Derek Chauvin's infamous 'he's staying put where we got him' comment failed to get him acquitted, here's how
Derek Chauvin was found guilty on all counts on Tuesday, April 20, for the murder of George Floyd, and faces the possibility of spending the rest of his life in jail. Apart from other failed attempts by the defense team to get the Minneapolis police officer acquitted during the trial was the argument that Chauvin had kept his knee on the victim's neck till the paramedics arrived because he was concerned about Floyd waking up to an "excited delirium."
The court heard during the trial that Chauvin kept kneeling on Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes because suspects experiencing excited delirium can reportedly exhibit “superhuman strength.” During the entire time that the ex-cop kept his leg firmly placed on the handcuffed Black victim, Floyd begged for air and pleaded with him, saying, "You're going to kill me, man," before he lost consciousness. Another officer suggested rolling Floyd over, bystanders urged Chauvin to get off Floyd, as they recorded everything on their phones. Chauvin refused to budge.
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During the last moments of Floyd’s life, bodycam video also recorded another officer, Thomas Lane — who is also facing charges for aiding and abetting second-degree murder as well as second-degree manslaughter — asking about it. “Should we roll him on the side?” Thomas Lane asked, according to a transcript of the bodycam audio introduced during trial. “No, he’s staying put where we got him,” Chauvin replied. “Ok, I just worry about the excited delirium or whatever,” Lane said. “Well, that’s why we have the ambulance coming," Chauvin said.
Why excited delirium came up in Chauvin's trial?
As the defense began presenting its case last week, Derek Chauvin’s attorney Eric Nelson asked a Minneapolis officer about something called "excited delirium.” This was an effort to show that the force Chauvin used was objectively reasonable given Floyd's resistance. “There are circumstances where after a person is rendered unconscious and then you perform, you revive, that person; that they are more combative than they were initially?” Nelson asked Lt Richard Zimmerman. “Yes, yep,” Zimmerman replied.
Nelson also asked the Minneapolis police department trainer about the condition. Officer Nicole Mackenzie told the jury that new officers are taught how to recognize signs of excited delirium, during which suspects can be incoherent, exhibit extraordinary strength, sweat or suffer from abnormal body temperature, or seem like they have abruptly lost their mental faculties. She also said that officers are typically trained on the fact that cardiovascular disease, drug abuse or mental illness can trigger excited delirium, she said. However, she said that she could not comment on whether Chauvin had received that training, which typically is provided for rookies.
In closing statements on Monday, April 19, prosecutor Jerry Blackwell described the entire thing as a “story” created by the defense to shift blame for Floyd's death. “Mr Floyd didn’t even have a pulse. That didn’t justify keeping your knee on his neck when you should have been administering CPR, when you could have brought him back to life again because you’re afraid that he would come to, with no pulse and rampage the city,” he said. “That’s the sort of thing you see in Halloween movies, ladies and gentlemen. Not in real life.”
Is excited delirium real?
The American College of Emergency Physicians officially listed it as a diagnosable condition 12 years ago, although it is not recognized by the American Medical Association. A group of Colorado doctors has called on police and paramedics to stop sedating people they assumed had excited delirium.“And if you have no other explanation, then you fall back on excited delirium. In the scientific literature, it is not that well described,” said Dr Randall Clark of the Colorado Society of Anesthesiologists.
Excited delirium is also listed in the Minneapolis police training material along with the fact that suspects can also exhibit “violent and bizarre behavior" while experiencing the same. However, it also talks about how officers should “place the subject in the recovery position to alleviate positional asphyxia" once the suspect is handcuffed. It includes an illustration of the “recovery position” showing a person turned on their side.