Latest / Revisionist History / Memorial Day, 2020 | Part 2
Transcript
- 0:15Speaker 1: Pushkin.
- 0:21Speaker 2: May thirty first, twenty twenty six, days after the death
- 0:26Speaker 2: of George Floyd, A small group of people gather in
- 0:29Speaker 2: a room somewhere in downtown Minneapolis.
- 0:32Speaker 3: So, okay, so let's just we're going to try to
- 0:36Speaker 3: run this way to typically run the years, right. I'm
- 0:39Speaker 3: just going to identify everybody in the room here for
- 0:41Speaker 3: the record. Okay.
- 0:43Speaker 2: Two investigators from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, one
- 0:47Speaker 2: FBI agent, two attorneys, and the first police officer to
- 0:52Speaker 2: arrive at the scene at the corner of thirty eighth
- 0:54Speaker 2: in Chicago that day, Thomas Lane. He's there to give
- 0:59Speaker 2: a statement about what happened. If you've ever watched videos
- 1:03Speaker 2: of the death of George Floyd, Lane is the tall
- 1:05Speaker 2: one six' seven right next To Derek chauvin Restraining floyd's.
- 1:10Speaker 3: LEGS i guess just tell us in your own. WORDS
- 1:14Speaker 3: i did much details, possible is what happened from me in. Perspective, okay.
- 1:22Speaker 1: We were dispensed To cornerie And partner's report at the Cup.
- 1:26Speaker 4: FOODS i believe in the call notes it said that
- 1:30Speaker 4: the suspect was still on scene in The. Mercedes we
- 1:35Speaker 4: drove to the call we didn't act bitter like and
- 1:37Speaker 4: sirens BECAUSE i believe the relatively. Polls and we got
- 1:41Speaker 4: there and entered the, building entered Cup foods Of. Business
- 1:48Speaker 4: there's a staff member there that, said you, know they're still.
- 1:51Speaker 4: Here he, goes he was holding a bill and he,
- 1:53Speaker 4: goes they gave me.
- 1:53Speaker 1: This it's a big.
- 1:54Speaker 4: Twenty he pointed across the street and they're, like he's
- 1:57Speaker 4: it's he's in the car over, there you, know go
- 1:59Speaker 4: get in before he drives. Off SO i, said you,
- 2:02Speaker 4: know and he started walking, out AND i was, like you,
- 2:04Speaker 4: know just head back and we'll take care of.
- 2:05Speaker 2: It lane and his Partner Alexander king walk across the
- 2:09Speaker 2: street to the Parked. Mercedes there are two men in
- 2:13Speaker 2: the front. Seats lane knocks on the window with his.
- 2:16Speaker 2: Flashlight the men turn and see the.
- 2:19Speaker 4: Officers they both started kind of digging underneath the. Seat
- 2:24Speaker 4: looked like they were reaching for, something AND i said
- 2:28Speaker 4: that To. KING i, said they're moving around quite a.
- 2:29Speaker 4: Bit AS i was coming across the, STREET i walked
- 2:34Speaker 4: up to the driver's side of the. VEHICLE i knocked
- 2:35Speaker 4: on the glass and the driver was sitting with his
- 2:40Speaker 4: hand down below the, seat kind of leaning forward like,
- 2:44Speaker 4: this AND i, said let me see your other, hand
- 2:46Speaker 4: AND i directed, them let me see your other. Hand
- 2:49Speaker 4: he didn't do, that and he was, just you, know,
- 2:51Speaker 4: oh it's no devil or. Whatever and he cut his
- 2:53Speaker 4: hand down there and he just glanced. Back SO i
- 2:57Speaker 4: took my gun out and you, know AND i, said
- 2:59Speaker 4: let me see your your other buck of, hand put
- 3:02Speaker 4: your hand. Up gave commands to do. That i'm not
- 3:05Speaker 4: sure how. MANY i think they gave a, few.
- 3:08Speaker 1: AND i don't know.
- 3:09Speaker 4: Why and he quickly went like, this like pulled his
- 3:11Speaker 4: hand out real, fast AND i kind of like took
- 3:14Speaker 4: a step, back AND i was, Like.
- 3:15Speaker 1: Jesus and what are you.
- 3:16Speaker 2: Doing my name Is Malcolm. Gladwell you're listening To Revisionist,
- 3:23Speaker 2: history my podcast about things overlooked and. Misunderstood this episode
- 3:28Speaker 2: is part two of our examination Of Derek chauvin's murder
- 3:32Speaker 2: Of George. Floyd in this, EPISODE i want to look
- 3:36Speaker 2: at the case from a different, perspective through the eyes
- 3:40Speaker 2: of the first police officer to Approach George, Floyd Thomas,
- 3:44Speaker 2: lane who at the time had been a fully fledged
- 3:47Speaker 2: member of The Minneapolis Police department for only four. Days
- 4:01Speaker 2: may twenty, fifth twenty twenty Was Memorial, day a Lovely
- 4:04Speaker 2: minneapolis summer. Evening people are outside walking. About it's just
- 4:09Speaker 2: after eight pm When lane and his partner pull up
- 4:12Speaker 2: to The Cup foods on the corner of thirty eighth In.
