A Second Look at the Derek Chauvin Conviction
by John Lawrence
The video of Derek Chauvin kneeling on George Floyd's neck was in and of itself enough to get a murder conviction and a lengthy prison sentence for Chauvin. But as his defense attorney stated at the time of conviction, there are a lot of "what-ifs" in this case. First of all what if George Floyd had not resisted arrest and compliantly gotten into the police car? He would still be alive today of course. Many but not all of the most publicized deaths at police hands were triggered by noncompliance on behalf of the person being arrested. Second, at the time of George Floyd's death the knee on neck restraint was a legal maneuver according to the Minneapolis police manual. NBC News reported in a June 2020 article: "The version of the Minneapolis Police Department's policy manual that is available on-line, however, does permit the use of neck restraints that can render suspects unconscious, and the protocol for their use has not been updated for more than eight years." The headline of the article was "Minneapolis police rendered 44 people unconscious with neck restraints in five years." The article went on:
"Since the beginning of 2015, officers from the Minneapolis Police Department have rendered people unconscious with neck restraints 44 times, according to an NBC News analysis of police records. Several police experts said that number appears to be unusually high.
"Minneapolis police used neck restraints at least 237 times during that span, and in 16 percent of the incidents the suspects and other individuals lost consciousness, the department's use-of-force records show. A lack of publicly available use-of-force data from other departments makes it difficult to compare Minneapolis to other cities of the same or any size.
"Police define neck restraints as when an officer uses an arm or leg to compress someone's neck without directly pressuring the airway. On May 25, Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin was captured on video kneeling on the neck of a prone and handcuffed George Floyd for eight minutes — including nearly three minutes after he had stopped breathing."
However every police officer that testified against Chauvin condemned him for using this technique and ran as far away from the stated policy in the police manual as they could get. Perhaps Chauvin's intent was to render Floyd unconscious, not to kill him. However, the manual also states ""Place the subject in the recovery position to alleviate positional asphyxia." Chauvin's lapse in judgment included his failure to put Floyd in the recovery position. The exact quote from the police manual is:
"Neck Restraint 25 Minutes
"Compressing one or both sides of a person’s neck with an arm or leg, without applying direct pressure to the trachea or airway (front of the neck)
"Non-Deadly Force Option
"Two Applications-Conscious & Unconscious"
So while the police manual is not entirely clear on the matter, what is clear is that the knee on the neck restraint was legal, many persons had been rendered unconscious by the use of this technique and, evidently, George Floyd was the first person that died from the use of this technique.
What if the ambulance had gotten there a few minutes earlier and George Floyd was still alive when he was put in the ambulance? What if there was no video of the incident? What if they had placed George Floyd in the recovery position? What if Chauvin hadn't volunteered to come into work on his day off? The death of George Floyd was a tragedy for everyone concerned certainly for the Floyd family. The fact that this was Chauvin's first offense, that the neck restraint was a legal maneuver at the time and the fact that there was no intent to murder George Floyd should be mitigating factors. Chauvin's lapse of judgement concerned not putting Floyd in the recovery position. That was his big mistake of Greek tragedy proportions. The aggravating factor that there were children present is ridiculous since the attempted arrest was conducted near a sidewalk where people including children could be passers by. Are police officers just supposed to stop their arrest if the children decide to stop and stare at the proceedings?
As for Derek Chauvin, he will be paying the price for not placing George Floyd in the recovery position for many years.
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