In the hours after George Floyd was murdered on May 25 last year, Minneapolis police made their first remarks about his death.
The announcement did not mention that former officer Derek Chauvin had put his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes.
It did not mention that this use of force was inconsistent with the department’s training.
It didn’t mention that Floyd gasped and told the officers he couldn’t breathe.
There was no mention of the pleas of shocked bystanders – some of them children – who begged the police to admit it.
It didn’t mention that when Floyd was squeezed between the weight of Chauvin’s knee and the asphalt of the street, he tried everything he could – even with his fingers, knuckles, and shoulder muscles – to take in oxygen.
It did not mention that in his last moments Floyd called out for his mother – his “mama” – who had died two years earlier.
Instead, the brief 201-word announcement said only that a man had died “after” a “medical incident during police interaction” and stressed that police had not used weapons.
“Officers were able to handcuff the suspect and noted that he appeared to be suffering in medical need,” the police statement said. Officers called an ambulance. He was transported by ambulance to the Hennepin County Medical Center, where he died a short time later.
But on Tuesday, 12 jurors discovered that this was not the case.
Instead, they found Chauvin guilty of the second-degree murder of Floyd. They discovered that Chauvin had inadvertently killed Floyd while he was attacking him.
They found Chauvin guilty of third-degree murder, which means that he had murdered Floyd while acting extremely dangerous, disregarding human life and while “manifesting a depraved spirit.”
And they found Chauvin guilty of second-degree manslaughter, which meant he knowingly risked Floyd’s death because of his “ culpable negligence. ”
In the wake of the verdict and a nationwide media debate about how much credibility the police should make statements about deaths in custody or during arrest attempts, several viral tweets highlighted the sheer contrast between the first official account of Floyd’s death, the by-by video that soon came to the fore, and the jury’s final decision that he was murdered.
Read the original Minneapolis police statement here:
“Man dies after medical incident during police interaction”
May 25, 2020 (MINNEAPOLIS) Monday evening, shortly after 8 p.m., Minneapolis Police Department officers at the 3700 block of Chicago Avenue South responded to a report of an ongoing forgery. Officers were told the suspect was on top of a blue car and appeared to be under the influence.
Two officers arrived and found the suspect, a man believed to be in his forties, in his car. He was ordered to get out of his car. After he escaped, he physically resisted agents. Officers were able to handcuff the suspect and noted that he appeared to be in a medical emergency. Officers called an ambulance. He was transported by ambulance to Hennepin County Medical Center, where he died a short time later.
No weapons of any kind were ever used by anyone involved in this incident.
At the request of the Minneapolis Police Department, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has been called in to investigate this incident.
No agents were injured in the incident.
Body-worn cameras were turned on and activated during this incident.
And read BuzzFeed News’ coverage of Chauvin’s murder here.