The police officer who mocked basketball legend LeBron James in a viral TikTok video has previously defended Kim Potter, the former Brooklyn Center veteran police officer who is charged with second-degree manslaughter over the shooting death of 20-year-old Daunte Wright.
In TikTok videos posted last Thursday, Nate Silvester—an officer with the Marshal's Office in Bellevue, Idaho—came to Potter's defense after a commenter made fun of her on one of the cop's TikTok videos, in which he orchestrates a prank on his coworkers involving a taser.
The commenter joked "At least he knows the difference between a glock and a taser," referring to debates over whether Potter mistakenly grabbed her gun instead of her taser before shooting Wright. Silvester posted a two-part response to the comment, claiming he has been "getting lots of these comments lately" from people he assumes have "never worn a uniform."
"Yeah, the female officer in the Daunte Wright incident f***ed up big time, she made a huge mistake, it's awful, it's horrible, but at least she had the balls to wear the badge and do the job for 26 years in an area like Minneapolis," he said.
Silvester continued by stating he could "only imagine the amount of good" Potter has done in her 26 years on the force.
"Endless crimes that have been prevented, probably saved a few lives even," he said. "But none of that stuff matters now. It's all being disregarded because of this one mistake, and her life has changed forever."
In his second video, Silvester went on: "Your response to my comment at the end of the part one of this is 'Well, resisting arrest doesn't warrant a death sentence.' No s**t. No one ever said it did."
"But when you fight with the cops and escalate an already tense situation, bad things can happen," he continued. "You see, the suspect chooses how the encounter goes. Either he can choose to cooperate or he can choose to fight. And if he chooses the fight, what do you think the likely outcome is?"
Silvester claimed use of excessive force by law enforcement "happens very rarely, contrary to what CNN would have you believe."
"But you don't have the right to resist arrest," he said. "And the police are not required to stand down so that you can safely resist arrest and make it home unscathed. Stop fighting the cops on the street and have your day in court."
An Instagram account that appears to belong to Silvester features a number of memes supportive of former President Donald Trump. One video reposted on the account depicts footage of people lying down on a street with the caption "Protesters laying in the road," which cuts to a group of men in a car that bumps violently—presumably as it drives over the protesters—with the caption "Me and the boys on our way to the Trump rally."
The people in the video were lying face-down with their hands behind their backs, a position similar to Black Lives Matter protesters silently commemorating George Floyd by emulating his final moments under the knee of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.
In his viral TikTok video posted on Sunday, Silvester pretended to ask LeBron James' suggestions on what to do as the officer witnessed a pretend knife assault carried out by one Black person towards another.
"So, you don't care if a Black person kills another Black person—but you do care if a white cop kills a Black person, even if he's doing it to save the life of another Black person?" the cop asks, supposedly expanding on James' advice to him. "I mean, that doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but then again, you're really good at basketball so I guess I'll take your word for it."
After hanging up, Silvester calls out of his car window: "Sorry guys, you're on your own, good luck!"
The officer's video, which has been viewed over 3.1 million times on TikTok, came amid backlash over a now-deleted tweet by James after 16-year-old Ma'Khia Bryant, a Black girl, was shot dead by a white police officer last Tuesday in Columbus, Ohio.
Bodycam footage appeared to show Bryant allegedly charging at two other Black girls while swinging a kitchen knife. Officer Nicholas Reardon instructs the teenager to "Get down," before shooting her four times.
On Wednesday, James shared a photo of Reardon with the tweet "YOU'RE NEXT #ACCOUNTABILITY" and an hourglass emoji.
James subsequently deleted his tweet, as critics accused him of encouraging violence on social media. The removed post was nonetheless widely condemned and derided by conservative commentators and law enforcement officials.
