Tucson Police arrested 19 people the first night of protests in response to George Floyd’s killing. Charges ranged from obstructing streets to aggravated battery on an officer. Police have also arrested about a dozen people for violating curfew. Christopher Conover spoke with Tucson Police Chief Chris Magnus about the department’s response. Magnus said the curfew has been useful.
“I think we still have some tests ahead of us, but I think it’s safe to say it has been helpful,” Magnus said.
This week he attended a candlelight vigil for Floyd at the Dunbar Pavilion as an invited guest. He told Conover that he empathizes with their calls to end systemic racism and that the video of Floyd’s killing disgusted him. According to Magnus, officers are not trained to put their knees on peoples’ necks.
“It’s something that we look for in any situation where we have to use force to make sure that that force is not excessive or to make sure that officers are not going further than they need to go in terms of using the least amount of force necessary to make an arrest,” Magnus said.
On the issue of reform, Magnus supports possible revisions to qualified immunity which prevents officers and other government officials from being sued for actions they take on the job.
“I think there’s some reasons for qualified immunity, which are more complex sometimes than the public understands. But I think that immunity and the use of it may have gone too far at this point,” Magnus said.
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