Chief stands for justice

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Medaria Arradondo stood tall today for the rule of law, for following policy and against the phony notion that police officers routinely cover for each other’s grievous misconduct.

Arradondo is the chief of the Minneapolis, Minn., Police Department. He is the same chief who fired Derek Chauvin in the wake of the hideous arrest — and death — of George Floyd this past year. Chauvin is now on trial on charges of second- and third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

I’ll be honest. I was waiting for Chief Arradondo to drop the hammer on Chauvin. He did when he said that in no way, shape or form did Chauvin follow MPD policy when he pressed his knee on the back of George Floyd’s neck for 9 minutes 29 seconds, squeezing the life out of a suspect who was being arrested for passing a counterfeit bill in a convenience store.

He said Chauvin should have delivered first aid after the “first few seconds” of arresting him. Chauvin not only didn’t follow MPD policy on that matter, he killed a man who had been handcuffed and who was begging for his life.

I thought that Medaria Arradondo was the prosecution’s most compelling witness to date.

Yep. This trial has me hooked, man.