A mixture most likely. The incompetence is astounding, but to use force like that on an unarmed individual is also sick and evil. Not all of those who wear a badge are evil though. I'm reminded of that old saying, absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Usually is incompetence ....

I do not think the response options come even close to addressing the issue. This whole thing is much more complex than simply a choice between evil and incompetence.
Let's start with incompetence - I do not think there was incompetence. From what I can gather the "knee on the neck" is a fairly common technique used by many members of the police force, could even be part of their training, to subdue someone. Where the question comes in is why the arresting officer(s) did not pay attention to FG stating that he could not breathe. Again, it is possible that this could have been seen as a tactic to get free of and continue with resistance. It is also possible that with some familiarity, Chauvin may have viewed this as more BS from FG since he had a string of petty crimes, was probably recognized as being on some mood/mind altering drug, and there is of course the power trip thing. Regardless, that is where the first failure occurred.
As for the evil extreme - again, I do not believe that it was anybodies intent to kill FG, which would put in the "evil" category. There may have been some animosity because of the jobs at the nightclub, but I doubt that will ever be explored much since thinking and actions will be revised the reduce or highlight disagreements, so just speculation. Did Chauvin intend to be the flame that started the riots, really would doubt that, he was a police officer doing his job, perhaps with more disregard for those in his custody than necessary.

The real issue IMHO is that this whole situation is being used by all sides to promote their own political and perhaps worse, aspirations. The left is accusing the right of trying to set up a dictatorship, which seems to be a Trump aspiration. The white supremacists seems to want to incite racial violence and strife, ANTIFA seems to be somewhere in this mix, although I still do not understand their interest, other than opposing fascism, again something that has been associated with Trump. The right is accusing the left of using ANTIFA to stir up rioting and looting and wanting to take their guns away. Probably a few other wild accusations on that side as well.

Is it a really a race thing, not so sure but it is certainly held up as that. It is easy to blame race for all kinds if inequities, and it is true, that sometimes it can cause problems, but until we are able to recognize that we are all human beings, we all have the same basic aspirations to provide for our loved ones and give our children opportunities in a safe environment and we all deserve to be treated with decency, until that day, we will hide behind blaming others for the inability of our society, us as Americans as a whole, to provide for basic human rights and needs. The riots are certainly highlighting the perceptions and realities of our society that clearly must be addressed. Until we can stop finger pointing and tackling the issues head on, as a society i.e. all of us, we will continue to struggle with things like this.

The four cops did not know they were dealing with a man who had a heart condition, covid, and a range of drugs in his blood including fentanyl and meth. The only thing is they should have monitored his breathing more closely than they did. The devil’s media created this chaos. On balance, all this unrest is waking up many people to the irrationality of the media and leftism. Too bad we don’t have a politician to elect that will serve the people.

i see more problems with the cop than the man he killed. this cop probably came from an abusive family. he was a bully and was probably bullied growing up. he should have been reigned in a long time ago.

I don't believe that we have enough information to know whether those events are more evil or more incompetence. We need answers to many questions.

The first answer that I want is what happened exactly in the store where he tried to pass the counterfeit money. I don't believe that the police department is going to send two cars and four officers to respond to some guy just passing a counterfeit bill. On the other hand, that response is completely appropriate if the clerk used one of those pens, saw that the bill was counterfeit, tried to reject the bill, and was threatened by Floyd. If Floyd was screaming, and waving his arms in a threatening way, the clerk would have a legitimate fear of being hurt. That situation could bring that kind of response. If Floyd's actions led to police to arrive at the scene expecting a fight, that does set a different tone for everything that happened later.

The second answer that I want is how Floyd ended up on the ground. The initial complaint against Chauvin said that Floyd flopped on the ground when they tried to put him in the police car. That complaint said that when they loaded him in the car, he actively tried to resist. The implication is that they put him on the ground to try to make him accept getting into the police car. That idea doesn't seem bad, but I want to know whether that's how it happened.

The third answer I want is what Chauvin was thinking when he put his knee on Floyd's neck. Is that some technique that the department taught him and recommended? Did he just come up with that idea on his own. As I've said previously, Chauvin owes everyone an answer to the question "What the Hell were you thinking?"

I'd like to see an autopsy report that seemed honest and complete. Everyone seems to agree that Floyd had problems with his circulatory system. The family autopsy just seems like something that pathologists wrote to appease the family's desire to tell one narrative. The preliminary report seems incomplete. The final press release just sounds like the county trying to play politics by telling people what they want to hear. I've even seen rumors that Floyd had COVID-19. Floyd had fentanyl in his system and had been taking meth. In that sense, he had been doing things to destroy his body. I don't know whether a true independent autopsy could be possible any longer, but I'd like to see those results.

No one should be allowed to resist arrest and get away with crimes just because he has heart issues and might have a heart attack if he's arrested. If the heart attack was just the natural result of a guy with clogged arteries feeling stress because he's being arrested, that's no one fault. If the heart attack was significantly influenced by Floyd's use of drugs, that's his fault. The autopsies disagree about how much the knee on Floyd's neck caused his death, but that could be either police incompetence or evil.

