prosecute. Alvin Bragg's would not. Either decision, however regrettable, is defensible. It does seem unlikely that even a NY jury will convict."

I suspect that Penny won't be allowed to offer that affirmative defense when it comes to a trial, and will thus be forced to take a plea, or get convicted on the charge by the jury. While he has sympathy, possibly, by regular New Yorkers, I can guarantee you the jury won't be composed of such people- anyone who answers the jury question, "Have you ever been threatened by a homeless person" will be automatically dismissed. The jury will be made of people who will be deeply, deeply woke and relatively wealthy enough to avoid the subway.

GatorNavy said...

This is a tragic situation. Neely was mentally ill and violent. The state should have separated him from the innocents he harmed long ago. Penny and the men who helped to subdue Neely are blameless. The state and all its awful machinery should be blamed. However, the state of New York is becoming communist, particularly in the area of no individual is above the state groupthink. The use of a race-baiter like Sharpton is a distraction, sound and fury signifying nothing. The real issue is the state grinding down the individual hard enough that no individual will ever step forward again for any reason.

Narr said...

I think Daniel Penny is on some lists now, IYKWIM.

R C Belaire said...

New York, New York!
A city so nice they named it twice!

n.n said...

ChatNYT

walter said...

"We know he was schizophrenic. We know he had a history of drug use. We know he was prone to violent, unprovoked outbursts and assaults.
<
Neely was so erratic that even his own family members admit they couldn't handle him at times.
To wit: there was Neely's attack on Filemon Castillo Baltazar, 68, while he waited for a train in June of 2019.
Baltazar supports Daniel Penny.
‘Who knows what [Neely] might have done to other people,’ Baltazar said.
Indeed. Two years later, Neely was arrested for randomly punching 67-year-old Anne Mitcheltree inside an East Village deli.
The police ‘told me we have him, he’s in custody, we’re going to press charges,’ Micheltree told the New York Post. ‘I thought the judge would have forced him to take psychiatric meds, but it seems like he bounced out.’
Would Bragg have dared do the same had the victim here been white and the restraining individual black?
I think we all know the answer.
Neely punched another 67-year-old woman — notice a pattern here? — as she exited a station in November 2021, giving her a broken nose, a fractured eye socket and ‘substantial pain to the back of her head.’
Yet here’s our pandering, pathetic New York governor Kathy Hochul, insisting that Neely was killed for ‘being a passenger’ and that it was ‘very clear that he was not going to, you know, cause harm to these other people.’

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12078189/CALLAHAN-ex-marines-manslaughter-arrest-Jordan-Neelys-subway-death-disgrace.html

B. said...

Why doesn’t the NYT allow comments in these types of pieces? Are they afraid that their readers might know more than their writers?

Free Manure While You Wait! said...

"hey are trying to George Floydify this guy"

Not even close. George Floyd was an evil, evil man.

farmgirl said...

This society fails teachers, as well. There’s no physical way to subdue out of control students w/out ending up died or jailed. A teacher told me that she was advised to jump out a window rather than protect herself against a threatening student.

We know who holds the power.
We know who’s protected.

Hari said...

NYC has budgeted $4.2 billion for migrants: https://nypost.com/2023/02/07/biden-migrant-crisis-to-cost-nyc-4-2-billion/ (This comes to $70,000 per migrant.) If it cost $250,000 per year to provide institutionalize "The Top 50" that would come to $12.5 million per year, of about one-third of one percent of what is budgeted for the migrants. NYC (and NY State) has its priorities, and clearly the mentally ill are clearly not high on the list.

Hari said...

NYC has budgeted $4.2 billion for migrants: https://nypost.com/2023/02/07/biden-migrant-crisis-to-cost-nyc-4-2-billion/ (This comes to $70,000 per migrant.) If it cost $250,000 per year to institutionalize "The Top 50" that would come to $12.5 million per year, or about one-third of one percent of what is budgeted for the migrants. NYC (and NY State) have their priorities, and clearly the mentally ill are clearly not high on the list.

Hari said...

NYC has budgeted $4.2 billion for migrants: https://nypost.com/2023/02/07/biden-migrant-crisis-to-cost-nyc-4-2-billion/ (This comes to $70,000 per migrant.) If it cost $250,000 per year to institutionalize "The Top 50" that would come to $12.5 million per year, or about one-third of one percent of what is budgeted for the migrants. NYC (and NY State) have their priorities, and clearly the mentally ill are clearly not high on the list.

