Police brutality

 It was really heart-wrenching to watch the footage where Mr. George Floyd was killed by a police officer in cold blood, aired repeatedly on CNN during the trial. And today there's the news of another victim of police brutality. It's absolutely horrifying.

 Just for everyone's information, it isn't something that only happens in the US. In my country also, there have been quite a few cases over the years where innocent civilians were killed by police.  While rarely resorting to guns as gun possession is strictly unlawful in Japan, they use excessive force when detaining people and that sometimes results in lethal damage to the lungs or the heart of the victim. In one case that happened in a city next to mine, the victim, after a heavy drink, was lying unconscious on the street at midnight when the police came along and detained him with excessive force. He died soon afterwards. Or in a case in Hokkaido, they forced the victim face down on the ground for an extended period of time, making him unable to breathe, much like how Mr. Floyd was killed. The only difference is that no one is held accountable here in Japan. I'd always wondered why the media were not willing to make an issue out of it, and so once left a comment on Yahoo! News Japan saying it's a big social problem that should draw public attention. But the majority of other commenters took sides with the police saying it's standard procedure as there's no telling what risks they may face when dealing with suspicious people, and my comment got tons of thumbs-down. I see their point that there's nothing morally wrong with them taking extra precautions against someone suspicious, but that cannot be an excuse for killing innocent people. It's scary to think that anyone could run the risk of getting killed if they are stupid enough to sleep on the sidewalk, for whatever the reason might be.