[News] Protests Against Police Violence After Death of George Floyd

Discuss police violence, the victims of police violence (including George Floyd and Breonna Taylor), the Black-led protests against said violence, and related topics.

@FWDSET, Kirk Tsonos <- WARNING graphic content

As we were being boxed in on Broadway & 5th Street to be arrested, LAPD decided that a completely unarmed homeless man in a wheelchair that had NOTHING to do with our protest was somehow a threat. They proceeded to inappropriately shoot "non-lethal" rounds directly at his face, which is against the proper procedure for firing rubber bullets.

This image is exceptionally heart-breaking for me as you can visibly see the homeless man writhing in pain, screaming, as he spews blood from his face moments after getting shot.

Hey, it turns out that the Buffalo Police Benevolent Association are liars.

WKBW, Buffalo: EXCLUSIVE: Two Buffalo Police ERT members say resignation was not in solidarity with suspended officers

The officers we spoke with said the Buffalo Police Benevolent Association’s statement asserting all 57 officers resigned from ERT in a "show of support” with the two officers that were suspended without pay is not true.

“I don’t understand why the union said it’s a thing of solidarity. I think it sends the wrong message that ‘we’re backing our own’ and that’s not the case,” said one officer with whom we spoke.

“We quit because our union said [they] aren’t legally backing us anymore. So why would we stand on a line for the City with no legal backing if something [were to] happen? Has nothing to do with us supporting,” said another.

“Some of them probably resigned because they support the officer,” said another officer with whom we spoke. “But, for many of us, that’s not true.”

“The City, DA Flynn, they’re not representing those guys at all. They have to find their own lawyers, they have to come out of pocket.”

I still think it's a pretty bad thing to see someone bleeding out on the ground and not help--I seem to remember a parable to that effect--but at least some of the 57 aren't complete monsters.

RnRClown wrote:
Axon wrote:

Being completely pedantic, it dates back to the 70s' in Northern Ireland. The British developed the weapon and handed it over to the RUC. The RUC would have had some parallels with modern day US police forces (heavily militarised and not exactly evenhanded).

The RUC could certainly be viewed unfavorably. They were often unnecessarily militant. They were not evenhanded between the communities. The RUC are not recalled fondly, not by anyone, really.

Our background is Protestant (Unionist). A family member was fired upon and hit with a rubber bullet. By the RUC. He was separate from those causing trouble, an onlooker from the front of his property. Why they chose to fire upon him is a mystery other than they had the power to do so, so they exercised it. They misinterpreted his actions. They misfired. Difficulty discerning civilians from protesters from rioters amongst a crowd. That's how they explain it. Anyway. He was lucky. We knew of many in similar circumstances who were less so.

Another individual, this time an active participant in what was taking place, although not the same instance, sought to aid someone who was being brutalized by the RUC. Unnecessary use of force. Endangering life. He was similarly dealt with. Unfortunately an RUC officer suffered an injury in the scuffle which ultimately cost this RUC officer their life. Needless to say this individual was sent down. The issue was, as others could and would attest to, this individual was not the one who engaged with that RUC officer. He was, though, the easiest identifiable and was known to the RUC. He intervened first. That was enough. Someone to blame. Someone to punish. Someone to pay. The system worked how they wanted it to.

My early childhood saw the RUC and the Army on our streets, and in our Entries. They were part of the furniture. This was in the 90s'. Not the worst by any stretch. Still. No one trusted them. We were taught to be wary. Whilst they were in our communities they weren't there to serve or protect us. I'm not sure I believed that fair. Not all the time. Yet when your elders spoke you listened. They were looking out for you. They had experienced before you.

We had stand-offs between the two communities a few times a year. The RUC would get involved which only seemed to escalate the situation more often than not. On purpose? Byproduct? I couldn't say.

As I became older I began to hate the RUC. I leaned more to my community and more away from the opposite community. I saw those around me being assaulted, falsely accused, killed, by both. My mother intervened. We moved house. We moved quite a distance. It course corrected.

