Cause of death is listed as CARDIOPULMONARY ARREST COMPLICATING LAW ENFORCEMENT SUBDUAL, RESTRAINT, AND NECK COMPRESSION
“In my opinion, the law enforcement, subdual restraint, and the neck compression was just more than Mr. Floyd could take by virtue of those heart conditions,” Baker said.
All the armchair medical examiners who claim Floyd overdosed are simply a Greek chorus. I think the overdose fake news was started by Tucker Carlson to provide support for law enforcement incompetence, erm, Chauvin’s innocence.
All the armchair toxicology experts have never read Nikki Sixx’s book or heard of Keith Moon. There are LOTS of people who take incredible amounts of drugs and booze and live for another day.
Floyd was no saint. He was your average loser, in some ways a below average loser with multiple run-ins with the law. But, if Floyd took a fatal hit of fentanyl, all Chauvin had to do was exercise some competence and Floyd would have died without becoming a martyr.
Floyd's death wasn't intentional. I am fine with manslaghter - more in that later - but that's still a killing.
Further, I don't believe Chauvin was some bloodthirsty klansman. He was just another LEO who was too big for his britches. The result was a death while in custody.
My review and commentary from LEOs etc on FR was that Chauvin didn't apply the move correctly. Further his demeanor and attitude on tape speaks volumes to his character.
A competent cop, especially one who was in control of his emotions, would have neutralized Floyd - drugged up etc - without the theatrics. It happens daily in America, with competent LEOs dealing with drugged out citizens and people with cameras watching and filming. I suspect PLENTY of addicts die in custody without accompanying riots and destruction of property, because the cops Do Their Jobs.
While it's clear to me that Chauvin was guilty of manslaughter, I don't think he could get a fair trial in MN. Many of the charges were basically a dog piling. Indeed, Attorney General Ellison's amended charge (to include unintentional second-degree murder under the felony murder doctrine, alleging that Chauvin killed Floyd in the course of committing assault in the third degree) is strained at best, if not overtly political.
LEOs have a tough job. There are scores of respectable men and women who keep the scum and villainy in check. Chauvin was incompetent - his inability to subdue Floy without killing him is the LEO equivalent of Pete Carrol calling for the slant pass in the Super Bowl. Chauvin’s is a disgrace to law enforcement.
The primary cause of death in most cases where the perp is fighting/resisting detainment or arrest is the perp.
You glazed right over this most important part of the equation. No resisting, no problem.
Floyd killed himself by resisting arrest AND having a boat load of drugs in him at the time.
An argument could be made the cops used excessive force but it would be hard to prove they used more force than necessary to subdue and control the perp.
It really is too bad the cops don’t have a magic zapper that puts the perp immediately into a super calm condition. Until then, perp’s are going to kill themselves this way.
Why don’t good people want to be cops in big cities these days?
I have the report you cite. Where is:
“In my opinion, the law enforcement, subdual restraint, and the neck compression was just more than Mr. Floyd could take by virtue of those heart conditions,” Baker said.
I would have tried him for manslaughter. Maybe spend 5 years in prison (it's been almost that long). He should have been tried in Juneau, Alaska.
It appears to me that Chauvin was a "dirty cop". (My opinion)
I would read that line again carefully. It says "complicating law enforcement... restraint." It doesn't say that law enforcement caused Floyd's death.
The quote you cite: "...the law enforcement, subdual restraint, and the neck compression was just more than Mr. Floyd could take by virtue of those heart conditions..." describes, in my opinion, a dead man walking. It was more than just "heart conditions," it was also marijuana, methamphetamines, morphine and fentanyl.
The report documents:
A simple wikipedia search of Fentanyl yields this:
Fentanyl poses an exceptionally high overdose risk in humans, since the amount required to cause toxicity is unpredictable. In its pharmaceutical form most overdose deaths attributed solely to fentanyl occur at serum concentrations at a mean of 0.025 μg/mL, with a range 0.005–0.027 μg/mL. In contexts of poly-substance use, blood fentanyl concentrations of approximately 7 ng/mL or greater have been associated with fatalities. Over 85% of overdoses involved at least one other drug, and there was no clear correlation showing at which level the mixtures were fatal. The dosages of fatal mixtures varied by over three magnitudes in some cases. This extremely unpredictable volatility with other drugs makes it especially difficult to avoid fatalities.Regarding adverse affects of Fentanyl:
Respiratory depressionFacts:The most dangerous adverse effect of fentanyl is respiratory depression, that is, decreased sensitivity to carbon dioxide leading to reduced rate of breathing, which can cause anoxic brain injury or death.
Other factors that increase the risk of respiratory depression are:
- High fentanyl doses
To me, this is a classic case of the law school hypothetical that if Floyd jumped off the roof of a building and was shot through a window on his way down, did the shooter commit murder or did Floyd kill himself by jumping but the inevitable death just hadn't occurred yet?
I'm not a doctor, but I don't think Floyd was on track for a Keith Moon type landing with 57% more Fentanyl in his blood than the lethal dose plus meth, pot, and morphine. Chauvin just got in the way while Floyd was dying from his own overdose.
-PJ