- 4:14Speaker 2: Chicago lane Pulls floyd out of his, car handcuffs, him
- 4:19Speaker 2: sits him on his, sidewalk takes his, information then Walks
- 4:23Speaker 2: floyd over to the squad car and puts him in
- 4:26Speaker 2: the back. Seat Only floyd doesn't want to get in
- 4:28Speaker 2: the back, seat So laine and his Partner king try
- 4:31Speaker 2: to force him into. It then a second squad car pulls,
- 4:35Speaker 2: Up Derek chauvin gets. Out floyd is struggling so much
- 4:39Speaker 2: With lanne And king that he cuts his mouth badly
- 4:42Speaker 2: enough That lane calls an. Ambulance lane Thinks floyd is on.
- 4:46Speaker 2: Drugs he's acting, erratically and they found a glass pipe
- 4:49Speaker 2: on him when they searched. Him they decided to keep
- 4:52Speaker 2: him restrained so he can't move or hurt himself. Anymore
- 4:56Speaker 2: they call ems a second time and upgrade their request
- 5:00Speaker 2: To code, three the most urgent, level life threatening immediate
- 5:04Speaker 2: response lights and. Sirens so, far all of this is
- 5:10Speaker 2: nothing out of the.
- 5:10Speaker 3: Ordinary so was there more to calling that paramedics than
- 5:15Speaker 3: just checking his?
- 5:16Speaker 4: MOUTH i think THAT i had mentioned, that you, know
- 5:20Speaker 4: this could be possibly excited delirium or.
- 5:22Speaker 2: Something, okay excited delirium is something That lane must have
- 5:26Speaker 2: learned about at the police. ACADEMY a state of extreme,
- 5:30Speaker 2: agitation aggression and. Distress it's not an officially recognized clinical. Diagnosis.
- 5:37Speaker 4: Listen that was the other thing for stepping it, up
- 5:39Speaker 4: because he might be in medical.
- 5:41Speaker 3: Distress were you getting a sense that Mister foyd was
- 5:45Speaker 3: having a medical? EMERGENCY i, mean obviously, hindsight but at the, TIME.
- 5:51Speaker 1: I, YEAH i thought maybe that something was going. On
- 5:57Speaker 1: but you thought he was passing.
- 5:59Speaker 2: Out, Yeah chauvin puts his knee On floyd's. Neck lane
- 6:02Speaker 2: turns To chauvin and shares his. Concern this man's not doing,
- 6:06Speaker 2: well and.
- 6:07Speaker 3: You articulated that, yeah, Okay and, well how was that
- 6:12Speaker 3: suggestion received by your?
- 6:13Speaker 1: Opponents they know, Him, yeah they, said just this is.
- 6:18Speaker 4: Fine jovin, said this Is we're just gonna hold him
- 6:22Speaker 4: here until you. Arrived SO i suggest, that you, know
- 6:26Speaker 4: but they excited, delirium you, know maybe we should roll
- 6:27Speaker 4: him on his, side.
- 6:28Speaker 5: Just to.
- 6:30Speaker 1: You, know if he's, LIKE i think it's SOMETHING i
- 6:33Speaker 1: had previously.
- 6:34Speaker 4: Learned that h pre just job if he'd roll on
- 6:37Speaker 4: his side for recovery position or.
- 6:38Speaker 2: Something in the video of The floyd, arrest you can
- 6:42Speaker 2: Hear lane make his case To. Chauvin he, says you
- 6:46Speaker 2: want him on his, side meaning should we roll him
- 6:49Speaker 2: over so he can?
- 6:50Speaker 1: BREATHE i just worry about that delum or.
- 7:00Speaker 2: Whatever you want him on his. Side, no he's staying
- 7:07Speaker 2: put where we got. Him, okay just worry about the
- 7:11Speaker 2: excited delirium or. Whatever that's why we got the ambulance. Coming,
- 7:16Speaker 2: OKAY i. SUPPOSE a minute, Later lane, SAYS i think
- 7:20Speaker 2: he's passing, out Meaning floyd's in. Trouble let's get off.
- 7:24Speaker 2: Him nothing. HAPPENS a minute after, That lane, says once,
- 7:30Speaker 2: again want to roll him on his, side as, in
- 7:33Speaker 2: he shouldn't be on his. Stomach lane is trying to
- 7:38Speaker 2: do the right. Thing he understands the gravity of the.
- 7:41Speaker 2: Situation but the crucial thing here is the Way lane
- 7:45Speaker 2: sets out to Convince. Chauvin he doesn't make a declarative
- 7:48Speaker 2: statement we should put him on his. Side he has
- 7:51Speaker 2: to be on his. Side he asks a question he softens.
- 7:55Speaker 2: It should we should we put him on his? Side
- 7:59Speaker 2: he mentions excited. Delirium he's concerned About floyd's, safety but
- 8:04Speaker 2: he undercuts that concern with words that soften his. ALARM
- 8:08Speaker 2: i just worrorry about excited delirium or, whatever and, then,
- 8:12Speaker 2: finally After chauvin shuts him, down, OKAY i suppose passive aggressive.
