This is undoubtedly the most well-known picture in the country right now. It shows Officer Chauvin restraining George Floyd along with the assistance of two other officers. One officer was on Floyd’s lower back and the other was holding his legs. Floyd complained of being unable to breathe while this was going on. Subsequent to this, George Floyd expired.
Officer Chauvin, a 19-year veteran of the Minneapolis Police Department, has been arrested and charged with murder in connection with this event. The other three officers on the scene have been charged with aiding and abetting a murder.
George Floyd is currently a martyr being offered up to the American public. The principal thing that has fueled the vandalism and rioting that has plagued America since the death of George Floyd is the narrative of “black genocide.” According to this narrative, unarmed black men are at risk of dying at the hands of police every time they venture out into the public arena. The idea is that racism is so “systemic” in this country that an innocent remark by a black man can turn into a situation where that person is beaten or killed by police.
This is a myth that is believed by those who want to believe that police are inherently evil.
But, who was George Floyd? Born in Houston, Texas, Floyd was later involved in a home invasion where he threatened a pregnant woman with a knife. He spent four years in prison under a plea deal. Sometime after he was released, Floyd went to Minneapolis where he worked construction and as a bouncer. The bouncer’s job went away due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Because of his checkered past, a few people have been less than sympathetic to Floyd’s demise. That’s wrong. Floyd was handcuffed and did not appear to be a threat to the police. George Floyd certainly did not deserve to be murdered by the police.
But, was Floyd murdered by the police? Ultimately, there will most likely be a trial. At that trial, facts will be presented and a jury will be asked to judge the actions of all the officers.
Part of the facts presented will include video. There are various video clips shot from different angles. However, as someone who has analyzed video for almost two decades, a complete record of what happened is not currently available to the public. Without a complete record, it is presumptuous to assume facts not in evidence.
The key video evidence that is not available is the body cam footage from the officers involved assuming such video exists. This would tell us more about what happened as the officers put Floyd in the police vehicle. It would also probably reveal what happened inside the vehicle.
There are other facts that will be presented at trial. Some of these are contained in the full autopsy that has been released. Click here for a copy.
What does the autopsy tell us? The first item that caught the attention of many people was the statement “No life-threatening injuries identified.”
Didn’t we hear that Floyd died from asphyxiation? Of course, it is possible that asphyxiation occurred from Officer Chauvin applying pressure to Floyd’s neck. However, there was no petechial hemorrhaging of the capillaries in the eyes. This is present in about 85% of asphyxiation cases. Obviously, no crushing of the trachea was observed.
While I have the greatest respect for those who work in the emergency rooms of our hospitals, this puts the lie to the following meme that some health officials have been circulating on the Internet.
Facts matter. The autopsy shows that Officer Chauvin did not crush Floyd’s windpipe. Nor did any other officer.
So, what did cause Floyd’s death? According to the case title it was “Cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint and neck compression.” So, the heart and lungs stopped working. The medical examiner (ME) places the fault due to subdual, restraint and neck compression. This sounds like Floyd was asphyxiated by the officers holding him down.
Is there anything else in the report that might indicate another cause? As it turns out, there is. And this brings up a number of questions. As part of the autopsy process, a toxicology report was created. On page 2 of the report, the detailed findings include Methamphetamine and Fentanyl.
Under the Reference Comments on page 4, this is noted about fentanyl:
So, fatalities have been observed with blood serum concentrations as low as 3 ng/ml. Floyd had 11 ng/ml in his system. Fentanyl is a narcotic that is 50 to 100 times stronger than heroin. It is connected to more drug overdoses in this country than any other opioid.
Fentanyl is a downer. Floyd also had meth in his system which is an upper. Just to be clear, downers depress the system and uppers stimulate the system.
It can be quite dangerous to mix the uppers and downers. Speedballing, that is mixing uppers and downers, has become a growing trend of drug abuse in this country. One can ingest an overdose of a drug without realizing it. This will only become obvious as the drugs wear off. Meth metabolizes more quickly than Fentanyl. That is, meth is flushed from one’s system faster than fentanyl.
Officer Lane said he was concerned about excited delirium with Floyd. The Western Journal of Emergency Medicine states:
Hat Tip…Mark Wauck
Floyd definitely fit the symptoms. He was panicking from claustrophobia about being put in the squad car. He was displaying obvious intoxication. This had been in the initial report from the Cup Foods employees when they called the police. Supposedly Floyd was also saying “I can’t breathe” while he was standing. This was before they tried to put him in the squad car. Severe respiratory depression is one of the symptoms. Anyone who has seen the video of the death knows that there was a sudden cessation of Floyd’s struggling. And he stopped saying that he could not breathe.
The American College of Emergency Physicians’ White Paper Report on Excited Delirium Syndrome recommends two specific responses by law enforcement.
Hat Tip…Mark Wauck
The recommended medical treatment is immobilizing the person. That is what Chauvin and his fellow officers did. Chauvin also upgraded his pending EMT request. The knee on the neck was department-approved for immobilizing. The second officer had pressure on Floyd’s lower back. The third officer was holding down Floyd’s legs. This certainly looks like the officers were attempting to restrain Floyd while they waited for the EMT’s to arrive. If three officers seem excessive, remember that Floyd, although handcuffed, was 6’4 and weighed over 220 pounds.
The neck restraint may have looked bad especially with the subject of the restraint complaining the he couldn’t breathe, but it did not involve strangulation or asphyxia or even a bruise. The autopsy showed no trauma on the body.
Another fact lending support to the idea that George Floyd may have become highly agitated is the injuries to his head and neck. There were numerous small cuts and abrasions listed in the report.
Perhaps, body cam footage, if it exists, might show the exact nature of what the officers were dealing with. It could highlight how these injuries came to be.
Officer Chauvin knew he was being filmed from multiple angles. However, he did not seem concerned, nor did the other officers. This could indicate he thought he was acting appropriately.
There are undoubtedly more aspects to this case than have been expressed here. What I have attempted to do here is bring out some aspects of the case that one is not going to hear from the MSM. You won’t hear it from them because it does not fit their narrative.
True investigative journalism has all but disappeared from the main stream media. The facts presented above are available to anyone with just a little effort. However, the media keep pushing the myth of black genocide by racist police. Floyd’s death has been made into a political event. It has led to rioting, looting, murder, arson and mayhem across the country. The media is either ignorant or willfully complicit in the violence we are all seeing.
What if the officers were actually trying to save George Floyd from doing further harm to himself? If you are a fair-minded person sitting on the jury and this information was presented to you, what would your verdict be?