The hiring practices of police forces are mostly to blame these have happened in the state where I live also all have been done by city or county police. The state patrol has had none that I know of and I have lived here for 45 years. The difference is the hiring and training the first thing that a state patrol applicant gets is a psychological evaluation they then go through a 6 month training kind of like boot camp and at the end they are reevaluated. This weeds out people like Chauvin. County and city police precinct don't have the resources to do this type of training though and end up with people like this on the police forces.

All evil is a result of ignorance and stupidity.

I was leaning towards incompetent evil thug but learning they worked together added the possibility of premeditated murder related to another crime. Have to wait for more information. The "forging a $20 in his car" sounds like planted evidence. Hopefully Carol Baskine will chime in to clear things up.

Haven't you ever watched COPS or like shows. Every Black that is arrested has been trained by Liberal Leftist to blame the cops. Not literally but by constant propaganda. No matter how guilty first thing out of their mouth is "I did'nt do it" then, "Your huring me"......If you had to deal with gang bangers all the time, you would tell a different tale. But you would not have the nerve to have that job in the first place.

I don't really believe in "evil" in a broad sense, so it's hard for me to call this an act of "evil." I do think it is a murder and there is no excuse and no "accident" about it.

To put my opinion into context, I work in a field adjacent to law enforcement. (I am not a sworn police officer.) I know that there is no reason an officer's knee should be on a person's neck for any extended period of time. I try to look at this without considering race at all. Putting a knee on a person's neck is a bad move because of the potential risk of injury, suffocation, and death. He knew his knee was there. He chose to leave it there. The risk of suffocation and death increased with every additional minute he left it there.

To me, the victim's race and background do not matter to whether I consider the death an act of evil and/or incompetence. In my opinion, it does go beyond "accident" and basic/innocent "incompetence" to have left his knee in that position for minutes on end. It's very obviously incompetent. I hesitate to call it "evil," but I do call it murder. I believe a conscious choice was made that resulted in the murder.

Long story short, I don't think it was evil as much as it was EGO. The cop's ego was out of control. This tells me he has gotten away with this kind of behavior before and was emboldened to keep acting this way. Without knowing the deets, I'll put money on it that he's had complaints against him in the past. Glad he is off the streets, he gives real cops the bad name they are being painted with now. All the others involved were either too scared and/or intimidated to stop him or too jaded to care. This will be a sad day that will take generations to get past. SMH..........

I can't participate in this poll without the testimonies of the officers involved in combination with both autopsies and Floyd's fully medical history. We need to slow down and reserve judgment.

Why is the poll so limiting to the range of possible interpretations?

I think there are probably more useful ways to analyze police brutality than through a Evil<->Incompetence spectrum.

Is it possible that his past behavior was excused due to an overabundant acceptance of inappropriate behavior within the department? That might even apply to other departments I guess

After pursuing the comments I realize we too are sipping the soup du jour, commenting on it’s texture, aroma etc and ignoring the toxins in it and who it may be poisoning our dishes.
Another straw man to batter down, while the true culprits sneak away and prepare to take more, twist more, corrupt more...again and again.
Their playbook is so worn, torn and known and yet still these plays are effective, here we are debating the minutiae, focusing on these details to the exclusion of the real threat. I can’t say what/who/where that “real threat” is, but you know what I am referring to, correct?
Is it Soros, that seems too easy, too Straw man-ish itself...is he a player in a larger organization?
The Masons? I hear troubling things about that group...
This can’t be, in my think-space, a conspiracy theory, it’s too prevalent, to organized, too effective to be unrelated coincidences between which unbalanced minds have drawn sketches of grand designs.
Come on dammit, let’s find these bastards out and end them.
...also could be aliens...

Haven't you ever watched COPS or like shows. Every Black that is arrested has been trained by Liberal Leftist to blame the cops. Not literally but by constant propaganda. No matter how guilty first thing out of their mouth is "I did'nt do it" then, "Your huring me"......

The problem with asserting incompetence is that a knee on the neck is not normally an accepted or allowed police procedure. The cop isn't misusing a valid takedown maneuver. Just by doing what he did, he went off any valid use of force into abuse of power. Doing it for 8 minutes...sorry folks...that's evil.

There aren't any mitigating factors that I'm aware of. I don't know how it went from Floyd surrending peacefully to having an officer's full weight on the back of his neck. I'd like to. But at this point I suspect if it would have helped the Officer's case we would all know by now.

The hardest part with this is proving Murder 1. That's what the protesters want. A conviction that sends all 4 cops on the scene to prison for the rest of their lives. Can we honestly call this premeditated murder?

What the rioters want, they're getting every night.

more information is required.

Wake up! This was a staged event by the Deep State.

Police behavior should be as such: Protect and serve. It is for the most part, however police brutality does happen. I do not think we are getting all the facts about this specific case.

Why are American cops so highly strung,

So who has seen the body cam video?

At least one cop was wearing one...