Quote Originally Posted by Martinjmpr View Post
A couple of random observations:

First of all, while the officers were fired and will likely be indicted, the disturbing part is that if any "ordinary citizen" (i.e. non cop) did what they did, they'd have been arrested and jailed IMMEDIATELY. It's the double-standard of treatment between the police and citizens that is the most galling to a lot of people (including me.)

It's akin to the Aurora cop who was found drunk on duty in his patrol car last year and then sent home - there is ZERO percent chance he would have received that treatment if he had not been a "brother officer." "Citizens" that are found in those circumstance are ALWAYS arrested at the scene.

The other observation is that if you look back even 30 - 40 years, a lot of the dystopian sci-fi imagines a world where there are cameras everywhere as being a hellish oppressive society.

So it's interesting to me that now that we DO have "cameras everywhere," what we're seeing is not a totalitarian dictatorship, but rather we're seeing those cameras being used to hold the "powers that be" accountable in ways they never would have in the past.

Think about it, if there had been no camera footage, this would have been another "Man resisted arrest and died in police custody" case at the bottom of Page 4.
I think there are flaws with your reasoning. First, I'm not sure how "Joe Citizen" would've wound up with his knee on someone's neck in the course of an arrest. But let's say it was a scuffle and "Joe Citizen" and his buddies subdued the guy and held him down. The police would've been called and if the guy was dead an immediate investigation would ensue. But that's not how it happened here. Victim was transported by paramedics and, because the arresting officers were suspects and the their criminal behavior didn't come to light until some time later, the investigation occurred after the fact. If that's the case, a warrant is generally required for the arrest.

Every single day somewhere "Joe Citizens" are not arrested immediately following a crime they committed for various reasons. Every single day "Joe Citizens" are arrested on warrants for alleged crimes they committed but weren't immediately arrested for.

And I'd be willing to take bets that Chauvin is prosecuted and convicted.