I saw the following
comment on a
recent article (reason.com) about Chauvin and thought it did a good job of summarizing a lot of points that I think the general public aren't really aware of. As in, I think a lot people just saw the video (which originally never showed the lead up), heard the media narrative.... and that was the extent of what they know about Floyd's death. So it's understandable why a large % of the public would conclude that it's an open and shut case.
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"The medical examiner wrote….wrote, for a jury to see…. that Floyd’s lungs were three times their normal weight from pulmonary edema, which means they were full of fluid to the point that Floyd could not breathe. This is how opioids often kill from significant overdoses. It is caused or exacerbated by congestive heart disease, which Floyd had. It is caused or exacerbated by stress, which Floyd had from being arrested and resisting. It is not caused by neck compression.
In addition, the medical examiner also wrote that he would have listed the cause of death as acute Fentanyl overdose based upon the autopsy, but changed it to murder after an illegal meeting with prosecutors who told him of the officers holding Floyd down. (This resulted in a very, very rare dismissal of the prosecution team from the case by the judge for prosecutorial misconduct… a fact which would also play into any appeal.)
Add in the fact that the MPD written procedures indicate to officers that they place combative suspects that are in medical distress into a prone position (onto their stomachs) with a knee onto the neck or back, until medics arrive….. written procedures which actually have an example image which looks exactly like what officers did with Floyd. This is supported in the video recorded by the witness in which officers discuss and confirm they are following procedure.
In the MPD training white papers on prone restraint, it even states that to untrained members of the public, this restraint technique, which is used specifically to provide minimum injury to the suspect, looks to laypeople like it is injuring someone, and to beware onlookers reaction. This is why Chauvin dismissed the witness complaint about how they were treating Floyd even though he was being taped. Remember, officers generally do not like to be video recorded. You can be sure that if Chauvin thought he was doing something wrong, he would have stopped it once he knew he was on camera.
You are free to go research this yourself, but these facts are not in dispute….the jury will hear them.
Based upon this, a jury may find Chauvin guilty, but any jury operating under ethical standards would not do so in a million years. There is enough direct evidence of reasonable doubt to drive a semi truck through, and further, the evidence points to Chauvin doing the right thing that he was literally trained to do, regardless of public ignorance on the subject."
news.minneapolismn.gov