- 8:19Speaker 2: Agreement sociologists call this mitigated. Speech one of the greatest
- 8:26Speaker 2: causes of plane crashes for years was mitigated. Speech in a,
- 8:30Speaker 2: cockpit the first officer would see something dangerous and try
- 8:34Speaker 2: to let the captain, know but he would do it
- 8:37Speaker 2: in such a mitigated way that the captain wouldn't take
- 8:40Speaker 2: the new information. SERIOUSLY i wrote about one of those
- 8:43Speaker 2: cases in my Book. Outliers it involved a nineteen eighty
- 8:47Speaker 2: Two Air florida flight out Of, washington D. C it
- 8:50Speaker 2: was a snowy, Day the plane had been in line
- 8:53Speaker 2: for takeoff for an unusually long, time and the first
- 8:57Speaker 2: officer thinks the plane has a dangerous amount of ice
- 9:00Speaker 2: on its wings and should go back for de. Icing
- 9:03Speaker 2: listen to how he tries to convince his superior, officer the, captain,
- 9:10Speaker 2: look how the ice is just hanging on this back back.
- 9:13Speaker 2: There see. That the captain says. Nothing the first officer tries,
- 9:18Speaker 2: again see all those icicles on the back there and.
- 9:22Speaker 2: Everything the captain ignores. Him the first officer tries a third. Time,
- 9:28Speaker 2: boy this is a losing battle. Here trying to de
- 9:30Speaker 2: ice those things gives you a false sense of. Security
- 9:34Speaker 2: that's all that does. Nothing the plane is inching to
- 9:39Speaker 2: the front of the. Line let's check those wingtops, again
- 9:43Speaker 2: since we've been setting here a. While the first officer
- 9:47Speaker 2: starts with a, hint look at that, ice then a,
- 9:50Speaker 2: question see those, icicles then a, suggestion let's check those.
- 9:54Speaker 2: Wingtops each, time he's removing one layer of, mitigation getting
- 9:58Speaker 2: closer and closer to what is really on his, mind
- 10:01Speaker 2: which is that he's. Terrified but only at the very
- 10:05Speaker 2: end does he finally get. There it's just after, takeoff
- 10:09Speaker 2: as the plane plunges into The. Potomac we're going, Down,
- 10:17Speaker 2: larry and the captain, SAYS i know. It Thomas lane
- 10:24Speaker 2: is in exactly the same position as that first officer
- 10:27Speaker 2: on the. Plane both of them understand the gravity of
- 10:30Speaker 2: the situation they're. In the plane has. Ice the man
- 10:33Speaker 2: on the ground is in. Trouble but they have a
- 10:35Speaker 2: superior who is, fixated who doesn't see what is, happening
- 10:39Speaker 2: who is either incapable of processing any new information or
- 10:43Speaker 2: doesn't want, To and neither of the subordinates feel they
- 10:47Speaker 2: can just come out and say no because they're. Subordinates
- 10:56Speaker 2: the state investigator Questioning lane about what happened That Memorial,
- 11:00Speaker 2: day picked up on this very.
- 11:01Speaker 3: Thing you obviously bring it, up so it's clearly you're
- 11:05Speaker 3: something thinking about.
- 11:08Speaker 1: What of ented you from just kind of taking charge
- 11:11Speaker 1: of that and making the.
- 11:13Speaker 4: CALL i was basically going Off Officer shoubin's experience and
- 11:20Speaker 4: what he was saying like this is we're going to
- 11:22Speaker 4: hold here and tell you.
- 11:23Speaker 2: Enough, Right lane had been a police officer for four.
- 11:27Speaker 2: Days then he reveals another crucial. Fact, listen, well.
- 11:31Speaker 1: You heard in contact with him before the.
- 11:33Speaker 2: State him meaning children, Again, yes.
- 11:39Speaker 1: Okay so.
- 11:41Speaker 4: He was one of the other training offers in the
- 11:43Speaker 4: precentct THAT i worked, Then SO i had interaction With
- 11:47Speaker 4: chin before to the, incident and, uh you, know he
- 11:52Speaker 4: took me found how The Hamilton.
- 11:54Speaker 2: Hall he had given me guidance on how to handle certain.
- 11:58Speaker 2: Calls he says couldn't go, well.
- 12:01Speaker 3: But somebody who used him as a resource during your
- 12:04Speaker 3: ten day.
- 12:04Speaker 1: Evaluation, yeah there.
- 12:07Speaker 4: Was a few calls WHERE i was with another train,
- 12:11Speaker 4: officer the think the advice on how the best dandel with.
- 12:15Speaker 2: All Thomas lane's problem wasn't just that he had only
- 12:21Speaker 2: been on the force for four, days that he was
- 12:23Speaker 2: a rookie And chauvin was a nineteen year. Veteran it's
- 12:28Speaker 2: That lane New. Chauvin he went To chauvin for. Advice
- 12:32Speaker 2: how do you defy someone in that? Position not long,
- 12:48Speaker 2: ago a Retired chicago police officer Named Jerry finnegan gave
- 12:52Speaker 2: an interview to the Dog walk podcast hosted By eddie
- 12:56Speaker 2: From Barstool.
- 12:57Speaker 5: SPORTS i, mean, Honestly, EDDIE i LOVED i loved that.
- 13:01Speaker 5: Job there wasn't a data goals. By i'm sixty one
- 13:04Speaker 5: and there's there's not a data goals by. THAT i, Said,
- 13:06Speaker 5: Fuck i'd like to be out, there you, know fucking
- 13:08Speaker 5: j and these bad.
- 13:09Speaker 2: Dudes finnigan is, fit close cropped. HAIR i don't think
- 13:13Speaker 2: a cop movie has ever been made that didn't include
- 13:15Speaker 2: someone who looks and sounds just Like Jerry.