Leora said...

My only hope is that Perry's jury will be made up of people who ride the subway. Where's the qualified immunity for good Samaritans trying to provide the protection the sity had abdicated on providing?

Mountain Maven said...

The failure is a system that refuses to take these incorrigibles off the streets. Regular people will keep leaving blue locales until only fools, criminals and those who can't afford to flee remain.

Krumhorn said...

I contributed to Penny's defense fund this morning at givesendgo.com. It's only the bug-eyed rabid lefties who think that Penny should be prosecuted and convicted. Sadly, these days, that's a fairly large number of folks who are revealed by the gobs of foam in the corner of their mouths when they speak.

Hopefully, the jury will have at least one regular subway rider who the prosecutor cannot preemptively challenge. One is all that is required.

- Krumhorn

Tomcc said...

Isn't the standard for involuntary commitment when someone poses a risk to themselves or others? That hold may be brief, for sure, but can be extended if circumstances warrant. If there's a list of problematic people, it makes sense that someone sees the multiple incidents and should act to separate them from the public. Maybe I'm oversimplifying, but it seems like an easy test.

Gunner said...

Whatever Floyd was in life, he is now a BLM/Antifa secular martyr. I don't think this guy will get the same treatment from anyone besides black grifters.

Owen said...

“…The city failed more than just Jordan Neely. It failed everyone…”

Well put. It’s unusual for you to wax indignant; even a little passionate; as you contemplate the unlivable carcass of a once-great city.

azbadger said...

Let's diagram the last sentence.

Rusty said...

Mr. Penny simply did what the city of New York failed to do 43 times before. It is unfortunate the Mr. Neely subsequently dies, but you have to admit, with his behavior, he was living on borrowed time.

exhelodrvr1 said...

Now known as the Top 49

JIM said...

Keep voting Democrat and experience inflation, energy shortages, lawlessness, and vagrancy!.

Creola Soul said...

The message to young men is clear…don’t risk intervention. Even if you see someone beating a child, holding a knife to a woman’s throat, walk away. Just say fuck it, I’m not risking jail for you.
NYC, LA, San Francisco and Austin TX have brought this on themselves so they, or at least their citizens, are just going to have to deal with. It’s what they voted for.
As Louis L’Amour said “You boys saddled this bronc, let’s see if you can ride him.”

mikee said...

Amazing that the city can maintain and publicize, internally to city offices and externally to the public and press, a list of dozens of individuals known to be problematic for the citizenry due to criminal behavior, substance abuse, mental illness, and so on, but can't keep a list member in a secured facility of some kind, despite multiple arrests for multiple violent assaults and that list member's appearances before judges where AT A MINIMUM, bail could have been denied.

Seems the bureaucrats are better at paperwork than doing anything useful.

Douglas B. Levene said...

I just read that Penny's legal defense fund stands at over $1 million, so he'll be able to afford a first class legal defense. And so long as there are one or two regular subway riders on that jury, it's highly unlikely that he'll be convicted of anything. It's just a shame that he has to undergo this process for being a Good Samaritan. But that's the whole point of the indictment, to deter others from being Good Samaritans and coming to the aid of people being menaced or threatened by lunatics.

BIII Zhang said...

Ann Althouse wrote: "It failed everyone who felt threatened by (Neely) ...

There are no juicy federal grants available for "trying" to help those people. The city is uninterested in those people because there's no graft to be made there.

Michael K said...

Blogger Krumhorn said...

I contributed to Penny's defense fund this morning at givesendgo.com.


I tried but the web site seems to be down. The donation are well over a million dollars. Maybe that's why.

Michael K said...

Blogger Readering said...

I've been mugged in the subway. It's scary. But an unarmed guy who had not hit anyone was killed. Let the jury do its job.


I hope you have another interaction with a psychotic "homeless man" as soon as possible.

Mike said...

Being on top 50 is not a death penalty offense.

Robert Cook said...

"'I've been mugged in the subway. It's scary. But an unarmed guy who had not hit anyone was killed. Let the jury do its job.'

"I hope you have another interaction with a psychotic 'homeless man' as soon as possible."


American fascists can only be so openly callous and hateful because they are oblivious to how insane their wildly disproportionate responses to rational and measured statements as above reveal them be.

Robert Cook said...

"New York, New York!
"A city so nice they named it twice!"


