Murder in the third degree?

On Friday, May 29th, four days after the video-recorded, snuff-style, lynch-style, cold-blooded murder of George Floyd by four officers of the police of Minneapolis, Minnesota, one of the officers was charged with third degree murder by Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman.

Third degree murder as defined in section 609.195 of the Minnesota Statutes, 2019:

Murder in the third degree: whoever, without intent to effect the death of any person, causes the death of another by perpetrating an act eminently dangerous to others and evincing a depraved mind, without regard for human life, is guilty of murder in the third degree and may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than 25 years.

Seriously?

But then, as attorney general Nekima Keith Ellison said on Thursday on Democracy Now!: « We simply do not trust the Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman to make a fair and objective decision, because typically he sides with law enforcement officers. He has not held a single officer accountable for shooting a civilian, for killing a civilian, except in the case of Justine Damond, who was a white, affluent woman who was shot and killed by a Black Muslim Somali man. And we saw, after a period of time, where Mike Freeman actually did bring charges, and ultimately Mohamed Noor was convicted, and he is spending time in prison. Most of the officers who kill people in Minneapolis and in the state of Minnesota are white men, but not one has been charged and convicted for killing a Black person in the state of Minnesota. »

Now for the blunt hypocrisy part…

On Tuesday, May 26th, the Minneapolis Police Department titled a news release describing the murder as « Man Dies After Medical Incident During Police Interaction. » Look below for a masterpiece of understatement (aka lying by omission).

Man Dies After Medical Incident During Police Interaction

May 25, 2020 (MINNEAPOLIS) On Monday evening, shortly after 8:00 pm, officers from the Minneapolis Police Department responded to the 3700 block of Chicago Avenue South on a report of a forgery in progress.  Officers were advised that the suspect was sitting on top of a blue car and appeared to be under the influence.

Two officers arrived and located the suspect, a male believed to be in his 40s, in his car.  He was ordered to step from his car.  After he got out, he physically resisted officers.  Officers were able to get the suspect into handcuffs and noted he appeared to be suffering medical distress.  Officers called for an ambulance.  He was transported to Hennepin County Medical Center by ambulance where he died a short time later.

On Thursday, May 28th, the MPD published on their website a response to Frequently Requested Public Information about the murder, including an allegation unsubstantiated by the videos of the event:

May 25, 2020 officer-involved death

On Monday, May 25 at 8:02 pm, Minneapolis Police responded to a 911 call reporting a forgery in progress at 3759 Chicago Avenue South.

– Officers arrived and located a suspect in a vehicle. Officers reported that they ordered the suspect out of the vehicle and the suspect physically resisted officers.
– Officers handcuffed the suspect. The officers restrained the suspect on the ground and an ambulance was called.
– No weapons were used by anyone involved in this incident.
– The subject, an adult male believed to be in his 40s was transported to Hennepin County Medical Center where he was pronounced deceased.
– The Minneapolis Police Department Body Worn Cameras were on and activated during this event.
– The GO number for this case is 20-140629.

City staff are gathering information. Additional data will be released when it is available.

– Minneapolis Fire Department Incident Report 20-0018197
– Hennepin County Medical Examiner Press Release Report

Officers involved in incident:

– Officer Derek Chauvin
– Officer Thomas Lane
– Officer Tou Thao
– Officer J Alexander Kueng

http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/police/records/frequent

To add insult to injury, as of Friday, May 29th, the MPD website is offline however a snapshot is available from Cloudflare:

Home > Police Department > Records & Reports

Requesting Police Data

The Records Information Unit will be closed to the public until further notice.

To submit a request for MPD data:

1. Fill out a request form online, or request through our new data request portal.
2. Email a request to datapractices@minneapolismn.gov
3. Fill out a paper form outside the door of Room 31 of City Hall and place completed forms in the request bin, which will be checked frequently by staff
4. Call 311 and speak to an agent

PLEASE NOTE: Requests individuals make for data about themselves (“subjects of the data”) will be prioritized during this time.

The Records Information Unit will contact requestors regarding how to collect their data once it has been processed.

May 29th update: it looks like the State of Minnesota County of Hennepin District Court 4th Judicial District is paving the way for a programmed acquittal of Derek Chauvin. Have a look at the criminal complaint. The included statement of probable cause reads:

Mr. Floyd actively resisted being handcuffed […] The autopsy revealed no physical findings that support a diagnosis of traumatic asphyxia or strangulation. Mr. Floyd had underlying health conditions including coronary artery disease and hypertensive heart disease. The combined effects of Mr. Floyd being restrained by the police, his underlying health conditions and any potential intoxicants in his system likely contributed to his death.

In other words: <sarcasm> Mr. Floyd died because he was an aggressive junkie, officer Derek Chauvin has very little to do with it. </sarcasm>