- 13:18Speaker 5: Finnegan the fucking adrenaline was just incredible and you. KNOW
- 13:23Speaker 5: i used to, say it was like you would have
- 13:25Speaker 5: ringside tickets to the greatest show On.
- 13:27Speaker 2: Earth eddie And finnegan talked for almost an. Hour finnegan
- 13:31Speaker 2: was promoting his new, Podcast the magnificently Titled Finnegan's, Take
- 13:36Speaker 2: reminiscences from his years on the, force and at some,
- 13:39Speaker 2: Point finnegan starts to speculate about why his path to
- 13:43Speaker 2: promotion was so often blocked by his.
- 13:46Speaker 5: BOSS i didn't know it at the, Time, eddie BUT
- 13:49Speaker 5: i WAS i had the most complaints in the.
- 13:50Speaker 6: City is that why he next to?
- 13:52Speaker 7: You?
- 13:52Speaker 5: Probably, yeah, yeah.
- 13:54Speaker 6: Probably.
- 13:55Speaker 2: Wait chicago police officers are ranked by their complaints the
- 14:00Speaker 2: way pop music singles are ranked on The Billboard. Charts
- 14:04Speaker 2: yes they. Are the rankings are compiled by an organization
- 14:08Speaker 2: called The Citizens Police Data. Project their website consists of
- 14:13Speaker 2: a searchable online database of two hundred and fifty thousand
- 14:17Speaker 2: complaints lodged against members of THE cpd from nineteen eighty
- 14:21Speaker 2: eight to twenty, eighteen and what you learn from looking
- 14:25Speaker 2: at the list is that the distribution of problematic police
- 14:28Speaker 2: officers within The Chicago Police department is not. Uniform those
- 14:34Speaker 2: quarter of a million complaints are not evenly sprinkled across
- 14:38Speaker 2: all the many thousands of officers in the. DATABASE a
- 14:41Speaker 2: few cops have a lot of, complaints but the majority
- 14:45Speaker 2: have almost. None if you made a graph out of
- 14:48Speaker 2: the Whole Chicago Police, department there would be a, long
- 14:51Speaker 2: low line stretching as far as the eye could, see
- 14:55Speaker 2: hovering just above the horizontal axis until the very, end
- 14:59Speaker 2: when the line would suddenly. Jump as the statisticians would,
- 15:03Speaker 2: say the distribution of complaints has a fat. Tail and
- 15:07Speaker 2: who stands at the very fattest part of the? Tale Jerry,
- 15:11Speaker 2: finnigan recipient of a grand total of one hundred and
- 15:16Speaker 2: seventy five.
- 15:17Speaker 8: Complaints do you remember the war the day that you
- 15:20Speaker 8: decide to go on the?
- 15:21Speaker 1: Take so to? Speak?
- 15:23Speaker 6: Yeah can you get into that?
- 15:25Speaker 4: One?
- 15:25Speaker 1: Sure.
- 15:25Speaker 5: Sure we we came into a house in the Eleventh,
- 15:28Speaker 5: district chased a guy in there with a, gun and
- 15:31Speaker 5: uh searching, around found some dope that was bagged, up
- 15:36Speaker 5: kept searching and found a paper bag with. Money there
- 15:38Speaker 5: were about eight of, us and took the money out
- 15:41Speaker 5: of her and then split it. Up and THEN i don't,
- 15:44Speaker 5: know was nervous about, it but after it was, OVER
- 15:48Speaker 5: i was, thinking fucking it's dope. Money i'm not. Hurt
- 15:50Speaker 5: i'm not taking it from you know your.
- 15:52Speaker 2: Grandmother vinigan ended up doing ten years in prison for
- 15:56Speaker 2: tax evasion and planning a murder for higher plot against
- 15:59Speaker 2: a fellow. Officer he also cost the city over a
- 16:03Speaker 2: million dollars in legal, settlements, which given his position As
- 16:07Speaker 2: Alex luthor Of chicago play police, officers shouldn't be that
- 16:11Speaker 2: much of a. Surprise problems with fat tales turn out
- 16:15Speaker 2: to be. Everywhere here's another. One New York city has
- 16:19Speaker 2: twenty five hundred automated cameras which in twenty twenty three
- 16:23Speaker 2: handed out seven million speeding. Tickets but are those tickets
- 16:27Speaker 2: evenly distributed across all the city's. Drivers, no there's a fat.
- 16:32Speaker 2: Tale there were one hundred and eighty six drivers who
- 16:37Speaker 2: got more than one hundred tickets in one. Ear that's
- 16:41Speaker 2: an average of one ticket every three to four. Days super.
- 16:45Speaker 2: Speeders most of us get a ticket and slow down next.
- 16:49Speaker 2: Time we take the. Hint not the. Superspeeders on, average
- 16:52Speaker 2: that group of one hundred and eighty six each had
- 16:56Speaker 2: eleven thousand dollars in unpaid traffic. Fines in my last,
- 17:02Speaker 2: Book revenge of the tipping. POINT i had a whole
- 17:04Speaker 2: chapter ON. Covid you know, WHAT covid was fat. Tale
- 17:09Speaker 2: most of, us when we were infected WITH, covid emitted
- 17:12Speaker 2: such a small amount of virus that we didn't pose
- 17:14Speaker 2: that much of a danger to. Others but there are
- 17:17Speaker 2: a very small number of people, who for reasons we
- 17:20Speaker 2: don't entirely, understand when they HAVE, covid produce a massive
- 17:24Speaker 2: amount of virus super. Spreaders those are the ones who cause.
