What is happening in Minnesota/Minneapolis
As people know, the Trump administration has flooded Minneapolis with 2,000 Federal Agents ostensibly to investigate fraud and remove illegal immigrants, but over the Governor had warned someone was going to get hurt (or killed). Well, it has happened. A white woman in Minneapolis was stopped in the middle of the road by ICE agents. An agent had grabbed her car door and ordered her out. Instead, she attempted to drive off, and an agent standing in front of the vehicle fired three shots and killed her.
Now the question is, was this a justifiable killing? Kristi Noem has come out saying the agent in front of the car shot because he was in fear of his life. Other observers said that was not the case. The woman had turned her wheels away from the agent. He was not being threatened.
A crowd gathered yelling at the ICE agents, "Shame!" and calling on the Minneapolis police to arrest the ICE agent who shot the woman.
Now, the mayor of Minneapolis has called on ICE to get the f#ck out of Minneapolis. Governor Tim Walz is telling Trump and ICE/Noem Minneapolis does not need them.
The killing, BTW, is just for blocks away from where George Floyd was killed.
Both the mayor of Minneapolis and the Governor has called on Minnesotans to protest peacefully.
To be frank, when the Federal Government has flooded a city with officers who are hastily trained, rounding up people, forcefully separating families, going after people who are no threat to the community. things will happen. DHS has become lawless.
I should add previously Governor Tim Walz has said the Trump administration is at war against Minnesota.
Now the question is, was this a justifiable killing? Kristi Noem has come out saying the agent in front of the car shot because he was in fear of his life. Other observers said that was not the case. The woman had turned her wheels away from the agent. He was not being threatened.
A crowd gathered yelling at the ICE agents, "Shame!" and calling on the Minneapolis police to arrest the ICE agent who shot the woman.
Now, the mayor of Minneapolis has called on ICE to get the f#ck out of Minneapolis. Governor Tim Walz is telling Trump and ICE/Noem Minneapolis does not need them.
The killing, BTW, is just for blocks away from where George Floyd was killed.
Both the mayor of Minneapolis and the Governor has called on Minnesotans to protest peacefully.
To be frank, when the Federal Government has flooded a city with officers who are hastily trained, rounding up people, forcefully separating families, going after people who are no threat to the community. things will happen. DHS has become lawless.
I should add previously Governor Tim Walz has said the Trump administration is at war against Minnesota.
Comments
There are several things about it, though.
Police are normally taught to back away from a moving vehicle if they feel they may be hit. This ICE agent did not.
When police officers are about to fire, they have to consider who else may be in the line of fire. If there are other innocent people in the line of fire, the officer is supposed to hold fire. In this case, there were at least two other agents and what looks like a spectator that are in the line of fire. The agent fired three times. One of the bullets hit the SUV and the driver. No one knows where the other two shots landed (that would be a part of ongoing investigations)
Once the SUV stopped, a bystander is seen running towards the vehicle. He identified himself as a doctor who wanted to aid the driver, but ICE agents ordered him to back off. This raises the question, if the woman had received aid immediately could she have survived.
To me, this was unjustified homicide.
If our president cheers on the shooting, that's more evidence to that point.
Well, I've seen the video. In my opinion, the claim of self-defense is nonsense, because the shooting did nothing to protect the ICE employee, and could not have reasonably done anything to protect the ICE employee.
I won't speculate in public as to what might have been going through the ICE employee's mind at the time; suffice it to say that my private speculations are not very complimentary.
Trump and Kristi Noem, Secretary of the DHS, have both done so. A Congresswoman from Illinois -- can't remember her name -- says she is introducing articles of impeachment against Noem.
Protests have started, not just in Minneapolis -- New York, Chicago and Los Angeles all have protests going on tonight. There's one in my city tomorrow night; I'll be there.
ICE and CBP have killed about 40 people since they started with this shit, but people keep turning out to document what they're doing. It's the one thing that keeps me sane. The US has done some really hideous things to immigrants over a long period of time. This is the only time I know of that citizens have pushed back so much.
But an underlying issue is the extent to which fear for one’s own safety does, by precedent, give police officers and similar a “ get out of jail free” card. The law works differently in the UK.
It may do, but the outcomes are not dissimilar, even if there's a probability of violence.
Here is a summary of how the law reads.
There is no way in which Good wasn't murdered. It's clear in the video. The murderer walked away while his accomplices stopped a doctor from rendering aid on the scene. It's 4 blocks from where George Floyd was murdered. This is a freaking insurrection.
Sure, to some extent. There’s a risk of impunity for violence, always has been. But that’s about imperfect application of law, not the law itself. “Get out of jail free” is not guaranteed.
Some police officers do get found guilty here. And get locked up. Despite the remaining institutional prejudice.
In this case, since the agent is a Federal agent, if the state tried to charge him, he could petition the federal court to handle the case; and, given the current make-up of the Federal government, the DOJ would not likely prosecute.
How's that for a run on sentence?
Thanks for the front-line reportage. Question, though...
When you say it's an insurrection, you mean on the part of civilians, presumably anti-ICE? Or you mean on the part of ICE themselves, like a police riot?
There should be at least a full investigation of the circumstances, and internal discipline of those who failed to act reasonably, if for no other reason than to ensure training and guidelines are in place to prevent this happening again. Would ICE agents wear body-cams and have dash cams in their vehicles to provide investigators with recordings of what was said etc? The videos that I've seen don't appear to have audio that's good enough to pick out what's being said at a distance.
Yes, I wondered about that, too.
I realise that this is all far too close for comfort, given your situation, but might this be the 'incident' that sparks off a general insurrection on the part of those who are sick of Trump and all his cruel and evil works?
It only took one straw to break the camel's back...
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/dec/03/deaths-police-custody-officers-convicted
Things have not improved significantly since (and the picture gets worse once you look at figures for people who died after police contact). There's a certain rose tinted hue at work here.
I know in the past ICE agents did not wear body cams despite being ordered to do so by a judge in Chicago, I think. Given who is in charge of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, I doubt there will be any internal discipline.
Apologies for the vagueness- We're being invaded. Attacked. ICE is the insurrection.
Personally, I think if there was going to be a revolution starting in Minneapolis it would have happened when Gorge Floyd was killed. Hopefully Mayor Frey and Governor Waltz learned from that; they are speaking more firmly against the murder this time. But it's always fizzled out on the ground.
Thank you for the correction. But, in federal court who would defend the officer. Would it be the DOJ?
So get as I know, USDOJ represents federal agencies. It can (but is not obligated to) also represent federal employees in certain circumstances, including in civil actions when those employees are sued for acts done in the context of their employment. But that’s in civil actions, not criminal actions.
The easy explanation for anything out of this administration is that they say whatever is expedient. They're liars of convenience. They try to speak the world that they wish for it to be in the hopes that everyone else will just keep acting accordingly and the rest of us will simply fade away.
I expect it'll only get worse over time if we let them keep it up, or if we can't stop them.
Then I doubt you would want to watch J.D. Vance's defense of the shooting.
I see the name of the alleged agent who shot the woman has come out. I won't mention it here. I will just say he and his family are going to go through hell from public condemnation and derision. I would hate to be his spouse or his kids.
What I find most disturbing about this incident is the way that Trump, Vance and other senior Republicans have jumped straight in with judge and jury comments.
I might be naive but I imagine that a British PM would have said something like, 'This is a very tragic incident and our hearts go out to all those involved. We await the results of a formal investigation.'
It illustrates how polarised the US has tragically become.
Sounds like a broken record.