3rd Degree Murder, Manslaughter Charges Brought in Death of George Floyd

Freeman in reply to Jaybird says:

Floyd did not die from asphyxiation. The technique used on him appeared to be a form of sleeper hold, sometimes called a “blood choke”, where the oxygen supply to the brain is impeded by suppressing the blood flow instead of choking off airflow (which leaves telltale bruising). Two points I’ve seen repeated a lot by MMA fighters: In training and competition it is extremely important to release immediately if the opponent loses conscousness, and it is extemely painful. That poor man was tortured to death while Chauvin taunted him and smirked at appalled bystanders, and three others aided and abetted, two holding Floyd’s back and legs and the other holding back bystanders who desperately wanted to intervene. I can’t think of a more shameful act I’ve ever witnessed on video in my 60 years.

I’m also suspicious about the autopsy report. Deeply suspicious. I’ve read the criminal complaint and several things jumped out at me.

On the autopsy: I’m not an expert in forensics, but I assume that death by oxygen deprivation to the brain can be determined. They only reported findings related specifically to strangulation. And a couple of common and often mild heart conditions. The phrase “any potential intoxicants in his system” is also very suspicious language – toxicology testing is standard autopsy practice, so why don’t they report the results? Instead of a cause of death statement we get speculative inferrence with a heavy dose of blame-the-victim. Very unprofessional. Yes, I know the autopsy report is “preliminary”, but I suspect they have a lot more answers than we’re being led to believe.

On the criminal complaint: It is asserted that “Mr. Floyd actively resisted being handcuffed”, then “became compliant”. We’ve seen that video, and that’s no more resisting being handcuffed that the human body’s natural resistance to being placed in that position. Ever been handcuffed by the police? Trying not to resist is harder than you might think, and they do not make it easy on you, often yelling “stop resisiting” while they force your body to resist. They then assert that “Mr. Floyd did not voluntarily get in the car and struggled with the officers by intentionally falling down, saying he was not going in the car, and refusing to stand still.” I would need to see that video to be convinced that he resisted to getting in the car any more than to being cuffed, since I’ve already seen how they exaggerated that event. (Not that his resistance matters – what they did to him cannot be justified by deflecting the attention to his behavior). They go on to assert “While standing outside the car, Mr. Floyd began saying and repeating that he could not breathe.” Again, I’m skeptical that this happened spontaneously as asserted until I see some video. They then infer a timeline that doesn’t match the cellphone video, asserting that Chauvin removed his knee from Floyd’s neck, then the ambulance arrived and the victim was placed on a gurney. What I saw was Chauvin keeping his knee on the neck while paramedics checked for a pulse (which was the second time he was informed that the victim did not have one) and holding it there until the paramedics returned with the gurney. I assumed Floyd was already dead at that point just by the lack of urgency on the paramedics’ part after checking for a pulse, and the way he was dumped and rolled into the gurney.

One very damning piece from the criminal complaint that we haven’t seen on video yet: It asserts that Chauvin went around to the passenger side of the squad car and pulled while two others pushed, and managed to get Floyd in the back of the squad car where they wanted him. Next it says “The defendant pulled Mr. Floyd out of the passenger side of the squad car at 8:19:38 p.m. and Mr. Floyd went to the ground face down and still handcuffed.” So if that’s true it shows strong evidence of intention to cause harm for no reason other than malice, making the 3rd-degree murder charge seem even weaker in proportion to the crime, and shows even less reason to let his accomplices off the hook.

It’s now come out that Chauvin worked for 17 years doing security for a latin-themed nightclub, whose former owner says he was nice to hispanic crowds but went “overkill” on predominantly black crowds, spraying mace indiscriminately into the crowd and calling in backup when fights broke out instead of breaking up the fight (which was his job). Guess who also worked there as a bouncer? Yep, George Floyd. The owner says she doesn’t know if they knew each other but I won’t be surprised if it comes out they had a history before Monday’s event.

This whole thing stinks to high heaven.Report