- 17:28Speaker 2: OUTBREAKS i could go. On the lesson Of New york's
- 17:33Speaker 2: super speeders And COVID's super spreaders is that before you
- 17:37Speaker 2: figure out how to solve a, problem you have to ask.
- 17:41Speaker 2: Yourself AM i dealing with a skinny tail distribution where
- 17:44Speaker 2: everyone plays a roughly equal part in contributing to the,
- 17:47Speaker 2: Issue or DO i have a fat tail distribution where
- 17:51Speaker 2: my problem is a very small number of very rotten.
- 17:54Speaker 2: Apples the world's problems are divided into fat tales and skinny,
- 17:59Speaker 2: tales and policing is most definitely fat.
- 18:04Speaker 9: TAIL i, mean even you Mentioned George. Floyd In, chicago
- 18:10Speaker 9: we had The lawan MacDonald shooting where he was murdered sixteen.
- 18:14Speaker 9: Times he was shot by the, cops and those cops
- 18:17Speaker 9: were in the top six percent of the police. Force
- 18:21Speaker 9: they've been involved in payouts from the city for misconduct
- 18:24Speaker 9: and use of, force and tens of millions of dollars
- 18:27Speaker 9: before the.
- 18:27Speaker 2: Shooting That's Andrew, papachristos a criminologist At Northwestern. University if
- 18:33Speaker 2: you're a regular, listener you've heard him on this podcast.
- 18:36Speaker 2: Before he's talking about a police officer Named Jason Van,
- 18:40Speaker 2: dyck another member of The Chicago Police DEPARTMENT Usu Force,
- 18:43Speaker 2: peloton who shot a, Teenager lakwan, MacDonald sixteen times for
- 18:49Speaker 2: no apparent.
- 18:50Speaker 9: Reason so if you had gotten rid of this small
- 18:53Speaker 9: percentage or done something different besides shuffle them, around not
- 18:57Speaker 9: only would you have saved, lives you would have saved
- 18:59Speaker 9: tens of millions of. Dollars you would have saved all
- 19:02Speaker 9: of the trauma associated With lawan McDonald's, shooting the unrest
- 19:05Speaker 9: in the, city how it layered into these.
- 19:06Speaker 2: Things it's not just though that the officers at the
- 19:11Speaker 2: very edge of the distribution do more bad things than anyone.
- 19:14Speaker 2: Else it's, that and this is, crucial they lead, others
- 19:19Speaker 2: people who wouldn't otherwise be in the fat tale to
- 19:22Speaker 2: do bad things as.
- 19:23Speaker 9: Well there are a bunch of studies ours included that
- 19:26Speaker 9: show my bad behavior as a police officer is actually
- 19:30Speaker 9: affected by the bad behavior of my, Partners so over,
- 19:33Speaker 9: Time i'm going to look more like.
- 19:35Speaker 2: You this is called network, spillover And Papa cristo's was
- 19:40Speaker 2: part of a group of criminologists who used The Citizens
- 19:43Speaker 2: Police Data project to figure out exactly how large this
- 19:47Speaker 2: spillover effect. Is they looked at that mountain of data
- 19:51Speaker 2: and grouped all of the officers in, networks drawing lines
- 19:55Speaker 2: between the people who worked. Together they found that if
- 19:59Speaker 2: there was no one in your network who received a
- 20:02Speaker 2: use of force, complaint then your chance of getting a
- 20:05Speaker 2: use of force complaint was. Minimal but if you had
- 20:08Speaker 2: even a modest number of aggressive officers in your, circle
- 20:12Speaker 2: your chances of being accused of violence went up by
- 20:16Speaker 2: twenty six, percent which is. Massive and this is the
- 20:22Speaker 2: problem With Derek. Chauvin he's in The Minneapolis Police Department's Fat.
- 20:27Speaker 2: Tale he was the poster child for The Minneapolis Fat.
- 20:31Speaker 2: Tale he had a mountain of complaints and because he's
- 20:34Speaker 2: a training, officer a nineteen year, veteran the senior officer
- 20:38Speaker 2: in nearly every crime scene he arrives, at he spills
- 20:42Speaker 2: over into his. Network If chauvin had never shown up that,
- 20:47Speaker 2: night if the second squad car never got, called if
- 20:50Speaker 2: the whole incident was managed entirely By lane and his,
- 20:54Speaker 2: Partner George floyd would have. Lived Thomas lane would have
- 20:59Speaker 2: rolled him. Over there would have been no national eruption
- 21:02Speaker 2: of pain and. Outrage you wouldn't even know the Name George.
- 21:05Speaker 2: Floyd But chauvin shows. Up that's the core of the.
- 21:09Speaker 2: Problem on the corner of thirty eighth In.
- 21:11Speaker 7: CHICAGO i think anyone who sits through all of that,
- 21:20Speaker 7: evidence you, know they hear a couple of times that
- 21:22Speaker 7: Officer lane talks about potentially rolling him.
- 21:28Speaker 2: Over That's Amanda, sertic one of THE us attorneys who Prosecuted.
- 21:33Speaker 2: Lane she knows the evidence well and specifically the Role
- 21:36Speaker 2: lane and his Partner Alexander king played that.
