Society's Child
George Floyd family rejects medical examiner findings and will get results of private autopsy Monday
According to CBS News, the family's lawyer Ben Crump said they disagreed with the conclusion found in the autopsy conducted by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's office, which found "no physical findings that support a diagnosis of traumatic asphyxia or strangulation."
The report also said Floyd's underlying health conditions included coronary artery disease and hypertensive heart disease. It concluded that the underlying health conditions, combined with Chauvin's restraint and any possible intoxicants in Floyd's system, likely contributed to his death.
"The family and I reject this notion from the Minneapolis Medical Examiner that the knee from the police officer on George's neck for almost nine minutes was not the proximate cause of his death," Crump said in a statement to the network on Sunday.
Floyd died last Monday after a now-fired Minneapolis police officer restrained him by placing his knee on his neck for nearly nine minutes. In a viral video, Floyd can be heard pleading with the officer that he can't breathe. Outrage over the incident set off protests across the country over the weekend.
The officer involved, Derek Chauvin, is facing third-degree murder and manslaughter charges. Crump argued on Sunday's Face the Nation that Chauvin should face a first-degree murder charge, arguing that Floyd's death was premeditated.
Reader Comments
tom2 Putting the full downward pressure of your leg on a man's carotid artery for nearly 9 minutes after he was handcuffed wasn't excessive force? I'd sure like to hear you defend that point of view.I am pleased to oblige. The autopsy shows that Chauvin did not kill Floyd. How do you know how much pressure there was? Floyd was able to talk, so his throat was open. If the carotid artery were closed, Floyd would quickly have become unconscious. I conclude from this that the knee was on the back side of the neck for the purpose of keeping Floyd down. Whether or not there was excessive force depends on how much resistance Floyd put up. Floyd's resistance is carefully edited out of the videos I have seen. Floyd was cuffed on the sidewalk at the back right of a police vehicle yet ends up under the left front side of that vehicle. How did this happen? I think he was able to resist being put in the vehicle and died of natural causes triggered by his resistance. He had heart disease and was under the influence of something.
I still recall you saying that about me not long after you first arrived at this wondrous place.
I am still me and still honest.
I shan't doth protest more, I hope.
R.C.
If I’m a troll, then you must be one super savvy sort. Why? Because the verisimilitude of what I’ve posted (which is the best anyone can hope from the net) has apparently ‘fooled’ lots of other folks who would be the last that anyone would or could expect to fool.
Beyond my comments, no controlled troll could ever post the links I previously have.
If I, with these words, was more artful than honest I could say the following in a more hopefully acceptable fashion:
You are overreacting.
RC
NYTimes
Comment: Given the riots currently gripping the US have taken on a life of their own, with many of those involved likely not even knowing who George Floyd is, it's likely that the results of the autopsy will have very little impact. Regardless of whether Floyd actually died of asphyxiation or not, it is undeniable that his death was caused by being pinned by a police officer, his knee to Floyd's neck, for nearly 9 minutes is what killed him.
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