Als’ Sutton expresses outrage over killing of George Floyd
There was no justification for how officer reacted to the situation, tailback says
MONTREAL He grew up as the son of a police officer, but Alouettes tailback Tyrell Sutton said in no way is he conflicted over what Derek Chauvin did to George Floyd last week.
“This was plain murder,” Sutton charged. “It was premeditated. You’ve already detained the suspect, in handcuffs. It’s plain to see on the video. Why do you have to be on the back of this man’s neck for several minutes while (he’s) handcuffed? It’s now malicious intent. Point-blank. Period.”
Raised by his mother in a single-parent household, Sutton saw his father every two weeks, on weekends, admitting it wasn’t the greatest father-son relationship. But Sutton saw enough of his father to understand, as he got older, the machinations of how Anthony Sutton Sr. approached his job.
Sutton’s father became a cop in 1994, patrolling a beat in Akron, Ohio, for more than 20 years before being promoted to detective. Sutton said his father was calm and believed in communicating first, when possible, with anyone suspected of a crime.
Sutton wonders whether his father, who fired his gun only once in more than 20 years, would have even responded to the call last week in Minneapolis. Floyd was arrested for allegedly using counterfeit money for cigarettes, then died after Chauvin applied his knee to the back of Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes.
CNN reported Wednesday afternoon that Chauvin has now been charged with second-degree murder and that the three other officers on scene during Floyd’s killing have been charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter.
Sutton said his father was never a “rambunctious” cop.
“He never tried to harm anybody,” Sutton added. “He used logic, his mind. He was there to protect people. You don’t just throw people in jail because they do something stupid.
“As a cop, you can ruin people’s lives over the power you hold. Some things are meaningless, some not,” Sutton continued. “Not all cops are bad people. Not all black people are scary, intimidating or overbearing. Not everyone’s a threat based on skin colour.”
There was no justification, Sutton said, for what Chauvin did or how he reacted.
“Passing off counterfeit money. This is what it was worth? At the end of the day, it wasn’t worth what happened to him,” said Sutton, who returned to the Als last winter as a free agent following stops in British Columbia and Hamilton.
“If you think you need to solve this crime, you need to look into the situation accordingly,” Sutton added. “You don’t bum-rush someone over $20.”
Predictably, Sutton said he was outraged watching the graphic footage of Floyd’s arrest. But, as other African-americans have expressed since the incident, Sutton’s hardly shocked or surprised, noting racism has been an ongoing occurrence for decades. Sutton said people might finally be realizing why former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick took a knee in defiance during the playing of the U.S. anthem.
“We’ve been talking about this for a long time,” Sutton said. “We’re still talking about the same thing. People were outraged about (Kaepernick) taking a knee to talk about exactly what we’re talking about.”
Sutton married a francophone, Emilie Desgagné — who is an Als’ social media content director — last summer and they became parents of a baby boy in early April. Sutton, 33, is in the process of becoming a Canadian citizen and expects to remain in Montreal following his career.
While he certainly feels safer in Canada, Sutton said he nonetheless continues taking the necessary precautions. For example, when stopped at a corner waiting for a light to change, he won’t jaywalk in plain view of a police officer, even when others do.
Sutton, who lives in Maisonneuve-hochelaga, said he has been called the N-word while out walking in the borough. While he laughed about it later, Sutton also expressed sadness that it’s still happening in 2020 and admitted it doesn’t help that his car has tinted windows.
Sutton didn’t participate in last Sunday’s protest in Montreal — one that started peacefully before some looting ensued. While he doesn’t condone the looting that happened here, or continues in the U.S., Sutton called it collateral damage in many ways.
“We’ve been talking about this a long time,” he said. “It’s unfortunate businesses are going to have to suffer. It’s part of the process, unfortunately. What do you do when nobody will hear you? You’ve been screaming about this, over and over. At what point in time is your anger justified? Are you allowed to express your frustration over never being heard?”