Axon wrote:

Of course, it's been disbanded now and has been reformed with huge over sight into the PSNI. The PSNI is viewed so favourably on this Island that the current Garda Commissioner is Drew Harris who was the Deputy Chief Constable of the PSNI and is the first non-Irish citizen to hold the role.

Curious, RnRClown you're up in Belfast? What's the general consensus on the RUC to PSNI reforms been like. We down here in Dublin tend to few have a favourable view and I don't see a lot to abuse myself of that notion. But always good to hear even anecdotes to add context. On a wider front, it seems those reforms are a template for what has to happen in quite a number of US states.

I reside just outside of Belfast now. I have not resided in Belfast since our 1997 departure. Northern Ireland is a small place, though. You're never far removed. Family. Friends. Work.

From my perspective, there is a lot more trust in and goodwill towards the PSNI. That's possibly more to do with how unfavorably the RUC were viewed. How they evaded accountability. There are areas and communities who still maintain a level of distrust. There are age demographics between positive and negative viewpoints.

What has helped is more Catholics being recruited to the PSNI. More women, too. When law enforcement better represents the communities they serve it goes a ways to bridging understanding and compassion. Less militant responses can reduce aggression and fear. The RUC rolled in with armoured land rovers and weapons drawn. For everything. The PSNI can utilize a standard vehicle with holstered weapons. The disappearance of water cannons and rubber bullets went a long way. Those signalled immediate non-negotiable blanket oppression with an intent to hurt.

It feels like I'm going too far afield. I don't mean to detail or adjust focus so I'll wrap it up. Good food for thought, though, Axon.

Thanks RnRClown. Sorry for cluttering folks but I had to acknowledge RnR's response. There is definitely something in there though, RnR. It's clear that many here are recognise the need to start over with several police forces in the US but still have to drive that reform. The route that the RUC took to become the PSNI is valid and useful rhetoric for those trying to make that claim. Doesn't hurt the emotional connection an awful lot of white Americas have to the conflict in Northern Ireland either, from either side. Nobody can argue with that it's a far better situation in Northern Ireland. Not exclusively down the reforming the police service but it clearly it is [i]serving[i] the community far better now.

On the more tragic side, people should read up on SAPS (South African Police Service) on how they reformed and reversed bad outcomes but under Zuma have gone back to bad habits and, well, you can guess the outcome. Still, a cautionary tale serves the rhetoric as well.

We could create a separate thread, Axon. If you, or other members, think there's worth in coverage of what was RUC to PSNI reform. Perhaps a broader scope geared towards global police reforms, such as the South African Police Service, as well as the Police Service of Northern Ireland, and more. Both for discovery of and preservation of history, as for parallels and examples to possible reform for the police forces of other nations.

It may not be a particularly long lasting or well attended discussion, but at the least it'd take sizeable contributions out of this thread, where they could potentially be an unwelcome distraction, and be lost amongst.

Gremlin wrote:

Hey, it turns out that the Buffalo Police Benevolent Association are liars.

WKBW, Buffalo: EXCLUSIVE: Two Buffalo Police ERT members say resignation was not in solidarity with suspended officers

The officers we spoke with said the Buffalo Police Benevolent Association’s statement asserting all 57 officers resigned from ERT in a "show of support” with the two officers that were suspended without pay is not true.

“I don’t understand why the union said it’s a thing of solidarity. I think it sends the wrong message that ‘we’re backing our own’ and that’s not the case,” said one officer with whom we spoke.

“We quit because our union said [they] aren’t legally backing us anymore. So why would we stand on a line for the City with no legal backing if something [were to] happen?Has nothing to do with us supporting,” said another.

So wait... You only resigned because you no longer had free legal representation? That's just as messed up.

And if you read the email in that article it's even worse. "We're not supporting legal funds because it will be expensive..." PBA president John Evans is truly a horrible person.

