Earlier this month, a distinguished professor of organic chemistry at Cornell University sent two tweets relating to the current riots that have spread across the country following the police-involved death of Minneapolis resident George Floyd.
The professor, David Collum, responded to a video of police officers in Buffalo, New York, shoving an older gentleman who then stumbles backwards and falls, hitting his head on the sidewalk, resulting in visible bleeding. While many saw the incident as police brutality, Collum pointed out that the “guy needed to give that cop space,” saying it “Wasn’t brutality: the guy was feeble. The cracked skull (which I agree was the likely event) was self inflicted.” Collum also tweeted: “Can you imagine how fried these cops are at this point? The guy got a nudge. The old guy had something in his hand. Looked like maybe a taser. If [I] were a cop, my nerves would be raw. I am tired of these riots.”
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