Don’t be misled by the headline. Derek Chauvin had his knee across the neck of George Floyd. The police did not find George Floyd in an alley with a needle in his arm.
But Derek Chauvin did not cut off George Floyd’s oxygen supply.
Derek Chauvin’s knee caused no trauma to George Floyd’s airway.
Derek Chauvin may have caused George Floyd to lose consciousness.
But the medical cause of George Floyd’s death was cardiopulmonary arrest due to pulmonary edema resulting from acute Fentanyl toxicity.
Dr. Andrew Baker is the Chief Medical Examiner for Hennepin County in Minnesota.
Amy Sweasy is the Managing Assistant County Attorney for Hennepin County. She led the prosecution of Minneapolis Police Officer Mohammed Noor for the fatal shooting of Justine Ruszczyk while responding to her 911 call in July 2017. She was awarded Attorney of the Year in 2019 for her performance in that case.
Keith Ellison is a former Democrat member of Congress, now the Attorney General of Minneapolis, another elected office. Keith Ellison is an idiot lawyer who has never prosecuted a criminal case in his life.
The Memorandum below was drafted by Amy Sweasy after her video conference meeting with Hennepin County Chief Medical Examiner, Dr. Baker.
Floyd died in police custody on May 25. The Memo is dated June 1. The Attorney General for the State of Minnesota filed second-degree murder charges on June 3, after Democrat Minnesota Governor Tim Walz asked Ellison to lead the prosecution team. This document was filed in the District Court of Minnesota on Tuesday, August 25. It has been hidden from the public for nearly three months. The calendar tells the tale.
The first thing to note from the Memo is that Ms. Sweasy was joined in the virtual meeting by Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Patrick Lofton. Sweasy and Lofton had been the trial team together on the Noor case. So they were the best the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office had for a case involved allegations of unlawful use of force by a police officer.The most recent court filings in the case that I could find were signed by a member of Keith Ellison’s Attorney General’s Office, and Neal Katyal — former Acting Solicitor General of the United States during the Obama Administration – as “Special Attorney for the State of Minnesota.” I haven’t seen anything yet with Ms. Sweasy or Mr. Lofton’s names listed in the case.
Dr. Baker told them that he had the final toxicology tests from George Floyd using “hospital blood” for the testing. Dr. Baker explained that “hospital blood” was the best sample to use because “autopsy” blood is taken longer after the person is deceased and the blood contents have already begun to degrade for testing purposes.
According to the Memo, the blood screen for illicit substances showed the following:
4ANPP — this is a precursor chemical used in the manufacture of Fentanyl and is a residual impurity left over from the manufacturing process.
Methamphetamine — 19 ng/ML. That is 19 nanograms per milliliter of blood. That is quite low, likely only trace levels remained in the blood system from earlier use. But methamphetamine is detectable in blood for only 24 hours, so Floyd had been under the influence of methamphetamine close in time to the incident. Methamphetamine is a central nervous system stimulant that causes elevated heart and respiration rates.
Going out of order, the Memo references the presence of Norfentanyl, a metabolite of Fentanyl. Norfentanyl is the immediate precursor chemical used in the illicit manufacture of Fentanyl. Norfentanyl is the drug that is converted into illicit Fentanyl in the manufacturing process. It is also a metabolite — meaning when the body absorbs and breaks down Fentanyl, a residual of it remains in the blood.
The key entry is “Fentanyl — 11.” That is 11 ng/ML. As noted in the Memo that is extremely high, and represents a lethal level of toxicity. The therapeutic range for Fentanyl — what a doctor would prescribe — is .6 — 3 ng/ML.
Fentanyl, like all opioid narcotics, suppresses respiration and cardiac function — it does the opposite to the body that methamphetamine does. Drug users often use one after the other in a cycle. They take methamphetamine to give them that “amped” feeling of having a lot of energy, and the opioids to come down off the stimulant in order to relax and/or sleep.
The key is the sentence on the third page — the Chief Medical Examiner of Hennepin County told the best prosecutors that Hennepin County has for this kind of case:
“If Mr. Floyd had been found dead in his home (or anywhere else), and there were not other contributing factors he would conclude that it was a drug overdose.”
At the time of Mr. Floyd’s death — according to the Medical Examiner — his body was experiencing the effects a drug overdose consisting of a lethal level of Fentanyl toxicity.
First, I hope Chauvin is resolved to the fact that he is going to be sacrificed to the gods of social justice. I’m afraid there’s no way he gets out of Minneapolis alive.
Second, why wasn’t the information about the massive level of fentanyl in Floyd revealed to the public? Why didn’t the Minnesota DA’s office take steps to quell the violence by showing that there was no definite proof Floyd was murdered and for the public to simply stand down? Well… that is a rather silly question. We KNOW why they didn’t.
IF Chauvin and the others were to get off, as they obviously should, then because these politics-before-justice liberals will have set the stage for MORE violent pogroms and, as we have seen, they won’t just be centralized in Minneapolis.
This is how Democrats administer justice and protect the public.
@Deplorable Me: Toxicology testing takes time, BLM and Antifa did not wait for that, the city was burnt before any investigation could be done. Should the officer had been more attentive as to the condition of Floyd, you betcha did his training include recognizing lethal overdose signs, I dont know.
floyd was on his way to death. His toxicity level was a one way street toward death. And all of this rioting was and is for naught. Thanks democrats
@kitt: They never wait for the facts for fear of the facts would deny them their opportunity to commit violence.
@Deplorable Me: They deny the facts even when they are found they still chant hands up dont shoot.
Lies have been the basis of all leftist narratives to justify lawlessness since Michael Brown’s buddy claimed he had his hands up.
Loads of fake “hate crimes,” during that time, too.