IMAGE(https://ewscripps.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/f12626b/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1280x720+0+0/resize/1280x720!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fewscripps.brightspotcdn.com%2F2f%2F5b%2F99120dce47648e1979856cd9d5af%2Fpba-email.png)

So it's really the PBA who's totally f*cked up and scummy... they won't protect the officers as they normally would "because it's expensive", and then when the officers refuse to expose themselves to liability, the PBA spins it as being them resentful of their teammates being disciplined.

Dropping out of the task force now makes perfect sense from the officers' perspective, and my opinion of them is not as low as it was. But my opinion of their union has dropped to such depths that I still think they'd be better off just disbanding that entire police force and starting over.

If their union is that corrupt, it's time for a clean slate.

JC wrote:

So wait... You only resigned because you no longer had free legal representation? That's just as messed up.

And if you read the email in that article it's even worse. "We're not supporting legal funds because it will be expensive..." PBA president John Evans is truly a horrible person.

Hmmm. Yeah, you're right. I withdraw my estimation. The lot of them don't deserve to get lumped in the same label as Elmo.

A very through article on how widespread the issues are.

The Guardian: Protests about police brutality are met with wave of police brutality across US
Use teargas, batons, pepper spray, fists, feet and vehicles against protesters sparks lawsuits and international condemnation

The nationwide anti-police brutality protests sparked by the killing of George Floyd in the US have been marked by widespread incidents of police violence, including punching, kicking, gassing, pepper-spraying and driving vehicles at often peaceful protesters in states across the country.

The actions have left thousands of protesters in jail and injured many others, leaving some with life-threatening injuries.

From Minnesota to New York, Texas, California, Washington DC and many places beyond, from small towns to big cities, police officers have demonstrated just how problematic law enforcement is in the US, drawing condemnation from international groups as well as domestic civil rights organizations.

The International Crisis Group, which monitors unrest around the world, said the police had used “excessive force”. The UN high commissioner for human rights, Michelle Bachelet, said: “All police officers who resort to excessive use of force should be charged and convicted for the crimes committed.”

Colorado Sun: Federal judge orders police not to use chemical weapons, projectiles against peaceful Denver protesters
“The Denver Police Department has failed in its duty to police its own,” Judge R. Brooke Jackson wrote in his sweeping ruling

Afederal judge issued an extraordinary ruling late Friday ordering police not to use chemical weapons — such as tear gas and pepper spray — and less-lethal projectiles against peaceful protesters in Denver.

“The Denver Police Department has failed in its duty to police its own,” Judge R. Brooke Jackson wrote in his sweeping ruling.

The order comes on the the ninth straight day of demonstrations in the city in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minnesota police officers last week.

“The Court has reviewed video evidence of numerous incidents in which officers used pepper-spray on individual demonstrators who appeared to be standing peacefully, some of whom were speaking to or yelling at the officers, none of whom appeared to be engaging in violence or destructive behavior,” Jackson wrote. The order is immediate but temporary.

Denver police tweeted a statement saying they would comply with the order and Jackson’s directions, “many of which are already in line with our community-consulted use of force policy.”

“If a store’s windows must be broken to prevent a protestor’s facial bones from being broken or eye being permanently damaged, that is more than a fair trade,” he wrote. “If a building must be graffiti-ed to prevent the suppression of free speech, that is a fair trade. The threat to physical safety and free speech outweighs the threat to property.”

The ruling is worth reading.

For more bad apples:
The Philadelphia Inquirer: Philadelphia Police Inspector Joseph Bologna will face assault charges in the beating of a Temple student at a protest

A high-ranking Philadelphia police official will be charged with assault after video surfaced of him beating a Temple University student with a baton during a protest Monday along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, District Attorney Larry Krasner said Friday.

Krasner, who days earlier had declined to prosecute the student, said Staff Inspector Joseph Bologna Jr. will face counts of felony aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, and possession of an instrument of crime — his police baton.

