Long before Derek Chauvin entered a courtroom to face a judge and jury, he didn’t have a chance at a fair trial—because of people like me.
3 days after George Floyd’s death, and 284 days before the start of Derek Chauvin’s trial, I wrote an article titled, The Injustice Against George Floyd.
In the article, I said Derek Chauvin might not be guilty of racism, but he’s definitely guilty of murder.
Like a fool, I repeated a case that seemed right—until it was examined at the trial. Like a person who isn’t slow to speak—or slow to write—I gave an answer before I heard all the facts of the case.
Minnesota’s prosecutors and Derek Chauvin’s defence lawyers investigated the incident for 11 months. And the jurors examined evidence for 7 weeks and deliberated for 10 hours before they reached a verdict. I, however, made up my mind about the incident within seconds after watching the infamous 8 minutes and 46 seconds video.
Much of what I said in my article about the incident have been proven wrong. I said Derek Chauvin killed George Floyd by pressing his knee to the back of his neck, but that’s at least debatable.
Autopsies from two different medical examiners suggest Floyd died from asphyxiation or cardiac arrest as a result of a combination of heart disease, drug intoxication (or overdose), and knee compression.
However, alternate angles of the incident prove his knee was actually on Floyd’s back and shoulder, not his neck.
According to Floyd’s autopsy and his medical distress during the arrest that prompted Chauvin and the police officers to call an ambulance for him, it’s possible—and I think likely—he died from a toxic combination of fentanyl and meth in his body. Especially since Floyd’s drug dealer—who was with him when Chauvin and the police officers arrived at the scene—refused to testify at the trial because he was afraid he would incriminate himself for manslaughter.
By Samuel Sey
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