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Culture War Roundup for the week of May 1, 2023

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In this NYT article, race isn't mentioned, so I assumed it was either a black-on-black or black-on-white killing, but apparently it was white-on-black! It's unusual for the NYT to not mention race in such a situation. Could it be that they're finally downplaying all races in their

crime reporting, and not just the ones that it's offensive to speak negatively about? That sounds too good to be true, but I want to believe.

even if his air supply was cut off , it would still take him 5-8 minutes to actually die. So I suspect something else , like drugs, played a role.

Way, way less long for a blood choke

IMO this one's far more open-shut than the George Floyd thing.

I've done a lot of jiujitsu & grappling and I'd honestly not expect somebody I was restraining Chauvin-Floyd style to die of asphyxiation.

If I've got a tight Rear Naked Choke on somebody I'm expecting them to pass out within 10-20 seconds and then I'm categorically letting go.

I am justing talking about a possible explanation for the person dying sooner than would be expected from oxygen deprivation alone . Not innocence or guilt. Look at the Eric Garner case..he still took 5 minutes to die after being choked out.

Did we watch the same video? I don't see a man being held still and unconscious for two minutes, I see a man struggling against restraint for two minutes that is eventually choked out. Here's the full video to the best of my knowledge. Until approximately the last 15-20 seconds of the video, he's still visibly struggling, which is presumably why the guy who applied the choke did not release it.

At this stage, I don't think we have sufficient evidence to reach a conclusion regarding whether reasonable people would have believed that the threat had ended.

Is there any video of what led up to this available?

Not that I'm aware of, unfortunately.

I would wager that some combination of excited delirium, drugs, and underlying heart conditions were involved in the death. Of course, a blood choke certainly can kill someone if held excessively long, but there isn't much evidence to arrive at a specific conclusion at the moment, so guesses are mostly about what your priors are, and I know what mine are when it comes to belligerent vagrants.

A rear naked choke cuts off blood to the brain, not air.

right and it takes 5 minutes to die even if the person passes out much sooner .

Citation needed on that one.

Yeah, people have been accidentally knocked out by blood chokes. It's fast.

I wouldn't be so sure, IIRC there was another case where drugs seemed obvious but a court found it was murder

so why have courts at all if only takes one case to set precedent for all the others? each case has to be looked at on an individual basis. The suddenness of death leads me to think drugs, but could be wrong.

Hemophiliacs are more likely to die if you shoot them, the existence of moral luck does not change the action - death is a foreseeable consequence of extended choking.