By Friday evening, talk was circulating about a “blue flu," or organized move by officers to call in sick in solidarity with Bologna, as another round of demonstrations, with crowds anticipated in the thousands, was set to take place Saturday in central Philadelphia. Command staff warned that such a move would only put other officers at risk.
The Inquirer reported Thursday afternoon that charges against Evan Gorski, 21, a Temple engineering student, were dropped after Krasner reviewed evidence that included video of Gorski’s Monday encounter with Bologna during demonstrations over the killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police.
Gremlin wrote:
“If a store’s windows must be broken to prevent a protestor’s facial bones from being broken or eye being permanently damaged, that is more than a fair trade,” he wrote. “If a building must be graffiti-ed to prevent the suppression of free speech, that is a fair trade. The threat to physical safety and free speech outweighs the threat to property.”

The ruling is worth reading.

There was an episode of the TV show The Rookie this year, where they had a missile defense alert malfunction, similar to the real situation in Hawaii a couple years ago. LAPD expecting panic and riots as people thought a missile was coming. And the captain on the show gave orders to that effect, he stressed "people over property." Just watched it recently as I was catching up on the season and thought at least the show is portraying how it should be with protests and riots. Just horrible that it's not how enough real cops or citizens complaining about the riots feel. Things can be replaced, people cannot.

I appreciate the foreign context from Axon and RNR, and in both the cases of the RUC and the SAPS one important thing stands out to me, that they had a truth and reconciliation commission.

P.S. If you are interested more in the Troubles and the human toll, this book is pretty good

Our mayor met with protestors downtown yesterday and said that he was ordering the cops to stop using LRAD sound cannons and teargas against protestors.

Later that day the county sheriff’s dept showed up and started using the LRAD and teargas against protestors as the county officers are technically not under the Mayor’s jurisdiction.

Cool cool cool.

boogle wrote:

I appreciate the foreign context from Axon and RNR, and in both the cases of the RUC and the SAPS one important thing stands out to me, that they had a truth and reconciliation commission.

P.S. If you are interested more in the Troubles and the human toll, this book is pretty good

South Africa especially has to offer lessons to a nation that’s also created a version of de facto apartheid at times.

Gremlin wrote:

Hey, it turns out that the Buffalo Police Benevolent Association are liars.

WKBW, Buffalo: EXCLUSIVE: Two Buffalo Police ERT members say resignation was not in solidarity with suspended officers

The officers we spoke with said the Buffalo Police Benevolent Association’s statement asserting all 57 officers resigned from ERT in a "show of support” with the two officers that were suspended without pay is not true.

“I don’t understand why the union said it’s a thing of solidarity. I think it sends the wrong message that ‘we’re backing our own’ and that’s not the case,” said one officer with whom we spoke.

“We quit because our union said [they] aren’t legally backing us anymore. So why would we stand on a line for the City with no legal backing if something [were to] happen? Has nothing to do with us supporting,” said another.

“Some of them probably resigned because they support the officer,” said another officer with whom we spoke. “But, for many of us, that’s not true.”

“The City, DA Flynn, they’re not representing those guys at all. They have to find their own lawyers, they have to come out of pocket.”

I still think it's a pretty bad thing to see someone bleeding out on the ground and not help--I seem to remember a parable to that effect--but at least some of the 57 aren't complete monsters.

So their complaint is that, when they break the law, instead of having their legal fees covered by the union, they either have to pay out of pocket or use the same public defenders the poor people they arrest use?

Pardon me if this does not cause me to revise my opinion of them as monsters.

hbi2k wrote:

So their complaint is that, when they break the law, instead of having their legal fees covered by the union, they either have to pay out of pocket or use the same public defenders the poor people they arrest use?

Pardon me if this does not cause me to revise my opinion of them as monsters.

Sounds like a really good argument to end qualified immunity and make cops get individual liability insurance. Maybe then good cops will out the bad ones if only because insurance companies would jack up their rates because an officer in their precinct had 71 excessive use complaints.

