The homicide of George Floyd is an unprecedented case of racism and brutality even for the Minneapolis police, whose policing style and reputation have long been tarnished, Paul Applebaum, an attorney who specializes in civil police misconduct cases said during his interview with Sputnik about the roots of the police officers' bias towards people of color, the flaws of the legal system, and what the victims of police violence can count
MINNEAPOLIS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th June, 2020) The homicide of George Floyd is an unprecedented case of racism and brutality even for the Minneapolis police, whose policing style and reputation have long been tarnished, Paul Applebaum, an attorney who specializes in civil police misconduct cases said during his interview with Sputnik about the roots of the police officers' bias towards people of color, the flaws of the legal system, and what the victims of police violence can count on.
Most of Applebaum's 30-year law practice is related to civil rights violations, with the majority of his cases involving law enforcement officers' illegal actions.
"And the majority of those cases are police misconduct on the streets by patrol officers. I see that all the time," Applebaum said.
The attorney added this did not only apply to Minneapolis but to other cities of other states too.
FROM SEARCH WARRANT TO VIOLENCE
According to Applebaum, oftentimes human tragedies are caused by incidents involving shootings during police search warrants being mistaken for robberies.
"One of the biggest problems is the search warrants, when they [police] come into the house without knocking, and then they end up shooting up the house because the people think it is a robbery. And the police react because the homeowners are shooting, and then they shoot. And people get killed," the attorney noted.
Applebaum told Sputnik that he had a similar case a couple of years ago when the police received a warrant on rather shady grounds.
"Homeowners had dogs, family pets but also protection dogs. And they [police] shot up the whole house, killed the dogs and also came within inches of shooting a four-year girl who was standing there in her pajamas. The dog literally exploded onto the girl, the dog's head. And she was almost killed," the lawyer said.
The girl's mother, without clothes, was forced to leave the house and stand outside.
Applebaum went on to say that "only black people would get treated like that. They would never do that to a white family."
The history of police bias against racial minorities in Minneapolis has deep roots, according to the attorney.
"Racism was really big in Minnesota back in the 20s and 30s. It infected the police department, and it never really got fixed," he said.
The reason is the prevailing culture. Minnesota, according to Appelbaum, was a stronghold of racism in the northern United States and in the old days, it was even legally promoted by the media. In the wake of World War II, many Germans, Norwegians and white people from other European countries moved to Minneapolis, who immediately opposed the inflow of people of other races.
"They didn't want them here. And there was a real pushback for blacks to come here," Applebaum said.
Certain realities of that time still exist in today's Minneapolis. The attorney went on to cite the example of modern-day real estate sales contracts, which include a clause stating that the new landlord cannot sell the property to non-Caucasian people. Thus, there are still "white" neighborhoods in the town, and so the police officers, who are recruited from the given society, are the reflection of racism.
Another side of the problem is the police union, which has a big impact on the racial issue. The Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis is led by white officer Bob Kroll, while the chief of the local police department is African American man Medaria Arradondo.
"A police officer will get back on the street because the union is so powerful and protects all these bad officers," Applebaum said.
At the same time, he noted that there were not so many "bad cops" as it may seem. According to the civil rights attorney, only about five percent of officers are involved in police misconduct.
"Everybody says every police officer is a racist. That's bullshit. But the problem is that the small percentage can do incredible harm," the lawyer noted.
According to him, it is the same police officers complained about from year to year.
There have been times when some officers were fired, but then the police union did everything to bring them back.
"If you are a sadistic person, this is the best job in the world. Because you can't get fired, and you can not get in trouble," Applebaum said.
It is generally useless to launch an internal investigation, the lawyer assured. In such cases, Applebaum recommends his clients to not waste their time but to go straight to court.
Judges are meant to be impartial decision-makers in the pursuit of justice.� However, oftentimes white judges prefer not to intervene in cases involving race and not punish white criminals.
"A lot of judges are former prosecutors. So they don't know what it's like on the street. They come the most part, from the middle class, white. And so they can't imagine a police officer do some of the things they do. If you grow up in a white middle-class family, nobody is coming at your door with a machine gun shooting up all your dogs and almost killing your daughter. So they think it's impossible," Applebaum told Sputnik.
Similar skepticism was the reason for his only loss in court.
"There's been so many cases when I caught them [judges] in lies that were unambiguous, black and white, serious lies, not little things. And they did sit there. How the hell can you sit there? They don't do anything about it. Everybody wants to get comfortable, and nobody wants to make waves," the attorney said.
Even video recordings can be flimsy for such a judge, he added. According to Applebaum, white judges usually do not have sympathy for certain groups of the society that their clients represent, such as racial minorities, the poor, people with a criminal past.
THE THIRD PRECINCT IS HAVEN FOR BAD COPS
In the attorney's opinion, if there were no eyewitnesses in the Floyd case, his death would be attributed to heart problems. If the police acted correctly, they would have immediately put him in a car and taken him away. However, all the rules were brutally violated.
"He [Floyd] was handcuffed. Why not just take him, lift him up, put him in a squad car, and get him to the police station? And that's the first thing they should have done," Applebaum said, calling Floyd's case unusual because usually, people in Minneapolis die as a result of shooting accidents.
"I've never seen anybody do that, ever," the attorney said.
The Third Precinct in south Minneapolis, where the police officers who restrained Floyd used to operate in, has a reputation for being home to the "bad cops" and an ideal place for people with sadistic inclinations.
"It's a low-income area that they patrol. It's a minority area. It's a place where the people... were abused, people with grievances. They were not very likely to complain. And I'm talking specifically of Native Americans because they don't trust the system. If they are abused by a police officer, they don't do anything about it because they know that nothing will happen," Applebaum said.
The attorney takes four or five police misconduct cases a year from the received 40-50 calls. There are about ten of his other colleagues who also say there are hundreds of cases reported each year.
Even winning cases have to be rejected, Applebaum noted, adding that unfortunately, the trial is not about punishing the police officer but getting at least monetary compensation.
"Sometimes I get way more than I expect. And other times I get way less than I expect. So I'm not very good at guessing how much the client is going to get. I know I'm gonna win, I just don't know how much," he said.
The largest amount received in Applebaum's practice was about half a million Dollars. However, usually, the amount is much less. A client who, as a result of a punch in the face had a scar and a partially paralyzed eye, received $225,000, according to the attorney.