- 21:39Speaker 7: DAY i think he's actually the one who announces When
- 21:42Speaker 7: George floyd passes, out so though he's passing, out, yeah
- 21:46Speaker 7: and then he's sitting right there next To king When
- 21:50Speaker 7: king twice SAYS i can't find a, pulse and they
- 21:54Speaker 7: both continue to restrain him for more than two. Minutes
- 21:58Speaker 7: after they know he doesn't have a. PULSE i think
- 22:02Speaker 7: that's the point WHERE i, mean it just becomes unacceptable
- 22:07Speaker 7: not to. Intervene you, know it doesn't take any sort
- 22:11Speaker 7: of training, whatsoever as the you, know the witness is
- 22:17Speaker 7: on scene, demonstrated it doesn't take any training or even
- 22:21Speaker 7: more than a few years on the earth to recognize
- 22:24Speaker 7: that he needs medical. Assistance and you can't have someone
- 22:28Speaker 7: mean and on his.
- 22:28Speaker 2: Neck lane ended up spending two and a half years
- 22:32Speaker 2: in federal prison for his part In floyd's. Death sertig
- 22:36Speaker 2: and her colleagues felt that he bore at least some
- 22:39Speaker 2: portion of the. BLAME i understand their, argument ALTHOUGH i
- 22:42Speaker 2: have to SAY i do not agree with. IT a
- 22:45Speaker 2: rookie cop on his fourth day on the force tries
- 22:49Speaker 2: to write a wrong and fails because his superior officer
- 22:53Speaker 2: is a bad. Apple can we really blame? Him haven't
- 22:58Speaker 2: all of us in other situations done a version of
- 23:01Speaker 2: the same act of mitigated? Speech are you sure we
- 23:04Speaker 2: should do? That that's a little, much don't you? Think
- 23:07Speaker 2: is that really? Safe but WHERE i hope we can
- 23:12Speaker 2: all agree is on the broader lesson here one bad
- 23:16Speaker 2: apple can infect the whole. Barrel the fat tail, matters
- 23:21Speaker 2: which is why the first step in any attempt to
- 23:23Speaker 2: fix the problem with a fat tail distribution is to
- 23:26Speaker 2: get rid of the fat tail Target the super speeders
- 23:30Speaker 2: contain the super. Spreaders get rid Of Jerry. Finnegan Stop
- 23:35Speaker 2: Derek chauvin before he kills, someone not. Afterwards, right if
- 23:41Speaker 2: only that's. Simple in the fevered days After floyd, died
- 23:56Speaker 2: there were hundreds of people on the streets Of. Minneapolis
- 24:00Speaker 2: peaceful protests turned into riots and. Lootings buildings were, burned
- 24:05Speaker 2: hundreds of millions of dollars of damage was, done and
- 24:08Speaker 2: one night the crowd came calling For Jacob, fry the
- 24:12Speaker 2: mayor Of.
- 24:13Speaker 8: Minneapolis there was a group of about two thousand people
- 24:21Speaker 8: that came to my home and they demanded THAT i
- 24:26Speaker 8: come out and talk to. Them AND i certainly was
- 24:30Speaker 8: not in the habit of avoiding my position on the,
- 24:34Speaker 8: topic and so my, wife who was seven months pregnant or,
- 24:38Speaker 8: so Said, HEY i could get out there and just
- 24:40Speaker 8: tell the.
- 24:40Speaker 2: Truth fry was thirty nine at the, time he'd been
- 24:44Speaker 2: elected mayor three years, earlier.
- 24:47Speaker 8: AND i have security or. ANYTHING i walked out. There
- 24:50Speaker 8: they called me up to the front and asked IF
- 24:52Speaker 8: i would defund the. Police and at the, time this
- 24:55Speaker 8: was a very new, phrase and SO i asked them
- 24:58Speaker 8: what they meant by, it and they, say, well why
- 25:01Speaker 8: don't you get.
- 25:02Speaker 3: Rid of the.
- 25:02Speaker 8: Police it was pretty, clear AND i said, no AND
- 25:08Speaker 8: i got shamed and.
- 25:11Speaker 2: Booed in the footage of the demonstration that played on
- 25:19Speaker 2: the evening, news you can see the mayor walking stiffly
- 25:22Speaker 2: through the, crowd wearing a mask that SAYS i can't.
- 25:26Speaker 8: BREATHE i, mean it was Like game Of throne, style
- 25:29Speaker 8: walking through a ton of people that were throwing things
- 25:32Speaker 8: at me and spitting on. Me BUT i was CERTAIN
- 25:34Speaker 8: i did the right. Thing there was no question in
- 25:36Speaker 8: my mind that refusing to defund the police was the
- 25:40Speaker 8: right thing to.
- 25:41Speaker 2: Do fry was following the logic of the fat. Tail,
- 25:46Speaker 2: yes there may have been frustration with law enforcement at,
- 25:48Speaker 2: large but if the problem is a small number of bad,
- 25:52Speaker 2: apples then what sense is there in upending the whole.
- 25:55Speaker 2: Institution what you should be doing is cutting off the fat.
- 25:59Speaker 2: Tail the crowds outside gented defund the, police but in,
- 26:04Speaker 2: Response fry started making a different. Argument this is what
- 26:08Speaker 2: the mayor. Said one of the first of the many
- 26:10Speaker 2: press conferences he gave after the death Of George. Floyd
- 26:14Speaker 2: unless we are willing to tackle the elephant in the,
- 26:17Speaker 2: room which is the police, union there won't be a
- 26:20Speaker 2: culture shift in the. Department could you talk a little
- 26:24Speaker 2: bit more about that in the context Of. Minneapolis when
- 26:27Speaker 2: you said, that what did you.
