Mississippi Mayor Defends Police Behind The Death Of George Floyd
MAYOR DEFENDS POLICE – A Mississippi mayor faced tremendous backlash after posting his thoughts on social media regarding the death of George Floyd.
Even with the heartbreaking video, Mayor Hal Marx of Petal, Mississippi defended the police responsible for Floyd’s death. He stated that the arrest of the Floyd was “reasonable” and that he didn’t see nothing wrong with it.
Nice to get a few in there that understand reasonable force, when it’s needed, and don’t give the rest of them a bad reputation
However, the backlash grew exponentially after he went on Facebook and stated:
If you can talk you can breathe. Think about that before you rush to judgment. #thinblueline
Floyd was pinned to the ground by the police officer’s knee on his neck. He was pleading in agony that he couldn’t breathe. Despite this, the police officer continued to apply what most would say “extremely unnecessary force” to an innocent man.
Afterward, according to an article from Law and Crime, Marx made a follow-up statement. He emphasized that he was not preaching intolerance and racisms. Moreover, he explained that he would treat anyone as an individual, not as a demographic.
Following the massive backlash, he was interviewed by the Hattiesburg American newspaper where he said that his statements were misinterpreted.
I think that people are so quick to judge the police before they have all the facts. I can’t say whether a crime was committed or whether they did anything right or wrong, all I’m saying is don’t rush to judgment based on what you see in that video
I’ve seen too many cases before where the police were judged to be guilty in the public’s eye but later were found to be not guilty under the law. For sending that, all of a sudden I’m called racist, I need to have a knee put on my neck — all kinds of hateful stuff simply for having an opinion and asking people to get all the facts before they judge
READ ALSO: Helpless Suspect Cries “I Can’t Breathe” & Dies After Police Kneels on His Neck