READ: Criminal Complaint Against Ex-MN Cop Charged In Killing Of George Floyd | Talking Points Memo

Minnesota authorities released a criminal complaint Friday afternoon outlining murder and manslaughter charges against Derek Chauvin, the fired Minneapolis police officer seen in viral video footage kneeling on the neck of George Floyd.


This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1311648

Document? I don’t see it…

ditto

It just popped up for me…

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What’s up with just casually dropping “any potential intoxicants”?

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Really hope the family gets an independent autopsy.

That sounds like a coroner trying to create some wiggle room.

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I knew they would find a way out for the cop, blaming the victim for underlying health conditions and (MAYBE) an intoxicant in his system for his own death. Maybe you shouldn’t keep full body pressure on someone’s neck 2 minutes and 53 seconds after they become unresponsive. What is the threat to you that you could justify that?

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Complexion?

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Apparently, since the black CNN reporter was arrested and the white CNN reporter was told to carry on.

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I didn’t want the big picture with my comment, but I don’t know how to remove it.

ETA: I see the big picture is not here.

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If you scroll back to a post you’ve made, you should see a small pencil among the icons below the post (in between the linked chain and the three dots that represent a further menu). If you hover your mouse pointer over the pencil it should say something like “Edit this post” and if you click on it, it should open the editor with the content of the post. You can now make changes, and then save the modified post.

If you have a picture in your message, it should have a label like “IMAGE” and a bunch of specifications, just delete that line. If the thing you want to delete is a pointer to a webpage, it’s look something like “http://something”, just delete that.

Remember, it’s all just text and can be modified. Just don’t forget to hit “Save” when you’re done.

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“Mr. Floyd had underlying health conditions including coronary artery disease and hypertensive heart disease1,” the complaint said. “The combined effects of Mr. Floyd being restrained by the police, his underlying health conditions and any potential intoxicants in his system2 likely contributed to his death.”

  1. Not relevant to Officer Chauvin’s actions.
  2. Not relevant to Officer Chauvin’s actions.
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Maybe racist victim blaming? There’s a lot of that going around.

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Surely the medical examiner would know if there were intoxicants - the autopsy would find that out. To say “any potential” is complete bullshit. Either there was - list them - they DON’T MATTER ONE BIT - or don’t.

What a mess…

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“no physical findings that support a diagnosis of traumatic asphyxia or strangulation.”

Red herring… Chauvin’s knee looked to be on the side of Floyd’s neck, which could’ve compressed the carotid artery, starving his brain of oxygen.

Also noted in the report that George “went to the ground face down and still handcuffed.” From what height?? Brain bleed possible, but no mention of that possibility in the “preliminary” autopsy, either.

As for the gratuitous allegation of “potential intoxicants,” what’s the point of that before results are in? They even bias the preliminary medical examiner reports up there??

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Thanks. That’s complicated, but I’ll try to remember if I need to edit out a picture again.

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I’m just going to point out that autopsies take time, because sample testing takes time. This is not a TV show.
And it shouldn’t matter if Mr. Floyd had a heart condition, or was intoxicated or not. Mr. Floyd was handcuffed and laying on the ground. Kneeling on someones neck whether in a position to cut off oxygen or as @aroundthetable points out pressing on his carotid artery can cause death. Wouldn’t kneeling on someone’s neck put the same kind of pressure that a choke hold causes?
And @maximus is correct too that the family should get an independent autopsy.

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Sometimes when you copy a url it looks different in both of your screens, and sometimes it looks different when your comment posts.

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Yes. Now I know. The looming picture was somewhat alarming.

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