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Lawyers representing slain Minneapolis man George Floyd have argued that his high fentanyl tolerance meant he would have survived the drugs found in his system, had ex-officer Derek Chauvin not knelt on his neck.

The attorneys' memo joins a growing body of evidence in the murder case against Chauvin and was submitted following Thursday's testimony from Floyd's girlfriend Courteney Ross. She described the pair's drug dealer, Maurice Hall, as the passenger in the car with Floyd when he was apprehended by the police.

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Crump appeared to be pushing back against the efforts of Chauvin's lawyer Eric Nelson to claim Floyd, a fentanyl addict, died from an overdose of the powerful opioid. The 46-year-old security guard perished with multiple drugs in his system, including methamphetamine, in addition to the fentanyl. In his statement on Thursday, Crump pointed out that despite his client's massive drug consumption, Floyd was "walking, talking, laughing and breathing just fine before Derek Chauvin held his knee to George's neck, blocking his ability to breathe and extinguishing his life for all to see."

However, video from one of the officers' (not Chauvin's) body cameras portrays the situation somewhat differently, showing Floyd repeatedly protesting he could not breathe several minutes before Chauvin pinned him to the ground with his knee for an excruciating eight minutes and 46 seconds.

Minneapolis Police Lt. Richard Zimmerman appeared to condemn his ex-colleague, former cop Derek Chauvin, testifying that not only was he never trained to kneel on a suspect's neck — but that doing so can be potentially "deadly."

Zimmerman called Chauvin's decision to kneel on Floyd's neck for upwards of eight minutes "totally unnecessary" and "uncalled for." During the trial of the fired officer on Friday, the lieutenant roundly condemned the defendant's actions.

He said that "once a person is cuffed, the threat level goes down all the way" and it becomes the officer's responsibility to take care of the person in his charge.

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Vaccinated Americans have been cleared to travel again, per updated CDC guidelines. But agency director Rochelle Walensky insists that they shouldn't. The mixed messaging is the latest Covid-related muddle from Walensky.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a set of updated guidelines on Friday, which allow Americans to travel internationally and domestically without a negative Covid-19 test, as long as they received their last vaccine shot no less than two weeks before departure. Walensky announced the new rules at a White House press conference on Friday.

...

While the news was no doubt well received by frustrated Americans and the beleaguered airline industry, Walensky immediately tempered her optimism.

Despite saying it was "low risk" to do so, Walensky reminded listeners that cases of Covid-19 are on the rise in the US, and regardless of vaccination status, the CDC is still "not recommending travel at this time."

"The science on Covid-19 is constantly evolving," Walensky stated. However, so too is Walensky's messaging. The CDC was forced earlier this week to walk back a statement by the CDC boss on Tuesday, in which she declared that "vaccinated people do not carry the virus, don't get sick, and that is not just in the clinical trials but it's also in real world data."

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The Capitol went into lockdown over the incident. Journalists at the complex filmed both the scene of the crash and a US Park Police helicopter touching down on the lawn outside the east entrance.

"It is with a very very heavy heart, that I announce one of our officers has succumbed to his injuries," Acting Chief Yogananda Pittman told reporters at a press conference on Friday afternoon, asking the public to keep his family and Capitol Police in their prayers.

"The suspect exited the vehicle with a knife in hand," Pittman said. He "did not respond to verbal commands" and "started to lunge" towards the officers, at which time they shot him.

The incident "does not appear to be terrorism-related", but remains under investigation, said DC Metropolitan Police Chief Robert Contee. Capitol Police did not have a previous record of the suspect, suggesting there was no "nexus" with any member of Congress.

Law enforcement and first responders have swarmed the gates of the US Capitol after a car rammed a security barrier, injuring two officers. Footage shows the chaotic aftermath with police swooping in and a helicopter landing.

"Someone rammed a vehicle into two" officers at the checkpoint on Constitution Avenue shortly after 1pm on Friday, Capitol Police said, adding that "a suspect is in custody." The two officers are injured, and all three have been transported to the hospital, according to police.

Media reports suggest that the suspect may have been wielding a knife, and was shot and critically injured by the officers. Multiple reports say he has since died.

(Warning: graphic)

Video footage shows the injured suspect being led away on a stretcher, while alternate shots show someone who appears to be a police officer being wheeled away by medics.

The response by law enforcement was swift and heavy. A helicopter was seen swooping down onto Capitol grounds, and National Guard soldiers - deployed in Washington, DC, since the pro-Trump riot on Capitol Hill in January - could be seen running to the scene of the incident.

Streets around the Capitol have been sealed off by police, and the building itself placed on lockdown.

Security around the Capitol has remained elevated since the January riot, with Democrats insisting that the installation of a high-security fence around the building was necessary to thwart would-be "domestic terrorists." However, the motive of Friday's attacker remains unknown for the moment.

Congress is currently on recess, and few lawmakers were likely in the building at the time. President Joe Biden departed Washington earlier on Friday, en route to Camp David for the weekend.

Metropolitan Police Chief Robert Contee said there no longer appeared to be an ongoing threat.

"It does not appear to be terrorism-related, but obviously we'll continue to investigate to see if there is some type of nexus along those lines," Contee said.

© NBC News/OpenStreetMap
Location of the Washington DC car ramming incident

Several streets in the area were shut down:

• Constitution Avenue between Second Street NE and First Street NW
• First Street between Constitution Avenue NE and Independence Avenue SE
• East Capitol Street between First Street and Second Street

A lockdown of the U.S. Capitol complex has been lifted.

During the lockdown, those outside were told to "seek cover," according to an email from U.S. Capitol Police. Those inside were permitted to move around within the buildings and underground between buildings.