He didn’t kill Floyd. In the original ME’s report, the one Baker issued before the politicians got ahold of him, there was zero trauma or injury to Floyd’s neck, trachea or any other organ that would effect his breathing. Floyd requested to be removed from the Patrol car and placed on the ground, Chauvin didn’t put him there. He had 90% blockage of the Coronary Artery along with an enlarged heart and a lethal dose of Fentanyl and Methamphetamine in his system. Once again, this technique is used thousands of times a year, by PDs all over the country and suspects don’t die. Floyd’s drug use combined with his severe cardiac disease killed Floyd.
I am not going to re-litigate this. The officer was wrong, guilty and arguing the small print won’t change that. There are bad cops out there—intentionally or bad training or whatever—and they need to be gone so that good cops are again respected.
If Floyd was already dying, if his diaphram was already shutting down so he could no longer breathe when Chauvin placed him on the ground, was it a case of "last to touch" gets the foul or was Floyd already a dead man walking?
-PJ