A life that doesn't matter

Have you ever heard of Tony Timpa? If not, you are hardly unique. Timpa, a Texan man, was killed by Dallas police officers in 2016 in virtually identical circumstances to those that caused the death of Georg Floyd. Yet there has been miniscule media coverage, and zero interest from civil liberties and human rights groups. So what gives?

If anything, the circumstances of his killing are even more egregious than in the Floyd case—he was pinned to the ground in a prone position for 14 minutes, rather than the 9 minutes for Floyd.

In both cases, large men under the influence of drugs of drugs were pinned by an officer's knee to the ground for prolonged periods (Timpa called 911 while having a mental health breakdown); both cried out desperately before dying; in neither case did the police take action to save the victim's life.

In Timpa's case the officers mocked him, joking after he lost consciousness that he needed to wake up because it was "time for school".

You will no doubt have guessed that the key distinction is that Timpa is white and so, as in the case of Ashli Babbitt shot during the Capitol riot, it does not conform to the identarian Left's "social justice" narrative.

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Lawyers for the police officer who held Dallas resident Tony Timpa face down on the ground for more than 14 minutes until he died in 2016 have raised a connection to George Floyd’s death four years later to question whether Dallas officers should have known prior to the ensuing national debate that holding subjects in the “prone restraint” could be unlawful.

...

Timpa was 32 when he died in the custody of Dallas police officers in August 2016. He was suffering from a mental-health breakdown at the time, and had called 911 for help.

The Timpa case received renewed attention because of the many similarities between Timpa’s death and Floyd’s death. Both cases involved large men who’d taken drugs and died after they were pinned to the ground for an extended period in the prone position. Neither man was armed, and neither had committed a significant crime (police were called to the Timpa case for a medical emergency). Both men cried for help before they died (Timpa: “You’re gonna kill me.” Floyd: “I can’t breathe.”) And in neither case did officers attempt life-saving measures, even after Floyd and Timpa appeared limp and lifeless. In Timpa’s case, the officers mocked him, and joked after he’d lost consciousness that he needed to wake up because it was “time for school.”

But there was no national uproar after Timpa’s death, and no national cries for justice and reform. Many argued that was largely because of race — Timpa was white, Floyd was black. Another factor: a cell phone video of Floyd’s death was soon published on Facebook, while body camera footage from Timpa’s death wasn’t released for almost three years.

A grand jury indicted three of the Dallas officers on misdemeanor deadly conduct charges, but the district attorney dismissed them.

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