Slate: Activists Create Public Online Spreadsheet of Police Violence Videos

Lawyer T. Greg Doucette and mathematician Jason Miller have been working to compile the videos in the Google Sheet titled “GeorgeFloyd Protest - police brutality videos on Twitter.” The database currently has 428 videos. Doucette started the effort as a Twitter thread. Miller saw that and realized it was going to be long and unwieldy so he wanted to create a way for people to easily access and sort the videos. For those who aren’t obsessively scrolling through their timelines all day, the spreadsheet can help easily locate videos of police violence in their area because they can be sorted by city and state. The activists have also created a Google Drive with backups of all the videos.

Gremlin wrote:

Slate: Activists Create Public Online Spreadsheet of Police Violence Videos

Lawyer T. Greg Doucette and mathematician Jason Miller have been working to compile the videos in the Google Sheet titled “GeorgeFloyd Protest - police brutality videos on Twitter.” The database currently has 428 videos. Doucette started the effort as a Twitter thread. Miller saw that and realized it was going to be long and unwieldy so he wanted to create a way for people to easily access and sort the videos. For those who aren’t obsessively scrolling through their timelines all day, the spreadsheet can help easily locate videos of police violence in their area because they can be sorted by city and state. The activists have also created a Google Drive with backups of all the videos.

I love this. Hate that it happened but can't wait to prosecute every one of these dbags

Let's petition the company to create a separate service for this endeavor: Google Receipts.

This Portland police records employee "I'm out" email is very chef's kiss.

https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2020...

The only thing I would have added was eagle semen.

Twitter had some tweets about people who caught video of police being violent getting arrested on flimsy charges. I have not been able to find more yet but if true this could be big. Or it could just be cops arresting protesters on flimsy charges as a fear tactic like they gave been doing.

I am still pissed that they can arrest a person, hold them for hours with no charges then just let them go as if nothing happened.

Looks like Seattle cops are retaliating.

The man who recording the 9 year old getting tear gassed last week has been arrested. A twitter thread

And someone else mentioned in the thread that Ramsey Orta, the man who recorded Eric Garvey's death by police years ago, was harassed and thrown in jail. So I googled and found this article from last year.

On August 2nd, 2014 — the day after the New York chief medical examiner officially ruled Eric Garner’s death a homicide — Ramsey Orta was running errands. He was a few blocks from his house, passing the Hotel Richmond, when a van pulled up beside him. Bodies tumbled from the van, rapidly approaching Orta with cameras. He’d been in the media a lot recently. He’d given interviews and had been photographed at protests and vigils, joining many others in the public grief and outrage in the weeks following Garner’s death. He was seen by some as a hero, whose lens had captured a horrific but galvanizing injustice. Many people had taken his picture.

But the men in the van were not reporters. Orta heard a sneering laugh and a voice say, “Smile, motherf*cker.” They surrounded Orta, holding cell phones inches from his face, filming him. Then they pulled his hands behind his back and arrested him.

This is the way Orta tells the story, in the impressionistic language of trauma. He tells me he dreams that he’s been released from prison and is walking in the daylight when suddenly bodies burst toward him from the shadows, engulfing him. He’s drowning in them, suffocating, trying to claw his way out. It’s hard to know how much the reality he remembers is melded with the nightmares.

The NYPD report paints a different picture. It claims that officers were staking a known drug location. They observed Orta briefly enter and then exit the Hotel Richmond with a young woman, seventeen-year-old Alba Lekaj. When the officers approached, they saw Orta stuffing a .25-caliber semiautomatic pistol down Lekaj’s pants. The gun recovered from the scene had no bullets, no clip, and no fingerprints. It had been reported stolen in Michigan in 2007.

Marijuana was found hidden in Lekaj’s bra and, in his telling, Orta admits quickly to selling to Lekaj and moves on. It isn’t the important part of the story. Orta never attempts to portray himself as a squeaky-clean victim. He’d been arrested for selling marijuana and pills before. He’d also been arrested, then released for selling fake MDMA to an undercover cop. Drugs had been around his whole life, he says.