- 26:28Speaker 8: Mean so here's basically what happened over several decades with
- 26:32Speaker 8: this collective bargaining. Agreement the raises were limited in exchange
- 26:41Speaker 8: for giving over to The Police federation quite a bit
- 26:44Speaker 8: of managerial, authority and so the practice largely was let's
- 26:51Speaker 8: keep people's property taxes down so that you don't have
- 26:54Speaker 8: these magnificent increases in, wage and an exchange for, that
- 27:01Speaker 8: the chief will hand over authorities that should so obviously
- 27:06Speaker 8: be with the.
- 27:07Speaker 2: Chief the shoe fry is talking about the Police federation
- 27:12Speaker 2: or the union having more authority than it. Should has
- 27:15Speaker 2: become a common complaint in many of the cities as.
- 27:18Speaker 6: Well everyone thinks that a police chief should just get
- 27:22Speaker 6: rid of bad.
- 27:23Speaker 2: Cops That's Daniel. Oates he started his career in the
- 27:27Speaker 2: nineteen eighties in THEN mipd and rose to be chief
- 27:30Speaker 2: of four separate big city police. Departments After George floyd was,
- 27:34Speaker 2: killed he wrote an op ed for The Washington. Post
- 27:37Speaker 2: you could be forgiven if you missed. It it was
- 27:40Speaker 2: a pretty technical analysis of law enforcement collective bargaining.
- 27:43Speaker 6: Agreements WHAT i tried to explain in That post article
- 27:47Speaker 6: is that we as a, democracy in all the societies
- 27:51Speaker 6: in WHICH i, worked the four major cities in WHICH i,
- 27:53Speaker 6: worked the voter is created inhibitors to the police chief
- 28:00Speaker 6: simply firing someone who deserves to be.
- 28:02Speaker 2: Fired at one point in his, Career oates was chief
- 28:06Speaker 2: of police In, Aurora, colorado mid sized suburb Of. Denver
- 28:11Speaker 2: he had six hundred and fifty officers in his. Department
- 28:15Speaker 2: in his more than eight years as, chief there were
- 28:17Speaker 2: sixteen he wanted to. Fire that was his fat. TAIL
- 28:21Speaker 2: a very small number of his officers were proving to
- 28:24Speaker 2: be a. Problem they were, violent they had drinking. Problems
- 28:28Speaker 2: he caught them lying on their field, reports on and.
- 28:31Speaker 2: On he negotiated complicated severance agreements with twelve of the.
- 28:36Speaker 2: Sixteen they agreed to leave The aurora, pade but with
- 28:40Speaker 2: a clean, record so it was possible for them to
- 28:43Speaker 2: get a job somewhere. Else the remaining four he, fired
- 28:47Speaker 2: but then in three of those, cases his decision was
- 28:50Speaker 2: reversed on, appeal so of the sixteen bad apples who
- 28:54Speaker 2: he thought were not worthy of a role in law,
- 28:57Speaker 2: enforcement he succeeded in removing. One the problem is that
- 29:04Speaker 2: many police union contracts are full of provisions that hamper
- 29:08Speaker 2: internal investigations of. Wrongdoing in a normal criminal, investigation the
- 29:13Speaker 2: police questioned any suspect as soon as, Possible but in
- 29:17Speaker 2: investigations of allegations against, officers many unions delay that first
- 29:22Speaker 2: round of questioning for, days if not, weeks long enough
- 29:26Speaker 2: for stories to be straightened, out and before that first,
- 29:30Speaker 2: interview in some, cities the police department has to hand
- 29:33Speaker 2: over all of its evidence and witnesses in advance to
- 29:37Speaker 2: the defendant's, attorney a practice that would be highly unusual
- 29:41Speaker 2: in a standard criminal. Investigation Daniel oates says that he
- 29:45Speaker 2: ran into this problem when he was called in to
- 29:48Speaker 2: clean up The Miami Beach Police.
- 29:50Speaker 6: Department, so as you can, imagine once you pour over
- 29:54Speaker 6: all the evidence with your, attorney you understand what management
- 29:59Speaker 6: has and what management can, prove and you can tailor
- 30:02Speaker 6: your answers to questions so as to avoid the worst possible.
- 30:08Speaker 6: Sanction effectively if. Necessary you, know if to save your,
- 30:13Speaker 6: job you can lie because you know management can't disprove the.
- 30:17Speaker 2: Law did they change that provision in your?
- 30:20Speaker 1: Time?
- 30:20Speaker 6: There, No, No i've still a stayed lawed for how?
- 30:23Speaker 2: Much did? That in the end frustrate your ability to
- 30:27Speaker 2: improve the quality of policing In Mayo?
- 30:29Speaker 6: Beach it makes it extremely.
- 30:31Speaker 2: CHALLENGING a small number of officers betray the standards of the,
- 30:37Speaker 2: profession but unions protect that fat. Tale it's not the
- 30:42Speaker 2: ninety five percent of, honest hardworking police officers who need
- 30:46Speaker 2: an extra few weeks to get their stories, straight or
- 30:49Speaker 2: who require advanced access to all the evidence and witnesses against.