Yes! Your sardonic irony noted, but it is a WONDERFUL city, one I happily lived in for over 40 years. (I moved only because my wife wanted to move. I would never have even considered leaving if she had not wished to move. I'm happy where we are, but I will always pine for the Luscious Apple!)

BUMBLE BEE said...

What the F*CK are 50 homicidals doing out on the street roaming free? This is not hypotheical shit here. Maybe those of you living in a UMC enclave have a fantasy that this type of walking crime wave has an off switch. People ride the bus and the subway live in this abject lack of civilization day in day out. They are just getting through by tooth and nail. They aren't looking at the convertible with the GPS, premium stereo, and Michelin Pilot Super Sport ZPs.
Just tryin to find another day in America. Neely earned what he got. His victims did not.
MS13 arriving soon.

Robert Cook said...

"George Floyd was an evil, evil man."

Based on what information, what history? Seems like his had a few prison and jail sentences, mostly for drug possession, a couple of robberies. Not good, deserving of incarceration, but that is not an "evil, evil man" by my measure. There are many more evil men in the world. But, even if we grant your characterization as true for argument's sake, does that justify a police officer killing him? What had Floyd done that day that warranted his murder? What was he doing while handcuffed and incapacitated in his last 9 minutes of life that warranted his murder by a police officer?

(Rogue cops who roust and beat up suspects, lie about their actions and even kill them do not tend to restrict their lawlessness only to "bad people" who "deserve" such treatment--not a call for the police, in any case, but a call for the courts--they tend to abuse everyone they encounter in their official duties. Do you feel safe such cops are on the job? I don't.)

readering said...

Mugger wasn't homeless. Or as nasty as Michel k. Go figure.

DanTheMan said...

If your idea of "compassion" is allowing crazy people to sleep in the streets and attack people on the subway, maybe you are doing it wrong?

phantommut said...

Involuntary Manslaughter is charged in situations where the actor does not intent for the victim to due. Rather, the actor engages in conduct that is reckless or negligent, and results in someone’s death. For example, Let’s say you drive with twice the legal alcohol limit in your system, and cause a head-on collision with another vehicle, as a result of which the driver of the other vehicle dies. While you had absolutely no intention to cause the other driver’s death, you engaged in reckless conduct, which posed a risk of endangering other lives.

New York Manslaughter

If Neely was breathing on his own in the ambulance and at the hospital it's going to hard to make the case that Penny's actions were beyond the scope of his skills in the situation. Videos show Penny was actively assisted by at least one other subway rider, and the case will be made that other riders did not think Penny acted irrationally or irresponsibly.

I know a lot of First Aid (I'm a Red Cross certified instructor.) From initial descriptions of the incident my first instinct was to guess Neely's trachea had been damaged. That can definitely be fatal in the field. But if he made it to the hospital alive and breathing at all it's something that an ER should be able to handle.

So assuming what I've read is true, Manslaughter (even Involuntary) is going to be a tough sell.

n.n said...

The same problem with homicidal shooters (e.g. schools), who were under psychiatric care, known risks to the communities, etc., where the issue was not reasonable gun control, but rather reasonable observation and treatment. Can we do it without exercising liberal license to indulge diversity (e.g. a "minority report") with its allotments of prejudicial judgments and colorful labels?

n.n said...

re: minority report, the primary choice to commit homicides is bladed instruments. Reasonable scalpel control, perhaps. Also, the proliferation of assaults through blunt force trauma. Phobic assessments, empathetic appeals, and publications are the stock and trade of genocidal ideologies. Biden, Democrats et al have a much broader spectrum to cover.

n.n said...

But if he made it to the hospital alive and breathing at all it's something that an ER should be able to handle.

That's where reasonable doubt is conceived. His death lacks direct correlation with the restraint.

"George Floyd was an evil, evil man."

Petty criminal, assault with a deadly weapon (a pregnant woman, with a gun, as a I recall), and drug user whose viability was suspect with a Fentanyl-induced progressive condition that forced the premature egress from the vehicle and an assembled mob that prevented authorized medical service a segue to Some, Select [Black] Lives Matter national insurrections, neighborhood incursions, etc.

wendybar said...

"Robert Cook said...
"George Floyd was an evil, evil man."

