The account claimed that the man “was injured when he tripped and fell.” If a video hadn’t existed, the truth might never have come out. In a suburb of Sacramento in April, a police officer punched a 14-year-old boy multiple times while arresting him; the officer’s report didn’t mention the punches. The Minneapolis police’s account of George Floyd’s death initially left out the most important details, like the knee pressed on his neck for almost nine minutes. Philip Stinson, a criminologist at Bowling Green State University, who has analyzed thousands of police reports, told CNN that lies like these were fairly common. And reducing the frequency of false reports by the police is likely to be a key issue.

Source: New York Times June 08, 2020 10:30 UTC