Is it true that a police officer did not kill African-American George Floyd, but that he died of a drug overdose?

 Material updated ↓ 

In recent weeks, the world media has been actively disseminating information that the cause of the death of African-American George Floyd was not the actions of a police officer, but a lethal dose of a narcotic substance. Let's check if this is true.

A video capturing the moment of suffocation of 46-year-old Minneapolis resident George Floyd has spread across the planet. It would seem that the killer is obvious - police officer Derek Chauvin. However, the end of summer 2020 was marked by a new version: drugs were supposedly to blame. For example, the Russian international channel RT with reference to Western media on August 26 distributed The following message: “Yesterday, exactly three months after Floyd's death, Minnesota authorities finally released the initial post-mortem reports. They hid these documents all summer. Those findings were made June 1 by the county's chief medical examiner, pathologist Andrew Baker. Dr. Baker concluded that George Floyd had so much methamphetamine and fentanyl in his system that if his body had been found at home, the apparent cause of death would have been an overdose. Floyd's blood contained, quote, "a concentration of fentanyl that would be lethal under normal circumstances."

And indeed, similar publication Minnesota authorities took place. But the very next day, the Fox News channel, to which the RT publication referred, released a report with clarification. In particular, journalists drew attention to second part Dr. Baker's note in which he stated, "I didn't say it killed him."

And the former chief medical examiner of New York, Michael Biden (the same one who conducted the examination commissioned by the Floyd family), added:

As with all drugs, the concept of “lethal” is vague, as it depends on the individual’s body. What is lethal for some will not necessarily be so for others. But in this case, the circumstances of death are very important.

Deserves special attention conclusion US Armed Forces expert. Although he mentioned methamphetamine and fentanyl intoxication as an aggravating factor, he agreed with the interpretation of “murder.”

An autopsy of George Floyd's body showed that his death was violent - caused by mechanical asphyxia. An independent forensic examination conducted at the request of Floyd’s relatives brought the same result. The official report lists the cause of death as “cardiac arrest, complicated by police restraint, limited mobility and compression of the neck.”

Thus, nothing has changed in the Derek Chauvin case. The suspect will appear in court on March 8, 2021 on the same charges. And the “death from overdose” version can be considered refuted. George Floyd was killed by a man, and that man was not himself.

Update from 04/21/2021: April 20, 2021 by Derek Chauvin found guilty in the manslaughter of George Floyd. According to CNN, the jury, after a lengthy deliberation, came to the conclusion that the cause of death was the actions of the former police officer, characterized as “criminal negligence.” Chauvin's sentence will be announced in the summer.

Fake

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on topic:

1. https://www.foxnews.com/us/medical-examiner-george-floyd-fentanyl-system
2. https://www.mncourts.gov/mncourtsgov/media/High-Profile-Cases/27-CR-20-12949-TT/Exhibit508252020.pdf
3. https://russian.rt.com/inotv/2020-08-27/Fox-News-vlasti-Minnesoti-skrivali
4. https://www.bbc.com/russian/news-52886357