Ex-cop Derek Chauvin asks judge to dismiss George Floyd murder charges as he died 'due to fentanyl overdose'
Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who had been accused of killing George Floyd, on Friday, August 28, requested a judge to dismiss the murder charges while prosecutors push for longer prison sentences. An attorney for Chauvin had filed a motion in court and had argued that there was no probable cause to support the second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter charges made against him.
The motion had claimed that Floyd's death had been a result of drugs in his system, not Chauvin pressing into his neck for an extended period. Chauvin had knelt on the neck of 46-year-old George Floyd for almost eight minutes despite Floyd pleading for his life and saying he could not breathe. Floyd eventually lost his consciousness and later lost his life. Chauvin was charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter while the other three former Minneapolis police officers present at the scene — Tou Thao, Thomas Lane and J Alexander Kueng — were charged with aiding and abetting murder.
All four police officers have been fired from their positions at the Minneapolis Police Department. If Chauvin gets convicted then he could face up to 40 years in prison for the second-degree murder charge.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the filing said, "Put simply, Mr. Floyd could not breathe because he had ingested a lethal dose of fentanyl." The filing had said that the pre-existing conditions such as sickle cell trait, heart disease, and Covid-19 could have acted as a catalyst to the drugs.
Chauvin, 44, had been first charged in June post the death of Floyd, 46, while in police custody on Memorial Day in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The cellphone footage captured at the scene was shared across social media and went viral sparking outrage across not just the nation and the world. The incident has led to many Black Lives Matter protests, which have continued over 10 weeks. The initial toxicology autopsy report from the Hennepin County Medical Examiner revealed that Floyd had 11 nanograms of fentanyl in his blood at the time which could have contributed to his death.
As per a second autopsy taken by Floyd's family, revealed that he had died from mechanical asphyxiation due to Chauvin kneeling on his neck. The motion had declared that Chauvin had assumed that Floyd was resisting arrest and did not realize that he could not breathe.
The motion read, "What Mr Chauvin saw was a strong man struggling mightily with police officers, which seemed contradictory to Mr Floyd’s claims about not being able to breathe. Mr Chauvin could not have known about Mr Floyd’s underlying issues when he arrived on the scene."
Chauvin's attorney had cited Dr Baker's remarks saying that he had found no evidence of asphyxiation with Floyd. However, according to Floyd's lawyer, Ben Crump, called Friday's motion 'Mr Chauvin could not have known about Mr Floyd’s underlying issues when he arrived on the scene'.
He had written a statement to WSJ, "The whole world saw what happened, and that video speaks for itself." Crump had said, "Beyond doubt, he would be alive today if not for the pressure applied to his neck by officer Derek Chauvin and the strain on his body by two other officers. The ambulance was his hearse."