Based on what information, what history? Seems like his had a few prison and jail sentences, mostly for drug possession, a couple of robberies. Not good, deserving of incarceration, but that is not an "evil, evil man" by my measure. There are many more evil men in the world."
You have a different definition of evil. THIS is evil...
Then, on Aug. 9, 2007, George Floyd barged into a woman's home and held a gun to her abdomen in front of her toddler. It was a home invasion, and George Floyd got five years in prison for participating in it. https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/tucker-carlson-george-floyd-death-what-media-didnt-tell-you

Richard Aubrey said...

n.n. Chauvin had Floyd in the prescribed position to defend against "excitable delerium". Weight on foot on pavement, knee on back near shoulder, weight could be transferred to hold the guy down. Had been taught for years.
Weight transfer was not necessary as Floyd remained comatose. Floyd was transported with one of the cops assisting in CPR on the way.

But, if not being an evil person is important to you, where are we wrt Justine Damond (aka "who?")?

Narayanan said...

I am curious about USA culture/zeitgeist!

if police don't have duty to protect :
whither goeth 'good samaritan' premise to defense?
also then why complain ... “…The city failed more than just Jordan Neely. It failed everyone…”

Narayanan said...

Douglas B. Levene said...
I just read that Penny's legal defense fund stands at over $1 million, so he'll be able to afford a first class legal defense. And so long as there are one or two regular subway riders on that jury, it's highly unlikely that he'll be convicted of anything. It's just a shame that he has to undergo this process for being a Good Samaritan. But that's the whole point of the indictment, to deter others from being Good Samaritans and coming to the aid of people being menaced or threatened by lunatics.
========
but since venue is NYC which lawyer [firm] will dare assist in defense?

Free Manure While You Wait! said...

"not an "evil, evil man" by my measure."

You point a gun at the belly of a pregnant woman and threaten to kill the fetus, you're certainly an evil, evil man by may measure.

Free Manure While You Wait! said...

"Being on top 50 is not a death penalty offense."

He wasn't executed.

Free Manure While You Wait! said...

"A city so nice they named it twice!"

Just like Kansas City, Kansas and Minnesota City, Minnesota. Bet there're others.

Marcus Bressler said...

Another one bites the dust. Good. Glad he's dead and not threatening and being violent against the innocent people just trying to ride the subway. And apparently his "impression" was of the pedophile Michael Jackson. Apropos. St George of Floyd was an evil person (even just by virtue of the gun use against the pregnant woman) and his drug use caused him to die, not the officer's actions. What a miscarriage of justice -- sheer racism by white liberals and black miscreants. Glad he's gone too. This POS that they are making into an innocent man --- to repeat an earlier comment I made -- people who threaten my life and safety wind up dead if I can help it. They will never bother anyone again. Not worth the bullet(s), but I'm willing to make that sacrifice. I'm old enough with no one depending on me so I have no fear of prison or retribution. The only good POS who threatens or takes violence out on others is a DEAD POS.
Do I make myself clear? The rest of you that are wringing your hands about this dead creep can sit there in abject fear and hope some asshat doesn't break your eye socket because you didn't make eye contact and offer a nice donation.

MarcusB. THEOLDMAN

Tom Hunter said...

Based on a NYT story from 2021:
The assault lasted about eight minutes, and no passengers in the train car intervened, the authorities said.

“I’m appalled by those who did nothing to help this woman,” Timothy Bernhardt, the superintendent of the Upper Darby Township Police Department, said on Sunday. “Anybody that was on that train has to look in the mirror and ask why they didn’t intervene or why they didn’t do something.”


As I put it back then in Free and Unfree Men:
What if the people on the train had stepped in to punch and kick what at first sight was a homeless man with Minority Person Of Colour status? You think they would have been praised, especially if they were White Males, or would they have been trashed in the MSM? Not to mention facing perhaps the now condemnatory judicial system who freed the attacker from his previous crimes.

Before lifting a finger, unfree men must first decide whose permission they need to obtain, and what the judicial system is likely to do to them afterward. Free men are willing to act, knowing they are free.

Ann Althouse said...

Were any passengers saying/shouting things like "Stop, that's too much, you're killing him"? Or was everyone looking on and reinforcing the belief that he's stepping up to do what is needed to protect people?

Also, the argument against him stepping up is that the city has professionalized protecting the people from violence and that the experts know where to draw the line. But if the experts aren't providing safety, at some point in the decline into chaos, nonexperts are going to try to do what needs to be done. It's like the way a person with no medical training will sometimes provide first aid. They might not do it up to the professional standard, but they are trying to help.

