I was on the VMI Judo team as a cadet. This was a “club” sport as opposed to a varsity sport, but we traveled to matches in the eastern parts of the US. Yes, I had my ass whipped all over the place, had a couple of broken bones (small bones). You heal well at that age. You get the idea, not a great athlete but a willing participant for several years. The experience was very useful during my army career. This was not because I was a “sidewalk superman.” No, it was because the experience built up my self-confidence.
I learned a lot. One of the basics was concerned with chokeholds. These are legal in Judo with certain restrictions. The method is simple. From the facing opponent position you cross your wrists, grasp the lapels of the person’s judogi and rotate your arms inward so that your forearms press against the carotid arteries. If he can’t break loose he loses consciousness in ten or twelve seconds from oxygen starvation in the brain. From a position behind the opponent you do a similar thing with the same result.
In Judo, when the opponent claps his hands you immediately release him. If he loses consciousness you immediately release him. Why? He will die if you maintain the pressure on the carotid artery or arteries.
Are we supposed to belief that the ass in blue did not know that? The man was unarmed, was cooperative and was handcuffed. Other asinine policemen (please don’t call every cop an “officer”) stood around and watched as their colleague ignored the pleas of the victim and onlookers to let him up.
Murder is murder. Throw the book at them. At the same time let us remember that these were Minneapolis police, not state of Minnesota or federal police.
