The Scapegoating of Derek Chauvin
31st January 2024
n a previous article (Part I) I described the parade of evidence proving that George Floyd died of cardiopulmonary arrest resulting from his rampant drug use, heart disease, enlarged heart, and edematous lungs. I also showed how prosecutors knew that Officer Chauvin’s knee did not restrict the passage of air to Floyd’s lungs. This fact was not in dispute—the medical examiner testified that he informed prosecutors there was no physical evidence of asphyxiation.
Notwithstanding this evidence, the legacy media manufactured the narrative that Officer Chauvin killed Floyd by asphyxiating him: a patently false narrative nicely encapsulated in memetic and opportunistic “I can’t breathe” T-shirts and “8 minutes, 46 seconds” ball caps. This rhetoric implied that responding officers’ use of force was unlawful. As I show below, this view is entirely false, though it made for effective propaganda.
Responding officers (including Officer Chauvin, who arrived several minutes into the ordeal) handled Floyd’s arrest in a professional, dispassionate, and lawful manner. They managed to deescalate a tense and dangerous situation involving an erratic, powerful, and intoxicated suspect amidst an increasingly hostile and dangerous mob. They should be commended for their work. The bodycam footage proves it.