...

“Look, the point is, I’m smart about certain things. I’ve been on the streets doing my dirt for a long time,” he says. “So you have to understand how ridiculous this gun charge is. There’s no chance I’m dumb enough to give a girl a gun out in the open like that. The cops had been following me every day since Eric died, shining lights in my house every night. You think I’m walking around with a stolen gun that now they say wasn’t even loaded?”

HE MADE A VIDEO SAYING THAT IF HE DIED, DO NOT BELIEVE THAT HE’D DONE IT HIMSELF, AND KNOW IT WAS MURDER
Orta says that when he was arrested on the gun charge, the officers told him it would be better to kill himself before they locked him up with their people. At the station, he began to have a panic attack and had to be taken to the Richmond hospital for a psych evaluation. There was a phone call to his mother, allegedly from the hospital, telling her that he was a suicide risk.

But Orta believes that the call was really from the 120th Precinct, that they’d allowed him to go to the hospital to establish a paper trail, so that when they killed him, they could make it look like a suicide. Orta posted bail, and as soon as he returned home, he made a video saying that if he died, do not believe that he’d done it himself, and know it was murder.

Orta posted bail and pleaded “not guilty” on the gun charges. In the early morning hours of February 10th, 2015, Orta’s apartment was raided. The police stated they had months-old recordings of him selling drugs to an undercover cop. They held that they’d captured nine sales, a charge that came with the possible sentence of ten years per sale.

For a police department claiming not to be targeting Orta for his filming of Garner’s death, they sure brought it up a lot. New York City Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association president Patrick J. Lynch released a statement saying: “the arrest of Ramsey Orta for criminal possession of a firearm only underscores the dangers that brought police officers to respond to a chronic crime condition in that community. Sadly, in the effort to keep neighborhoods like Tompkinsville safe, a tragedy occurred. But that doesn’t change the fact that police officers routinely risk their lives for the benefit of the community and that they have earned their support and understanding.”

At his arraignment in Staten Island for the drug charges, an anonymous police source told the Daily News, “He took the video, now we took the video.”

The police claimed to also have Orta’s mother, Emily Mercado, on film aiding in the drug sales. She was also arrested in the February raid. At the arraignment, Mercado was traumatized, weeping. Orta was never shown the video and had initially wanted to fight the charges, but when the DA offered him a plea deal that included dropping all charges against his mother, he took it.

“She’d die in here,” he says. “But me, I know how to do the time. I’ve been locked up my whole life.”

Meanwhile, food poisoning, constant harrassment... causing him to be locked up even longer.

Via New York’s Freedom of Information Law, I’m able to review the records of Orta’s citations and grievances filed while he was in custody. The stack follows a conspicuous pattern. Orta is cited for petty offenses until the number of tickets triggers the loss of privileges, including access to phone calls or the commissary, often for 25 or 30 days. As soon as the penalty expires and his privileges are restored, the ticketing cycle begins again.

“What you’re seeing with Ramsey — the incessant petty tickets — that is not something that we see frequently. That happens to people who are specifically targeted,” says Adriano De Gennaro of the Prisoners’ Rights Project of the New York City Legal Aid Society. “However, falsified tickets, inflated charges, petty tickets, that’s par for the course. The State Department of Corrections uses tickets as a cudgel against people who are in custody. But the sustained pattern of these petty tickets is at least somewhat unique to Ramsey.”

No matter how minimal the charge may be, these citations accumulate to devastating effect. Multiple tickets can mean a loss of Good Time, which can push back release. Orta has lost his earliest release date, extending his sentence by a minimum of six months.

Can whoever had the link to donate to help pay protesters' bail relink that? I can't find it. (Should have clicked it at the time).

Bill Barr just lying his ass off on CBS right now. What a piece of sh*t.

Highlander wrote:

Can whoever had the link to donate to help pay protesters' bail relink that? I can't find it. (Should have clicked it at the time).

There are two national bail funds: the National Bail Fund and the Bail Project.