It's quoted in a comment above: "Involuntary Manslaughter is charged in situations where the actor does not intent for the victim to due. Rather, the actor engages in conduct that is reckless or negligent, and results in someone’s death. For example, Let’s say you drive with twice the legal alcohol limit in your system, and cause a head-on collision with another vehicle, as a result of which the driver of the other vehicle dies. While you had absolutely no intention to cause the other driver’s death, you engaged in reckless conduct, which posed a risk of endangering other lives."

There, the drunk driver caused the dangerous situation. How does the charge apply to a situation where a danger is present and a person thinks they can and should help but their idea of help turns out to be fatal?

Ann Althouse said...

The solution, looking forward, is for the city to improve safety to the point where people don't feel compelled to take matters into their own hands. It's the city that creates the risk that someone will try to help and misjudge the acceptable amount of force.

JAORE said...

Although you are correct, "The solution, looking forward, is for the city to improve safety ..." means lots of money filtered through the buddy of the elites. And nothing to really address the growing number of violent drug and mentally ill.

The long term effect is that if you are in NY and assaulted, you may think, why won't anyone help me. This is exhibit A.

JAORE said...

"I've been mugged in the subway. It's scary."

And you were lucky.

n.n said...

misjudge the acceptable amount of force

The likely explanation for the eventual death following the application of non-lethal force. Similar to the problem that arises with aging, where "senile purpura is benign, easy bruising that affects older adults" is a hidden, forward-looking risk.

Michael K said...

Also, the argument against him stepping up is that the city has professionalized protecting the people from violence and that the experts know where to draw the line. But if the experts aren't providing safety, at some point in the decline into chaos, nonexperts are going to try to do what needs to be done. It's like the way a person with no medical training will sometimes provide first aid. They might not do it up to the professional standard, but they are trying to help.

Derek Chauvin did things according to standards but fentanyl was the confounding factor. Plus, of course, that Chauvin is white and Floyd was black. The same psychology is present in this case and Penny will probably pay the price.

Mason G said...

"The solution, looking forward, is for the city to improve safety to the point where people don't feel compelled to take matters into their own hands. It's the city that creates the risk that someone will try to help..."

Fortunately, not all cities are like this. Sucks for the ones that are, too bad their voters aren't able to link the consequences of their voting habits to the type of environment they have created.

Robert Cook said...

"You point a gun at the belly of a pregnant woman and threaten to kill the fetus, you're certainly an evil, evil man by may measure."

But did Floyd really do that? It doesn't seem quite so.

But that's beside the point of my question. Floyd did do bad things in his life, and he was incarcerated for his crimes. How do Floyd's previous crimes bear on the circumstances of the day he was murdered? Even if he had committed a violent crime that very day--which he didn't--he was arrested, handcuffed and helpless on the ground. At a certain point he stopped moving at all, yet Officer Chauvin continued leaning on Floyd's neck another few moments. He used unnecessary force, for too long, on a subdued and shackled person, causing his death. That was murder. All of Floyd's past crimes combined would not have drawn a death sentence from any judge or jury in the land.

It is typical when a police officer kills someone in the course of their duty, where there was no apparent necessity for the police to use deadly force, for people to dreg up the decedent's prior crimes to justify the actions of the police. In most, if not all such cases, the police would have had no knowledge of the prior crimes of the persons they killed, so it is doubly irrelevant to appraising the actions of the murderous police officers.

Robert Cook said...

"'The solution, looking forward, is for the city to improve safety to the point where people don't feel compelled to take matters into their own hands. It's the city that creates the risk that someone will try to help...'

"Fortunately, not all cities are like this. Sucks for the ones that are, too bad their voters aren't able to link the consequences of their voting habits to the type of environment they have created."


New York is not like this. NYC is one of the safest big cities in the USA, and is safer than many smaller cities. The lurid headlines whose purpose is to draw readers--as has always been the case--create an impression that is inaccurate and fosters undue fear among the citizenry.

Free Manure While You Wait! said...

"How do Floyd's previous crimes bear on the circumstances of the day he was murdered? "

Never said they did. Read harder.

Robert Cook said...

"Never said they did. Read harder."

My question is for the larger circumstances and all those who did justify his murder by his prior crimes, for his being "an evil, evil man," (so-called by you). You may not have said that here, in particular, but it's certainly implied in the general tenor of your comments.

Robert Cook said...

"Derek Chauvin did things according to standards...."

That is a condemnation of standard police procedures, which too often, unacceptably allow unnecessary and excess use of force with little or no indication of necessity. Chauvin's method and duration of incapacitating Floyd was deadly, and Chauvin was rightly convicted and sentenced to prison.