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African-American George Floyd's death has led to marches, demonstrations, acts of violence, and looting across the USA and in other parts of the world. Emotions are running high. We will not attempt to accuse or defend anyone here. Just attempt to lay out the information we have and offer it up for the community to discuss. Many comments about this incident have been posted to unrelated stories on this site. This is, therefore, an attempt to provide one place on SoylentNews where people are encouraged to discuss it. So as to not derail other stories on the site, I kindly ask you focus those comments here.
Wikipedia has a page about this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_George_Floyd (permanent link to the page as it appeared at the time of writing):
On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, an African-American man, was killed in the Powderhorn community of Minneapolis, Minnesota. While Floyd was handcuffed and lying face down on a city street during an arrest, Derek Chauvin, a white American Minneapolis police officer, kept his knee on the right side of Floyd's neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds; according to the criminal complaint against Chauvin, 2 minutes and 53 seconds of that time occurred after Floyd became unresponsive.[3][4][5][6][7] Officers Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng, and Thomas K. Lane participated in Floyd's arrest, with Kueng holding Floyd's back, Lane holding his legs, and Thao looking on and preventing intervention by an onlooker as he stood nearby.[8]:6:24[9][10]
The arrest was made after Floyd was accused of using a counterfeit $20 bill at a market.[11] Police said Floyd physically resisted arrest.[12][13] Some media organizations commented that a security camera from a nearby business did not show Floyd resisting.[14][15] The criminal complaint filed later said that based on body camera footage, Floyd repeatedly said he couldn't breathe while standing outside the police car, resisted getting in the car and intentionally fell down.[16][17][18][19] Several bystanders recorded the event on their smartphones, with one video showing Floyd repeating "Please", "I can't breathe", "Mama", and "Don't kill me" being widely circulated on social media platforms and broadcast by the media.[20] While knee-to-neck restraints are allowed in Minnesota under certain circumstances, Chauvin's usage of the technique has been widely criticized by law enforcement experts as excessive.[21][22][23] All four officers were fired the day after the incident.[24]
[...] Charges: Third-degree murder (Chauvin) Second-degree manslaughter (Chauvin)
This has been extensively covered by the media. Some outlets attempt to put their own interpretations on their coverage with their selection of video footage and with their commentary. It is difficult to find a simple video of the incident. Here is one that has coverage from the time of initial encounter of the police the officers with George Floyd up through his being taken away by ambulance. The video is a composite of shots from a restaurant's surveillance camera (Dragon Wok), Officer body cam, and bystander cell phones. YouTube footage: Full George Floyd Available Footage (21:12). If anyone has more complete footage of the arrest, please mention it clearly (with a link) in the comments.
Lastly, this is a hard time for everybody. Pandemic. Lock-down. Unemployment. Fears. Please be mindful of others' circumstances when commenting. We are a community sprung from a time of challenge. Let us continue to be here for one-another during this difficult time. SoylentNews is People.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 03 2020, @01:37AM (9 children)
There are two autopsies, as can be seen here [wikipedia.org].
While both of them concluded it was a homicide, they gave very different reasons for the cause of death. They also disagreed as to underlying toxicology results and stresses put on different anatomy. The private autopsy was so different from the first, that they ended up changing the findings of the first one to be more in line with the second after it was released. The whole autopsy situation is screwed-up, as there is no way that both can be true at the same time. Now to editorialize, I find the second one more credible because it is more detailed and wasn't subsequently altered with corrections that changed some important conclusions and facts. But you are free to come to your own judgment.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Reziac on Wednesday June 03 2020, @02:11AM (6 children)
According to another report, Baden's "autopsy" consisted of viewing the tape; it was not hands-on.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 03 2020, @02:42AM
[citation needed]
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 03 2020, @02:48AM (4 children)
There. FTFY.
More info, which provides further support for GP's comment:
https://kttc.com/2020/06/01/family-autopsy-floyd-asphyxiated-by-sustained-pressure/ [kttc.com]
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 03 2020, @03:41AM (3 children)
Original autopsy:
Second autopsy:
Updated autopsy:
Where did that "neck compression" come from? I thought you said earlier there were "no physical findings" that supported such a theory.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 04 2020, @02:18AM
Full report says he was positive for SARS-CoV-2: Fentanyl, meth and COVID-19 with an underlying heart condition.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 04 2020, @08:22AM (1 child)
Here is some more from the full autopsy report:
Still no sign of the neck injuries there.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Reziac on Friday June 05 2020, @12:29AM
Link to detailed official autopsy report:
https://www.hennepin.us/-/media/hennepinus/residents/public-safety/documents/Autopsy_2020-3700_Floyd.pdf [hennepin.us]
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 03 2020, @04:29PM (1 child)
A person can indeed have multiple causes of death, or indeterminate final cause of death with multiple contributing factors. You shoot, stab, bludgeon, and poison somebody else, and it's provable that you did all four, the cause of death selected won't matter so long as all of the cited cause is correct and supports the manner of death of homicide. (Homicide, suicide, accident, natural, undetermined).
Or, put another way to this case: All deaths occur because of cardiac arrest. What causes the cardiac arrest is important, but not as much as the manner of death and that the cause selected supports the manner. Because it's the manner which results in charges, if any. Lots of little nuances and the cause can be challenged or attacked. But whether the death was cardiac arrest from asphyxiation or hypoxia from suffocation won't matter all that much, so long as the knee was on the neck and the medical examiner supports that.
Or, another another way: The coroner determines the manner of death, the medical examiner determines the cause of death. (And they don't have to be the same person....)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 03 2020, @08:40PM
The "coroner" and "medical examiner" here were the same person. A person who said one thing, was called out by the second autopsy conducted by two highly reputable people in the profession, and then changed their story to add the obvious neck compression. Going from "no physical findings" to "complicating neck compression" is a huge step. And the difference is huge, especially in the impending lawsuit. Leaving it at just the two versions of what the first autopsy and its revision stated (and remember both were by the same person), what would you rather have said at a trial for your murder: "AC died of a heart attack and there is no evidence of being strangled" vs "AC died of a heart attack while being strangled"?