There's also a listing of city/state funds if you want to focus a little more locally.

Stele wrote:

Bill Barr just lying his ass off on CBS right now. What a piece of sh*t.

Safe to assume he's not being called on any of it?

polypusher wrote:
Stele wrote:

Bill Barr just lying his ass off on CBS right now. What a piece of sh*t.

Safe to assume he's not being called on any of it?

See for yourself

Particularly part 2, about everything with Lafayette and the church. That was what I caught this morning and posted about.

She points out that her colleagues were there and there were no warnings given, he argues. He claims that things were thrown, and she again points out her colleagues were there, but he insists on the lie. Over and over with this sh*t.

And claims the whole thing was to move the perimiter so they could install the fence the next day, and nothing to do with Trump's photo op at the church. Bullsh*t.

And then he denies that any chemicals were used to clear the crowd. And does it again after she reminds him they are both Catholic and then quotes the archbishop, and Barr interrupts to call the archbishop a liar and deny gas again.

In Bristol, England, the people have taken a shortcut to end the decade long debate about how to handle the legacy of local slave trader Edward Colston.

SPLOSHÏTY BYE YOU DEAD RACIST

MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to ask you about some of the events of the week. On Monday, Lafayette Park was cleared of protesters. You've spoken about this. The federal agents who were there report up to you. Did you think it was appropriate for them to use smoke bombs, tear gas, pepper balls, projectiles at what appeared to be peaceful protesters?

BARR: They were not peaceful protesters. And that's one of the big lies that the- the media is- seems to be perpetuating at this point.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Three of my CBS colleagues were there. We talked to them.

BARR: Yeah.

MARGARET BRENNAN: They did not hear warnings. They did not see protesters--

BARR: There were three warnings.

MARGARET BRENNAN:--throwing anything.

BARR: There were three warnings given.

Right now I want to break things.

Barr was hired specifically because he was willing to lie to cover the administration. His unsolicited letter where he lied about presidential obstruction was effectively his job application (plus his history of covering up Iran-Contra).

@hannah_natanson, WP reporter:

.@MittRomney is marching with a group of nearly 1,000 Christians to the White House. Here he is on video saying why he’s walking: “... to make sure that people understand that Black Lives Matter”

NJ.com: Family demands answers after unarmed black man killed by N.J. trooper, attorney says

On May 23, a routine traffic stop ended with a New Jersey State Police trooper shooting a black man to death on the side of the Garden State Parkway.

Maurice Gordon, 28, of Poughkeepsie, New York, was unarmed and waiting with a white trooper for a tow truck to arrive because his car wouldn’t restart, according to the attorney for Gordon’s family.

Star Tribune: Minneapolis' Third Precinct served as 'playground' for renegade cops

Long before former officer Derek Chauvin knelt on George Floyd’s neck, the Third Precinct in south Minneapolis had a reputation for being home to police officers who played by their own rules.

One officer kicked a handcuffed suspect in the face, leaving his jaw in pieces. Officers beat and pistol-whipped a suspect in a parking lot on suspicion of low-level drug charges. Others harassed residents of a south Minneapolis housing project as they headed to work, and allowed prostitution suspects to touch their genitals for several minutes before arresting them in vice stings.
These and more substantiated incidents, detailed in court records and police reports, help explain a saying often used by fellow cops to describe the style of policing practiced in the Third: There’s the way that the Minneapolis Police Department does things, and then there’s the way they do it “in Threes.”

Between 2007 and 2017, the city paid out $2.1 million to settle misconduct lawsuits involving Third Precinct officers. Judges have thrown out cases for “outrageous” conduct of the officers, and prosecutors have been forced to drop charges for searches found to be illegal, according to court records.

The brand of aggressive policing on display in the Floyd video has long been standard practice for some Third Precinct officers when dealing with suspects of nonviolent, low-level crimes, often involving people of color, said Abigail Cerra, a commissioner for Minneapolis’ Police Conduct Oversight Commission.