Firstly, the opening question is hypothetical, and so I won’t deal with that. My issue with the protests are twofold. Firstly, they are mainly about racism and not purely police brutality. And I do not think there is any case for saying this was racist. Secondly, if what they were doing is what the law permits, then it cannot go to trial. When I said they were partly responsible, it is for not using common sense to determine that using a chokehold was necessary, but not that they had done any criminal action. The law instructs it’s officers to arrest those in violation of it’s dictum, and to restrain them if they resist, which he was certainly doing. They were stupid to use this particular tactic in this case, but not criminal. They are not murderers, and as such should not be prosecuted.
Of course, protests should always be allowed, and if they choose to make an issue out of it, even if I personally disagree, they should be free to protest without repercussion, so long as they are peaceful. And in the other cases, such as that of Darren Wilson, they are certainly being ridiculous to demand any further process, as the law has been seen to, and what they are asking for is more a lynching than anything else. But as long as they cause no trouble (which many of them have), their rights to free speech should not be curbed.
And of course it was unforeseeable at that moment. This officer had probably arrested many people, some in this manner, like many such arrests nationwide. I’m sure some were obese, out of breath, whatever. The fact that his life was at risk was not something they should have realised, even if he ‘looked unhealthy’. Being fat doesn’t give you asthma or any of the other illnesses he purportedly had.