Read the complaint charging ex-Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin with murder of George Floyd

[Mike 03]

Minneapolis Star Tribune

MAY 29, 2020 — 2:08PM

Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman charged fired Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter on Friday in the death of George Floyd. Read the criminal complaint against Chauvin below.

https://www.startribune.com/read-the-complaint-charging-derek-chauvin-with-murder-of-george-floyd/570870791/

Sorry, there's no way to cut and paste this because the complaint is embedded in a frame on the website.
It appears to be 7 pages long.

[blitzen]

1. "Evincing depraved mind" is part of the murder charge. Sounds right to me. n/t

[cayugafalls]

2. They set it up so that the out will be his health caused his death.

"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."

Edited to add: I know it says combined effects...just saying that they will play the health card heavily.

[The Magistrate]

3. It Does Not Work Like That, Sir

If a person's action so aggravates a medical condition that death results, that person is held liable for the consequences. Under this charge, the crime is that the officer did not care a rat's ass whether there might be fatal consequences to what he was doing. There were fatal consequences, and his actions caused them.

[USALiberal]

4. Thank you! nt

[cayugafalls]

7. That would be great. I hope it happens.

However, we are talking about an officer in a department that is known for being endemically racist. When it comes to justice for crimes like this, I have very little faith.

While I understand the point you made, I stand by my statement as I implied nothing more than the use of his health being used as defense. The lawyer for the officer will play the health card heavily to at least lessen the charges.

I hope I am wrong and you are right.

Thank you for clarifying.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

10. Exactly. The "depraved indifference" element means

that the defendant didn't care what happened to his victim, whether he was asphyxiated by the knee on his neck or that he had a heart attack. I don't think they'll have a problem proving depraved indifference because I don't know what the hell else you'd call it.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. There's a saying in the law that you take your victim as you find him.

That means you can't take advantage of your victim's pre-existing weakness or disability in order to claim it wasn't your fault that he fell over dead after you did something to him. The question is whether he would have died then and there if the cop hadn't put him on the ground and knelt on his neck, and the answer is probably not, even if he did have a heart condition.

[cayugafalls]

11. Which is why officers are trained to try and calm detainees down.

Having four officers kneeling and pinning you to the ground for 9 minutes while you struggle to breathe is not calming in any way shape or form. Officers have gotten off for tasering someone 18 times and the person died...

https://abcnews.go.com/US/police-charged-death-man-shocked-taser-18-times/story?id=54799570

Police will not be charged in death of man shocked with Taser 18 times in shower

...Trammell, who was naked at the time, was allegedly speaking incoherently and flooding an apartment with a shower when police arrived, WISN reported. West Milwaukee and West Allis police said in a press release last year that a stun gun was used on the suspect because he "was uncooperative and combative with officers."

He stopped breathing and died at a local hospital, police said.

The Milwaukee County medical examiner ruled Trammell's cause of death as excited delirium and the manner "undetermined."

There have been studies done on this as stated down thread.

I don't think I said he would get off for that reason, I just implied that they would use his health as part of their defense and use it as an out. Whether it works or not is yet to play out. I have very little faith in the system, however, I hope I am wrong and justice is done.

[sop]

5. I realize it's not a popular opinion, but Freeman will have a hard time convicting anyone based on

the information contained in that charging document. The coroner's report will be key. If it shows a cause of death unrelated to the knee on his neck, drugs in Floyd's system or any pre-existing medical condition that could have caused him to stop breathing, any good defense attorney will argue "excitable delirium" as the cause of death.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20190633/

[Wellstone ruled]

6. Oh boy,the sucker walks.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

9. But where did the excitable delirium come from?

Having a knee on his neck, maybe? I don't agree that this gets the cop off the hook. The question is really whether the cop's actions contributed to Floyd's death. Would Floyd still be alive today, heart trouble or not, if that hadn't happened?

[sop]

12. One of the four arresting officers mentioned "excitable delirium" as they were restraining Floyd.

That is in the charging complaint. This shows the police are aware of this defense, and will likely use it. "Excitable delirium" is not recognized as a genuine mental health or medical condition by either the American Medical Association or the American Psychological Association. However, it is often cited by coroners as the cause of death when suspects die while being lawfully restrained by police.

In my opinion (that's all it is, nothing more) Freeman took pains to carefully set the groundwork for a defense attorney to raise "excitable delirium" as a defense in his charging complaint. Freeman's detailed description of Floyd resisting during the arrest at several key points, his complaint of claustrophobia, his suspected drug intoxication, Floyd's breathing problems even while standing, his repeated falls and the suspect's medical complaints all point to an "excitable delirium" defense.

The link above has dozens of informative articles and case studies describing how police defense attorneys employ it successfully in both civil and criminal cases.

[sop]

13. These cops would be "on the hook" in a civil action, a criminal action would be more difficult.