If you’re an idiot, an asshole or just happen to watch too much Fox News — you would probably believe that former Officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on George Floyd’s neck for 9.5 minutes had nothing to do with his subsequent death. There was no need or justification for the many demonstrations against police violence last summer. Black Lives don’t Matter because they are not specifically targeted for arrest, brutalization and murder at rate of 2-3 times greater than Whites.
It’s all just a sham, it’s all just a bunch of hype.
If you’re someone like Tucker Carlson, George Floyd died of a drug overdose.
Carlson: There was no physical evidence that George Floyd was murdered by a cop. The autopsy showed that George Floyd almost certainly died of a drug overdose. fentanyl. By that point facts didn’t matter, it was too late. Cities had been destroyed along with fabric of this country itself. Scores of people had been killed. Democratic partisans used a carefully constructed myth, a lie, to bum rush America into overturning the old order and grant them much more power. It worked flawlessly.
After nine days of the prosecutions case, presenting some devastating testimony, we now know what the myth is and what is the reality.
Watching this trial has been brutal. The hand-held cell phone video which put this case on the national map has been played over and over, and then over and over again. The young woman, who was 17-years-old at the time who took the tape has testified and lamented that she couldn’t do anything more to help Mr. Floyd.
A professional mixed martial artists who was there on the scene and was most vocal — calling Chauvin a “fucking bum” — testified that he recognized the “blood choke” that was being used on Floyd and that from his own professional experience holding someone in that position was deadly.
A Minnesota Firefighter who happened to be walking past the area and joined the crowd talking to the police had identified herself, concerned for Floyd’s health, and was told by the officers that she “Shouldn’t get involved.” She was one of the many witnesses who broke down and later stated that it’s stressful “to watch someone be killed.”
The Paramedics who picked Floyd up and took him to the hospital testified that he was already dead when they arrived.
The police chief has testified arguing that the knee on the neck position is not part of Minneapolis PD raiding, and that this was a case “of Murder.”
The teenage store employee who had taken Floyd’s bad 20 dollar bill testified that he had wished that he had just paid for it out of his own money, and said he was sorry that it had turned into all this.
George Floyd’s current girlfriend tearfully testified that he was a good man, that he was warm, funny and friendly. She admitted that she and George had struggled with an opiod addiction brought on after been prescribed pain killers, as many people these days have.
Many of these witnesses have been heart wrenchingly earnest, both those who knew George personally and those who did not.
George’s autopsy showed that he was suffering from heart disease, that he had both methamphetamine and fentanyl in his system — but none of these were sufficient to kill him on this particular day while he happened to have three police officers on his back and neck, forcing him into the pavement. He died from a “low level of oxygen.”
Dr Martin Tobin, a pulmonologist, told the jury at Chauvin's murder and manslaughter trial that he had watched videos of Floyd's May 25, 2020 arrest "hundreds of times."
"Mr. Floyd died from a low level of oxygen," Tobin told the nine-woman, five-man jury hearing the high-profile case in a heavily guarded Minneapolis courtroom.
"This caused damage to his brain," he said, and arrhythmia -- an irregular heartbeat -- which "caused his heart to stop."
[...]
Eric Nelson, Chauvin's defense attorney, has suggested at several points during the trial that Chauvin's body weight was actually on Floyd's shoulder or back at times and not on his neck.
Tobin disagreed.
"Officer Chauvin's knee is virtually on the neck for the vast majority of the time," he said, "more than 90 percent of the time."
[...]
Tobin dismissed defense claims that any pre-existing medical conditions may have contributed to Floyd's death.
"A healthy person subjected to what Mr. Floyd was subjected to would have died as a result of what he was subjected to," he said.
Dr. Tobin pointed out that if the fentanyl had made a major impact on Floyd’s system it would have caused “respiratory depression” which would have reduced his rate of breathing, however until he couldn’t breath anymore after five minutes being compressed against the ground Floyd maintained a respiratory rate of 22 breaths per minute. Also on redirect the prosecutor pointed out that people who die from fentanyl usually lapse into a coma first. Floyd was never in a coma.
Meth in your system acts as a stimulant and wouldn’t have had an affect which would have reduced the oxygen in his system. He only had about 17 mg of Meth in his system with Dr. Tobin stated was about enough for a standard prescription dose. Certainly not enough to kill him. He had just over half this amount, 11 mg, of fentanyl in his system, about 5mg had already metabolized indicating it had been from a previous dose, not just from the remains of the two tablets found in the back of the police cruiser. Similarly if he had suffered a heart attack due to the 70-90% occlusion of several of his arteries he would have suffered from chest pain and other effects.