- 30:53Speaker 2: Them Jerry finnigan needs all those. Things Derek chauvin needs
- 30:58Speaker 2: all those. Things, somehow a system intended to serve the
- 31:02Speaker 2: interests of the many in the thin tail has ended
- 31:05Speaker 2: up serving the interests of the crooked few in the fat.
- 31:08Speaker 10: TAIL i can tell you this that nobody despises bad
- 31:12Speaker 10: cops more than good.
- 31:13Speaker 2: Cops That's kathleen. O'Toole she ran both The seattle And
- 31:17Speaker 2: boston police.
- 31:18Speaker 10: Departments WHEN i fired, people, INEVITABLY i received countless messages
- 31:24Speaker 10: from other police officers who, said, Well, chief that should
- 31:27Speaker 10: have happened ten years.
- 31:28Speaker 2: Ago now, suppose even given all these, impediments a police
- 31:33Speaker 2: chief does manage to terminate a problematic, officer the fight isn't.
- 31:38Speaker 2: Over there is one final, impediment maybe the biggest of.
- 31:42Speaker 2: All the officer has the right of. Appeal in many,
- 31:46Speaker 2: cases the accused officer is allowed to restart the entire
- 31:50Speaker 2: process from, scratch only this time not with an impartial,
- 31:54Speaker 2: judge but with an arbitrator that the union.
- 31:57Speaker 1: Plays a role in.
- 31:58Speaker 2: Choosing with the, result, well you can. GUESS a law
- 32:03Speaker 2: professor In chicago Named Stephen russian recently made a list
- 32:07Speaker 2: of how often a fired police officer gets reinstated on
- 32:11Speaker 2: appeal in most Big american. Cities Ready Miami dade thirty seven,
- 32:17Speaker 2: Percent Oklahoma city forty, Percent phoenix forty, Percent washington d.
- 32:24Speaker 2: C forty five, Percent philadelphia sixty two, Percent denver sixty seven,
- 32:29Speaker 2: percent and, finally the grand prize, Winner San antonio seventy.
- 32:34Speaker 2: Percent and where did this exact scenario play Out Minneapolis
- 32:40Speaker 2: in the years leading up to the death Of George.
- 32:43Speaker 8: Floyd there are more than a few instances when we
- 32:49Speaker 8: have terminated someone it works its way up through that,
- 32:51Speaker 8: arbitration and the arbitration then overturns the decision that we.
- 32:55Speaker 8: Made how does that feel for a chief who's making tough.
- 32:58Speaker 8: Calls you make the tough, call you spend a ton
- 33:03Speaker 8: of attorney time litigating a, case and then he ultimately.
- 33:06Speaker 8: Lose that person comes back on how does that help?
- 33:10Speaker 8: Culture because that same person is going to talk to
- 33:12Speaker 8: all the other officers, saying, HEY i did this. THING
- 33:14Speaker 8: i got. Off this whole concept of a chief making
- 33:18Speaker 8: a decision to terminate or discipline and having that decision
- 33:21Speaker 8: overturned is detrimental to that chief's ability to run a
- 33:25Speaker 8: police department and shift the. Culture they got to be
- 33:28Speaker 8: able to set the.
- 33:28Speaker 2: Tone Jacob fry had first hand evidence of what happens
- 33:33Speaker 2: when you can't set the. Tone Derek, chauvin he didn't
- 33:37Speaker 2: suddenly emerge as a bad apple on the night Of
- 33:40Speaker 2: may twenty, fifth twenty. Twenty he'd been a bad apple
- 33:42Speaker 2: for a long. Time you heard the tape in the
- 33:45Speaker 2: last episode in twenty, seventeen he beat a kid over
- 33:49Speaker 2: the head with a, flashlight opening a wound that required,
- 33:51Speaker 2: stitches then put him in a Choke cald threw him
- 33:54Speaker 2: on the ground and put his knee on his neck
- 33:57Speaker 2: while the boy sobbed in, pain all for no. Reason
- 34:01Speaker 2: that was his trademark. Move the other officers didn't say,
- 34:05Speaker 2: Anything they just walked silently out of the. Room so
- 34:09Speaker 2: the Bad apple stayed in the barrel for three more
- 34:12Speaker 2: years until he comes Across George floyd on the corner
- 34:16Speaker 2: of thirty eighth In chicago and puts his knee in
- 34:19Speaker 2: his neck and just stays, there even After floyd has stopped,
- 34:23Speaker 2: breathing And Thomas lane tries to get him to stop multiple,
- 34:28Speaker 2: times but then he just gives up and sits there
- 34:32Speaker 2: On floyd's dead, body just Like Derek. Schauman Revision's history
- 34:53Speaker 2: is produced By Nina, Bird, Lawrence Lucy, sullivan And Ben Nadaph.
- 34:57Speaker 2: Haffrey our editor Is Karen schakerji fact Checking Sam, russick
- 35:03Speaker 2: mastering By Jake. Gorsky production support From Luke. Leman our
- 35:07Speaker 2: executive producer Is Jacob. Smith special thanks To Sarah nix
- 35:11Speaker 2: and L. Hafey credit Cone I'm Malcolm. Gabba get add
- 35:22Speaker 2: free episodes Of Revision's history by subscribing To Pushkin. Plus
- 35:26Speaker 2: sign up on the show page On Apple podcasts or
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