Whatever you already thought about police abuse is about to get worse. This CNN story about Minneapolis cops during the George Floyd protests takes things to a whole new level. The video is from a court case filed by an attorney for Jaleel Stallings, a St. Paul veteran hit by rubber bullets that night.
Stallings had a gun and a carry permit, and fired back three quick shots. He went to the ground once officers started rushing at him, and they beat him for about 30 seconds.
Stallings was acquitted last month of eight criminal charges against him, including second-degree attempted murder. He testified that he was shooting in self-defense.
"This body camera video shows responding to protests just days after the murder of George Floyd," Brianna Keilar said.
"According to court documents, this unit was traveling down Lake Street, clearing out people staying out past curfew with 40mm nonlethal rounds."
"This showed two hours of body camera videos to a case of Stallings, acquitted on all charges after firing a gun at officers who fired nonlethal weapons at him first. They released the footage, telling CNN the evidence contradicts reports made by law enforcement officers and common assumptions of how law enforcement and the criminal justice system should operate. In a different video, hear a group of officers on Lake Street."
I'm adding some of the transcript from a local Minnesota TV station.
“We’re gonna split up, drive down Lake Street. You see a f***in’ group, call it out. Ok, great. F*** ’em up, gas ’em, f*** ‘em up.”
A sergeant leading the unit says, “Let ’em have it, boys, let ’em have it … Right there, get ’em, get ’em, get ’em, hit ’em, hit ’em!”
At one point, an officer firing less-lethal rounds on a distant group of protesters says “Gotcha!” as he hits someone. There’s laughter, and the officer is congratulated on his shot with a fist bump and “Good hit, buddy.”
“You guys are out hunting people now and it’s just a nice change of tempo,” one officer says. “F*** these people.”
"And Lieutenant (Johnny) Mercil oversees the use of force training and testified as a prosecution witness during the trial of Derek Chauvin.
"We reached out to the Minneapolis police department and the police union for a response on any of this, and haven't gotten a response," Omar Jimenez said.
