Judge releases video of a man dying while in the custody of California police officers – viewer discretion is advised

A friend from California emailed the below video to me. This incident occurred back on March 31, 2020, and a judge recently ordered its release for public view. This video depicts multiple California Highway Patrol officers having blood drawn from a DUI suspect. The suspect had refused to comply and resisted the lawful demands of the authorities. 

My friend prefaced this video with the following.

“Everyone one of these officers involved should lose their jobs at minimum don’t you think?” 

Since my friends’ preface ended with a question mark, I will respond with the below answer.

We live in a time where more and more people despise justice and even shirk at the thought of God’s wrath. During the George Floyd incident, I was perplexed how many were quick to judge those police officers while praising Floyd as a “hero.” I believe the root of this phenomenon is the sin of man worship. Where they worship the creation (or “image bearer”) more than the Creator, the One they were created in the image of.  

Even many professing Christians are giving a grace pass to the lawlessness of criminals while demanding the termination and prosecution of the police officers involved. In California, most shoplifting incidents are no longer prosecutable unless the loss reaches a high dollar value.

The Scriptures are full of warnings that many will come to love evil while hating good, that lawlessness will abound, and that the Lord will punish those that practice lawlessness. Today’s section A, column one of our newspapers read like the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew, and I rejoice in that.

Fact is, the suspect in this video (whose name can be found in the description field) was practicing lawlessness. Furthermore, according to his toxicology report, he was practicing sinful sorcery/witchcraft at the time of his death.

Could the police officers have administered CPR sooner than they did? Yes, but I see no evidence that they had criminal intent, nor malice aforethought to kill the suspect. 

Fact is, had the suspect not been driving under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol, he would have never been stopped by the police. Had he not unlawfully resisted the lawful demands of the authorities, he most likely would have not died while in their custody. Sin has consequences, thus saith the Lord. 

Over the last two years, we saw that over 95% of churches in America sinfully closed the doors of their local churches. They erroneously claimed that according to Romans 13, they were being Biblical by “obeying the authorities.” But that was a wrong interpretation of the Scriptures. Hence, a false teaching, and sinful application. 

Romans 13:1-5 says,

“Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. 4 For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. 5 Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake.”

Christians and/or the church do not have to obey or submit to the “governing authorities” when the authorities either,

• Tell us to do what the Scriptures forbid
• Tell us to not do what the Scriptures command
• Or to go against the Scriptures (our Christian faith).

Applicable to verse 2. The suspect in this video was resisting the ordinance of God. And God further warned, “those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.”

As verse 3 warns. The police in this video “are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same.” 

Had the suspect not been sinning against our Lord by being under the influence of drugs, and unlawfully resisting the lawful demands of the authorities, and had he been doing good rather than evil; this would have never happened.

As verse 4 warns. For those that are doing good (not evil) “the authorities are God’s minister to you for good.” 

“But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil.”

What we see in this video is a demonstration of this passage taking place right before our eyes. The suspect was resisting while doing evil, and God used His authority (via the authorities) to avenge His Holy wrath upon the suspect who was practicing evil. And that does not include the eternal wrath that the non-elect will endure eternally.  

As verse 5 warns. “Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake.”

Being under the influence of sinful substances, especially while driving a motor vehicle, is first and foremost a sin against the Lord. But if you want to have a good clear conscience, then do what is good, and you will have praise from the same authorities. 

I’m an old-school cop, and I can remember when suspects were placed in a carotid neck restraint rendering them unconscious so the blood tech could retrieve blood. Police work isn’t always nice and clean, sometimes it gets down and dirty. As the end times and the signs of these times become eviler, we need our police officers to be rigid, when necessary, not nice. 

So, the moral of this story is, that the resisting suspect in this video is the “evildoer” mentioned in Romans 13, not the officers, and certainly not the churches that obeyed the Scriptures in keeping their churches open as usual on the Lord’s Day. 

And so, I do not believe these police officers, nor the phlebotomist should be terminated or prosecuted. Although some ongoing education and training in these types of arrests/blood withdrawals are warranted. Having said that. These police officers are sinners too, and they need salvation as bad as the criminal, because before He saved me, I was a son of perdition and an enemy of God.

As a policeman, I’ve witnessed many expire giving their last breath of life, and I’ve seen many later after their death. Some were law-abiding victims, and many were sinful lawbreakers. Nonetheless, viewer discretion is advised.