Dr. Tobin specifies that Floyd’s chest was being compressed between the ground and officer Chauvin who had his knee on his back. That a second officer who was twisting his fingers and turning his arm in the cuffs was causing him difficulty in breathing and the in the video you could see him trying to roll his shoulder and use his knuckles against the car tire to gain even leverage to pull air into his lungs. His left lung was completely compressed between the ground and the officers while he struggled to get air into the right side. Eventually, he lost that fight.
Dying from a lack of oxygen doesn’t leave any clear trace in an autopsy, and having a static, rather than dynamic, pressure applied to his neck wouldn’t leave a bruise. Also Dr. Tobin took on the “if you can talk you can breath” argument by stating that just because you may have managed to dredge up enough air to speak at one particular moment doesn’t mean that breathing isn’t difficult, and it doesn’t mean that you might not be dead 10 seconds later.
In the end, Dr. Tobin testified that George Floyd didn’t die from Meth, he didn’t die from a heart condition, and he didn’t die from fentanyl.
He died because of the actions of Derek Chauvin and his fellow officers. Period. There is no other viable option.
This is not a myth. This is not a lie. This is not work of “Democratic partisans.” It’s not a ploy to “gain power.”
This was a murder.
Friday, Apr 9, 2021 · 4:43:58 AM +00:00
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Frank Vyan Walton
Just for the record as of the first two weeks of demonstation — according to Forbes — the number of people killed during George Floyd protests was 19. Many of them were protestors.
Calvin L. Horton Jr., 43, Minnesota: Horton was fatally shot near the Minneapolis Police Department’s Third Precinct two days after Floyd’s death in what is believed to be the first killing since the protests began.
Javar Harrell, 21, Michigan: Harrell was shot May 29 as protests erupted in Detroit; his family has said that he was not protesting and it’s not clear whether his death is connected to the protests.
Dave Patrick Underwood, 53, California: Underwood was shot May 30 while on guard duty outside a federal courthouse in Oakland and was one of two officers targeted in a drive-by shooting amid nearby protests.
James Scurlock, 22, Nebraska: A violent encounter with a white bar owner, Jake Gardner, during a protest in Omaha on May 30 led to the death of 22-year-old Scurlock, who is black. Surveillance footage shows Scurlock jumping on Gardner; the Douglas County Attorney’s Office determined that Garner acted in self-defense and he will not face charges.
Barry Perkins, 29, Missouri: The St. Louis resident was reportedly run over and killed by a FedEx truck while attending a protest on May 30.
Chris Beaty, 38, Indiana: Just a few feet from his apartment, the former Indiana University football player and local business owner was killed on May 30 amid unrest in Indianapolis.
Dorian Murrell, 18, Indiana: Only a few hours after Beaty’s death, Murrell was fatally wounded in an early morning shooting on May 31.
Italia Kelly, 22, Iowa: Kelly was shot and killed around midnight on May 31 while leaving a protest outside a Walmart in Davenport, Iowa.
Marquis M. Tousant, 23, Iowa: Tousant was found dead at the same scene as Kelly, outside the Davenport Walmart, where authorities say a police ambush unfolded.
Marvin Francois, 50, Missouri: Francois was fatally shot after a protest in Kansas City on May 31, with police reporting his killers were three men attempting to steal his car.
John Tiggs, 32, Illinois: Tiggs was fatally struck in the abdomen by shots fired inside a Metro PCS during lootings in the South Side of Chicago on May 31.
David McAtee, 53, Kentucky: McAtee was shot on the morning of June 1 as National Guard troops and local police tried to disperse crowds of protestors in Louisville; his death led to the immediate firing of Louisville Metro Police Chief Steve Conrad, as two of the officers involved in the shooting had not activated body cameras.
Jose Gutierrez, 28, Illinois: Gutierrez was shot on June 1 in the Chicago suburb of Cicero, where unrest and looting led the city to declare a state of emergency.
Victor Cazares Jr., 27, Illinois: Cazares was killed by a shot to the head in Cicero in a separate incident on the same day; both deaths have been ruled as homicides.
Jorge Gomez, 25, Las Vegas: Gomez was shot by officers during a protest that turned violent on June 1; Gomez was armed and allegedly pulled a gun at officers.
David Dorn, 77, Missouri: The retired St. Louis police captain was killed by people looting a pawn shop after midnight on June 2, according to authorities.
Robert Forbes, 55, California: Forbes died on June 6, a few days after he was struck by a car while peacefully protesting in California City.
Two unidentified males died in Philadelphia on the night of June 2; one suspected looter was killed by the owner of a gun shop and the other was killed trying to blow up an ATM on the sidewalk.