George Floyd / Derek Chauvin Videos: Thoughts

The New York Times has a compilation of videos from witnesses and security cameras that paints a decent timeline of events that led to George Floyd's death. To me, the key point is that Officer Derek Chauvin has his knee on Floyd's neck for about 3 to 4 minutes after Floyd has a loss of consciousness. Based on the timeline, Floyd appears to have a loss of consciousness at 8:25 p.m. The crowd that has gathered is begging for Chauvin to lift his knee. The bystanders can obviously tell that there is a loss of consciousness. This did not cause Chauvin to change what he was doing. The ambulance arrives at 8:27 p.m. The person doing the reporting states that Chauvin keeps his knee on Floyd's neck for another minute after that. During those minutes, the police do nothing to revive Floyd.



What are some other pieces of information that the news report fills in for me that had me wondering after seeing the initial video?

1. Was Floyd ever put inside a police vehicle? Floyd was put into a vehicle. It looks like he is put into the vehicle via the driver side's rear door. There is a struggle of some sort and then the reporter mentions that Chauvin pulls him out of the vehicle via the passenger side's rear door.

Since it is mentioned towards the end of the report that the body cams were on, it will be interesting to see what occurred during the time that Floyd was in the vehicle.

2. Why did they keep Floyd on the ground for so long? The answer is that the police made two calls for an ambulance and likely didn't want to attempt to put him back into the vehicle. The calls were made between 8:20 p.m. and 8:21 p.m. To me, this indicates that they were trying to get him help instead of attempting to murder him. On the other hand, the reporter does mention that the Chauvin kept his knee on Floyd's neck pass the 5 minute limit that is the Minneapolis police rule. Also, the police did nothing for Floyd during the 3 to 4 minutes where he had a loss of consciousness. So at some point, an attempt to get someone help turns into murder (or manslaughter).

What the New York Times reporter leaves out is two of the following:

First, CBS News reports:

George Floyd and Derek Chauvin, the former police officer charged with killing Floyd, worked security at the same local club for much of the year before their fatal encounter on a Minneapolis street last week. The owner of El Nuevo Rodeo said the two were in close proximity once a week for their Tuesday night shifts, though she did not know if they ever actually met while working at the club.

Maya Santamaria said she had been paying Chauvin, when he was off-duty, to sit in his squad car outside El Nuevo Rodeo for 17 years. 

. . . Outside the club — which burned down last week as protests against police violence flared into civil unrest — she'd meet with Chauvin after each shift.

"We would wrap up at the end of the night and do a review," Santamaria said. They'd discuss the times Chauvin was called in to the club to remove a patron, or dealt with someone outside the club.

She said employees never complained about Chauvin, but sometimes patrons would complain about how he handled them.

Floyd and Chauvin had multiple times to interact with each other. Though Floyd appears to have mainly spent time in his squad car, he was called into the club to deal with issues. They worked at the same venue Tuesday nights for around a year. One would assume there were some interaction between the two on occasion. A nod. A handshake. Maybe a few words about an issue that needed to be dealt with. Team meetings prior to the opening of the club.

I have to believe investigators are asking club employees if the two were ever spotted talking to each other.

Second, Inside Edition reports:

They maintained there were "no physical findings" to "support a diagnosis of traumatic asphyxia or strangulation,” but added Floyd was intoxicated due to fentanyl at the time of his death and had recently used methamphetamine.

This drug use is probably going to be used as an argument by the defense.

Other than seeing the police body cams about what happened in the vehicle, I'd also like clarification regarding what the EMT who checked Floyd's pulse at around 8:27 p.m. noticed. Did the EMT find a pulse? The EMT doesn't immediately tell Chauvin to remove his knee. It doesn't appear that the EMTs are in any urgency.

In terms of the charges against the 3 other officers, I bet Thomas Lane will not be convicted. First, he was just starting out as a full-time cop (which I guess means he wasn't a true rookie cop). Second, he made the recommendation to roll him over on his side twice. J. Alexander Kueng might have a case to make. He was a true rookie cop. He did check for a pulse and state that he couldn't find a pulse. Of course, did he make a specific recommendation like Lane made? It doesn't seem like it. I could see Tou Thao making the argument that he was too distracted with dealing with the crowd to realize what was occurring.

One thing that hits me whenever I watch the video is how would I hold up if I was in Floyd's position with three people pinning me to the ground, mainly pressing me down via the neck and back?