From a hypothetical standpoint, what do you think Derek Chauvin was thinking when he spent 9 minutes with his knee on George Floyd's neck?

It was a power trip for him.
He was showing the crowd how powerful he thought that he was not only to the crowd but to his fellow cops as an example. ( bully)

“This will likely amount to nothing, just like it didn’t the first time I did this.”

I can tell you what he wasn’t thinking: “In a year I’m going to be the defendant in a murder trial.”

@rebbel is probably close to the truth. Chauvin had done this before and there were no consequences. The MPL had a reputation for violence and police overreaction. So Chauvin likely thought that there was nothing different about that day than any other.

Today he is probably cursing the person who decided to put cameras in cell phones.

Hard to understand the thoughts of an evil SOB.

“F@&k this n-word. If I kill him trump and his voters got my back.”

He WASN’T thinking. Or rather, he wasn’t thinking clearly. My guess is that he was plenty pissed and set on demonstrating to all involved “just who’s boss”.

“Man! After this women are gonna think I’m so studly I am gonna drown in pussy!”

They all said every thing I could have said.

He was thinking “Does this make my dick look big?”

I can get away with this because I’m wearing a uniform and he isn’t.

It is insane that bystanders were yelling that he was killing him and he just ignored them.

I believe he was just on a power trip. Something along the lines of—I can do this as long as I want and no one can stop me.

Possibly, the crowds begging for something to be done kept him there longer to prove he can do whatever the hell he wants even when other people are telling him to do differently.

I don’t know if he intentionally killed Floyd, but since he is a first responder I consider it premeditated murder. At minimum it’s neglect that resulted in murder. I say premeditated, because it was not self defense, it was not a spur of the moment uncontrolled snapped moment, it was many minutes of calmly continuing to sit on top of someone else.

I believe men, especially healthy men, expect everyone to be as strong and healthy as themselves, and anyone who is a first responder should know better.

A lawyer friend wrote this on Facebook:

I have only been watching maybe 20% of the Chauvin murder trial, so maybe a certain legal principle has been addressed, but from what I have seen it appears the defense is relying a great deal on Floyd’s pre-existing conditions that made him more susceptible to dying from normal detention tactics. Related to this, the defense is also claiming that Floyd died from one or more of these other conditions.
But the law has a widely accepted principle that an actor “takes his victim as he finds him”, i.e., it does not matter if the victim had drugs in his system that made it easier for him to suffocate from Chauvin’s actions.
I am pretty sure this will have to be addressed in closings and in the judge’s instructions to the jury before they deliberate.
———
“The eggshell rule (also thin skull rule or talem qualem rule)[1] is a well-established legal doctrine in common law, used in some tort law systems,[2] with a similar doctrine applicable to criminal law. The rule states that, in a tort case, the unexpected frailty of the injured person is not a valid defense to the seriousness of any injury caused to them.”

Link regarding eggshell rule: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eggshell_skull?fbclid=IwAR2tI68pzme_T3pYtewjGZOFrgO59ORFQeGwoss1sp3PZFNPhKB_ZSkUeuw

@jca And what were all the officers onlooking thinking about for 9 minutes and not intervening? They are complicit.

@si3tech Agreed, equally complicit.

Must they be disciplined as well?

The other cops should be more than disciplined, they should be on trial too. Are they not being charged?

@JLeslie Yes, they are. Their trial is scheduled to begin in August of this year.

@JLeslie Possibly, the crowds begging for something to be done kept him there longer to prove he can do whatever the hell he wants even when other people are telling him to do differently.

I believe that’s exactly what drove him to keep kneeling for so long. He was ‘gonna show them’ that they couldn’t tell him what to do. The crowd yelling at him was a challenge to his authority, and possibly his masculinity. Interestingly, his wife separated from him on May 28, the day before he was charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. They had been married for 10 years. I wonder what he was like as a husband.

He wasn’t thinking about time. He was concerned about the arrest of Floyd, maintaining control, and the possible threat from the crowd, which was obviously, and definitely, a distraction.

“Man, after I kill this [n-word], I can not wait to beat the shit out of my wife!”

“I’m gonna teach this boy a lesson. Heh heh look at cha now…”

@kritiper A distraction? That was what the defense is trying to argue, but all Chauvin had to do was let Floyd up and put him in the squad car like he was supposed to in the first place. The other cops were “standing guard” so to speak.

@smudges I would bet money he was abusive as a husband, but I would guess that the second I heard the story.

They might have divorced to protect assets if he is sued in civil court.

@si3tech: I agree and I’m glad those other three cops are going to be on trial, too.

@JLeslie Hindsight is always 20/20. And you can’t go back in time and change things to what he would’ve/could’ve/should’ve done. Really, could you do any better???
And he tried to put Floyd in the squad car but Floyd resisted. He was not under control. And he had to be under control. You couldn’t have done any better.

^If Chauvin was truly concerned about Floyd being out of control, then he would not have had his hands in his pockets. He would have had them out and at the ready in case Floyd bucked him off his neck.

@kritiper: On the video, yes, Floyd was not under control when he was giving the officers a hard time about getting in the car. However, when they had him on the ground, prone with handcuffs on with three officers on his back, he was under control. When he stopped breathing after 5 minutes, no longer moving, no longer talking and no longer breathing, he was definitely under control.

..my $0.02.. What was he thinking? He was clearly thinking he was doing exactly what he was hired to do.
..That it led to a death may have been unfortunate, but is just another of an exhausting list of similar events accepted and approved by the public, the prosecutor and the police themselves.
.. Eventually, the “procedure” will be logged as “inadvertent mishap”, Chauvin will receive psychological counseling for his apparent episode of PTSD, given a lollypop, paid time off for rehabilitation and a half hour refresher course on procedure before returning to full duty.
And so it goes…until the next exciting episode of “Krazy Killer Kops”.

@jca2 I doubt the officers could be absolutely sure of that, moment to moment, along with being distracted by the onlookers.

There were multiple testimonies of the danger of leaving someone who is handcuffed in the prone position. Many, including the trainers and the Chief, talked about the importance of placing a handcuffed person in the recovery position (side position) or sitting or standing them up, @kritiper. As for the onlookers, there was a cop, Tau, whose specific duty was keeping the onlookers on the sidewalk. The first concern of Chauvin should have been the person beneath his knee who was no longer moving for the remaining four minutes he kept his knee on him.

II believe Chauvin escalated the force he needed to overcome Floyd’s resistance in proportion plus 5% as Floyd while under the influence of at least two drugs increased the force he needed to successfully resist arrest.. Chauvin was trained to do what he did at the academy. Floyd was trained to do what he did in the streets.. Chauvin was probably on automatic pilot when his training kicked in .Floyd was probably on automatic pilot high on drugs fearing for his freedom fighting to escape capture. I doubt Chauvin had ulterior motives for doing the job he chose and was trained to do. I do think the civil rights industry had a huge motive to turn this tragedy into a premeditated murder. The Chauvin trial was a sacrifice to the civil rights industry and Chauvin was the offering. Chauvin’s guilty verdict covered a lot of criminal self neglect by members of a disintegrating community and delivered a pretty big cash award in the process.

“I have the badge of power and gun of authority.” And the mentality of a grade school bully. I wouldn’t hire this clown to work as a school crossing guard.