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Was George Floyd on drugs? Leaked bodycam footage with Derek Chauvin's ‘kneeling on neck’ arrest sparks debate

Leaked bodycam videos from the George Floyd case were published and the Internet has been debating since then about what the actual narrative is
UPDATED AUG 4, 2020
(Getty Images)
(Getty Images)

George Floyd’s death on May 25 was a defining moment in American history, which brought the Black Lives Movement back into focus. On August 3, two bodycam videos of his unfortunate arrest and death was leaked. The videos are from the officers’ perspective. According to CBS News, Floyd can be heard calling for help and asking for his mother for several minutes.

In one video, former officer Thomas Lane is seen confronting Floyd and tries to get him out of an SUV, with a gun aimed in his direction. Later, Floyd can be seen falling to the ground as officers take him towards a squad car. An officer can be heard saying, “Stop falling down,” one officer can be heard saying.  Floyd responds by saying that he is claustrophobic.

The videos were published by The Daily Mail and may have come from the body camera worn by former rookie officer Alexander Kueng. It shows Floyd resisting the officers' attempts to put him in the squad car and asking if he could be put in the front of the car instead. According to the report, as soon as Floyd hits the pavement, the now infamous scenario of former officer Derek Chauvin's gloved hands on him, with a knee on Floyd's neck takes place. His pleas of “I can’t breathe” is ignored.  "Relax. You can breathe fine, you're talking fine," one of the officers responds. A CBS report states with a crowd gathering, the bodycam video shows Kueng take Floyd's pulse. He wasn't able to find one, prosecutors said. Video from Derek Chauvin's body camera has not yet been released.

Twitter exploded with a plethora of reactions. A few even accused Floyd of using drugs. A user wrote: “Floyd's ex Shawanda Hill can be heard off-camera shouting at him, "Stop resisting!" All the cops are calm and professional in contrast to Floyd who is hyper-agitated and aggressively resisting the cops. His histrionics are disturbing,indicative of drug use.”



 

Podcaster Audrey Huff commented, “Here is body cam footage of #GeorgeFloyd resisting arrest. He was obviously drugged out of his mind, & was having a massive panic attack. This video completely f**ks up the narrative that he was compliant.”



 

Another user Jon Miller, whose twitter bio says ‘Objective Reporter’, said, “Watching George Floyd act like an insane druggie who can’t breathe as soon as the officer seats him in the car certainly adds another dimension to the lies we have been sold about police brutality, doesn’t it.”



 

Greg Price who is associated with The Daily Caller weighed in, “My sense after watching this is that Floyd was obviously on drugs, freaking out and resisting arrest, and the officers became frustrated trying to calm him down that it led to Chauvin carelessly kneeling on his neck until he was out.”



 

Another Twitter user alleged, “George Floyd had a significant dose of fentanyl in his system, a drug 50 times more powerful than morphine and which is known to cause respiratory distress. He combined it with meth and marijuana. It just strains credulity to claim that this played no role in his death whatsoever.”



 

However, Floyd supporters hit back and were quick to dismiss the drug use allegations. One said, “How many f**king White people do drugs? How many get killed for it? F**k off with your bullshit excuses. George Floyd didn’t deserve to die. #BLM yesterday, today, and tomorrow. F**k Chauvin I hope he rots.”



 

Another said, “I had a sinking feeling that people would find some way to justify Floyd's death at the beginning of this. The most egregious case of police misconduct caught on tape and some people are ready to say 'no harm no foul.' It's disgusting.”



 

One user commented, “It baffles me people see with their own eyes on tape that George Floyd has a knee in the neck and dies.  And they try to use a coroner report to unsee proof.  Bizarre.”



 

Another said, “Weird how a video of police literally abusing George FLoyd is somehow being used as evidence to exonerate Derek Chauvin. You can't make this timeline up. These people can't be reasoned with.”



 

One even mocked, “In light of the new #GeorgeFloyd bodycam footage: I’d like to thank all of the racist, murder-apologists out there for pointing out that George Floyd deserved to be killed because he had a panic attack before a police officer choked him to death for 8+ minutes.”



 

As per a New York Times report, a private autopsy by doctors hired by Floyd’s family determined that he died not just because of the knee on his neck but also because of two other officers who helped pin him down by applying pressure on his back. On the other hand,  the Hennepin County medical examiner released its own findings, concluding that the manner of death was a homicide. The county attributed the cause of death to “cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression” and alleged that Floyd was intoxicated with fentanyl and had recently used methamphetamines.

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