Article originally posted "More Than Enough" monthly newsletter of the Lighthouse Inc., Church - click here to view.
There are many injustices that occur in our society. I would like to highlight one of them in the hopes that you would continuously lift this man, Derek Chauvin, in prayer. I have followed his case since the day it happened.
He was wrongfully convicted of killing George Floyd while working as a police officer for the Minneapolis Police Department. Derek is innocent and was framed. He was made to be a scapegoat for the government of Minneapolis. Derek is currently serving a 270-month prison sentence for second-degree unintentional murder in the death of George Floyd.
The government of Minneapolis bowed to the pressures of racism and social justice. This opened a doorway for a jury to wrongfully convict Derek of a crime that he had no ability to commit. Derek was convicted in the court of public opinion long before his trial ever began. Derek stands convicted of not following proper police procedure. The truth of the matter is that Derek followed the procedure that the Minneapolis Police Department had instructed him to use. The procedure is called the maximal restraint technique (MRT). The use or misuse of this procedure is in no way the reason that George Floyd died. The facts of this case show this.
Derek Chauvin’s attorney wanted to show a photo of MRT to the jury, but Judge Cahill denied it. This would have been a key piece of evidence that would have demonstrated that not only Derek was trained in this technique, but the entire Minneapolis Police Department was trained the same way as well. This would have helped Derek be exonerated. There is a PowerPoint training presentation that the city of Minneapolis Police Department illustrates some of the training techniques that are performed.
At Derek’s trial, Chief Aridondo and Inspector Blackwell, testified that they didn't recognize the technique he (Derek) and the other officers were using, as if it was not a part of Minneapolis police training. But the maximal restraint technique is a part of training and policy. In fact, 5316 Maximal Restraint Technique is in their written policy manuals.
At his trial Derek was asked, “Were you trained in MRT? The maximal restraint?” “Yes, I was. Yes, we all were. Yes, all the police officers were trained in the MRT. The amount of training that we go through, I mean, it's consistent every single year. It's written down. It's on body cam.”
Things did not add up in Derek’s trial. If Chauvin pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for nearly 10 minutes, there would undoubtedly be levels of damage or bruising to his neck. Alternative angles from one of the Officers bodycams shows that in fact the shin of Chauvin was on Floyd’s shoulder blade, and at times the knee was on his shoulder. The toxicology report states that there was no bruising or damage to Floyd’s neck.
Floyd was the one who requested to be put on the ground. Floyd after minutes of arguing started to shout “put me on the floor”(seen on video) which the Officers, after believing he is going through Excited Delirium, followed his wishes and placed him on the floor. When Floyd was restrained on the floor after EMS was called, Chauvin is at times seen having his knee touching Floyd’s neck but for the majority of the ordeal, Chauvin’s shin was placed on Floyd’s shoulder blade and the knee was hovering over the neck. Again, the autopsy showed no damage or bruising to Floyd’s neck.
The “I can’t breathe” quote is cited as a reason Chauvin is a cold-blooded murderer — The inference obviously being Chauvin ignored Floyd’s last dying pleads before he took his last breaths. A look at the bodycam footage shows Floyd shouting “I can’t breathe” whilst he was standing up and when he was partially seated in the back of the Police cruiser.
George Floyd had acromegaly. This is a rare condition which results from excessive production of growth hormone by the pituitary gland. This causes enlarged bones in face, feet and hands. Floyd had this disease. People with this disease tend to die from cardiovascular complications, such as heart attack or arrhythmias. There's no mention of this in the original autopsy report, nor any of the other reviews of that autopsy. It is also worth noting Floyd had gone through medical treatment after an overdose just two months before.
At the time of Floyd’s death, the medical report shows Floyd had 4 times the lethal dose of Fentanyl, a drug which causes asphyxia and hypoxia (lack of blood and body oxygen) and also had high amounts of Amphetamine which caused his jittering and abnormal movements. The medical report and bodycam also showed Floyd foaming at the mouth which started from his lungs which alongside his severe heart condition and pelvic tumor which caused him to produce high amounts of adrenaline, it is pretty obvious why he was struggling to breathe.
The autopsy report was available online at first and it was peer reviewed and 17 errors were identified in George Floyd's autopsy. Do these errors raise questions about how George Floyd died? The original autopsy was done 12 hours after he was declared dead. The official report that came out a little bit later was changed after the family had a review by two other forensic examiners. Those two examiners never did a physical autopsy and in fact, did not view any of the slides or pictures. The government of Minneapolis worked to cover up the truth of what really happened to Floyd. The truth is Floyd hid the drugs that he had on his person by swallowing those drugs. It wasn’t racism. It was a drug overdose that actually killed Floyd.
The smoking gun was later found but it was covered up. There is indisputable evidence that George Floyd in his efforts to hide the drugs that he had on his person had ingested fentanyl and methamphetamine. This is what caused his episode where the famous, “I can’t breathe” statement came from. Had George Floyd told the truth about what he had done, the police could have gotten him the medical treatment that he needed. But Floyd a career criminal died at his own hand and Derek became his victim. It’s never talked about that Derek was not the arresting officer. The arresting officer was black. He was with Floyd for approximately 19 minutes. That’s nine minutes longer than Derek was with him. It wasn’t racism that killed Floyd, but it is racism that put Derek in jail. This is wrong and should be immediately corrected.
The facts of the case are horrific in the sense the Derek was an officer with an impeccable record. It was said of him he did everything by the book. There is no reason for this man to be in jail today. There is no reason for him to have lost his life, reputation, and place in society other than evil people wanted to advance a false story about social justice and racial discrimination in America. A story that in this incident never happened. Derek is innocent and should be released and restored but as it stands now this man has lost everything over an utter and complete lie.
I am asking you to pray that Derek gets justice, and the truth is permitted to come out. Derek was recently stabbed in prison and almost lost his life. He needs to be set free.
Article originally posted "More Than Enough" monthly newsletter of the Lighthouse Inc., Church - click here to view.
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