08/31/20 Toxicology report: George Floyd died of a drug overdose
SAVECALIFORNIA.COM NEWS RELEASE
August 31, 2020 -- For Immediate Release
Toxicology report: George Floyd died of a drug overdose
Thomasson: "Based on the evidence, George Floyd killed himself with a drug overdose. With no probable cause for murder charges, the four Minneapolis police officers should be released now."
Sacramento, California (August 31, 2020) -- In response to new evidence in the Minneapolis (Hennepin County, Minnesota) case against four police officers charged with murdering, or aiding and abetting in murdering, George Floyd on May 25, 2020, SaveCalifornia.com urges all Americans to stop repeating the lie that police killed Floyd.
"It is unjust, unconstitutional, and un-American to arrest, jail, charge, and convict someone when there's no probable cause or substantial evidence that a crime has been committed," said Randy Thomasson, president of SaveCalifornia.com, a leading pro-child, pro-family organization. "Based on the evidence, George Floyd killed himself with a drug overdose. With no probable cause for murder charges, the four Minneapolis police officers should be released now."
"'Black Lives Matter' activists need to stop repeating George Floyd's phrase, 'I can't breathe,' since Floyd's drug overdose had filled his lungs with fluid," added Thomasson. "A just person will blame George Floyd for his own death, not the officers, who were following established protocol in dealing with a suspect who's resisting arrest."
FACTS
Hennepin County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Andrew Baker reported to county prosecutors that toxicology tests showed George Floyd's blood contained a fatal level of fentanyl, along with methamphetamine. And the autopsy found that Floyd's lungs were 2 to 3 times their normal weight.
In his May 31, 2020 meeting with county prosecutors, Baker said, "if Floyd had been found dead in his home" (or anywhere else) and there were no other contributing factors, he would "conclude that it was an overdose death."
Baker's June 3, 2020 report stated Floyd's autopsy identified "No life-threatening injuries," yet the toxicology report found several drugs in his blood: Fentanyl, Norfentanyl, 4-ANPP, Methamphetamine, THC metabolites (from cannabis), Cotinine (from tobacco), and Caffeine.
This evidence of a drug overdose corroborates evidence from the scene, including the testimony of Mr. Morries Hall, who was in the car with Floyd, on May 25, 2020.
From page 2 and 3 of the August 28, 2020 filing and motion to dismiss all charges against police officer Derek Chauvin:
When officers initially approached Mr. Floyd, a white object was visible in Mr. Floyd's mouth. (Ex. 9). At one point, Mr. Floyd turned away from officers, and when he faced them again, the white object was no longer visible. (Id.). Outside the vehicle, Mr. Floyd continued to struggle and actively resist the officers as they attempted to handcuff him.1 Officers noted that he was acting erratically and repeatedly inquired whether Mr. Floyd was drunk or "on something." (See, e.g. Ex. 2, Kueng BWC at 6:13 et seq.).
Officers also noted that Mr. Floyd had foam coming from his mouth. (Id. at 6:20). As an explanation, Mr. Floyd appears to say, "I was just hooping earlier." (Id. at 6:24). When questioned by police later, both of the passengers in Mr. Floyd's vehicle asserted their belief that Mr. Floyd was under the influence of narcotics. Ms. Hill told investigators that Mr. Floyd was "probably on some pills or something." (Ex. 4, Hill Int. at Bates 023033). On the day after the Cup Foods incident, Mr. Hall fled the State. (See Ex. 5, Hall Int., generally). Ultimately, Minnesota BCA agents had to travel to Texas, where Mr. Hall had been arrested, and interview him at a Texas Rangers station. (Id.).
A page 2 footnote details how Floyd exhibited similar behavior when stopped by police in 2019:
In May, 2019, Mr. Floyd was stopped as part of a narcotics investigation. At the time he was stopped, as here, Mr. Floyd was acting nervously, talking, moving around and refusing to show his hands. As here, Mr. Floyd was agitated and would not listen to officers' commands. (Ex. 21 at Bates 6530). Similarly, he "had put something in his mouth and was attempting to eat them." (Id.). As in the present case, officers had to physically remove Mr. Floyd from the car, and as they did, he continued talking and began to cry. (Id.). Mr. Floyd had several Oxycodin (an opioid) pills in his possession. (Id.). Cocaine (a stimulant) was also located in the vehicle. (Id.). Police had Mr. Floyd transported to a hospital, where he admitted that he had ingested "oxycodone or percocet (obtained off street)... while under arrest." (Ex. 22 at Bates 6910). Clearly, Mr. Floyd had a modus operandi in the way he acted when approached by police officers while attempting to conceal narcotics.
Page 4 of the August 28, 2020 filing continues:
When finally questioned in Texas, Mr. Hall, who had spent the entire day with Mr. Floyd up until and including the incident at Cup Foods, told investigators that he knew Mr. Floyd to use pills and that Mr. Floyd had stated his intention to do so on the day of his death. (Ex. 5, Hall Int. at Bates 27379). Hall told investigators that Mr. Floyd had a drug addiction. (Id.). Hall believed that Mr. Floyd had recently used a pill that Mr. Hall thought to be a combination of Adderall and "whatever they put in the ecstasy pill." (Id. at 27380). Mr. Hall suspected that Mr. Floyd had ingested drugs just prior to the May 25, 2020, incident because Mr. Floyd had been acting normal all day but, after returning to the vehicle from Cup Foods, Mr. Floyd fell asleep in the driver's seat of the car. (Id. at 27379). According to Mr. Hall, "it was so fast I look at him and I'm like all of sudden you know he's just sleeping, he was sleeping." (Id.; see Ex. 4. at Bates 23032-34 (Floyd "just nodded off")).
See the police bodycam video that the state attorney general, Keith Ellison, hid from the public for more than two months before it was leaked to the world via DailyMail.com on August 3, 2020. The video shows George Floyd resisting patient officers for several minutes. And the toxicology report confirms Floyd was high on drugs, which constricted his breathing and caused his demise.
ANALYSIS
Explaining Floyd's high-strung, drug-induced behavior was the toxicology report, which found Floyd had a massive overdose of the opioid fentanyl, along with methamphetamine. These harmful drugs -- which can cause "severe respiratory depression, circulatory collapse, coma, and death" -- explain Floyd's paranoia, aggression, and the breathing problems he had while standing and sitting.
Former federal and state prosecutor George Parry says the charges should have been immediately dropped, noting the drugs ingested by Floyd reveal why he repeatedly said "I can't breathe," even while in the back of the police car:
So there they were, staring at the just-received and damning toxicology report that blew to smithereens the whole prosecution theory that the police had killed Floyd. To their undoubted dismay, Dr. Baker, the chief medical examiner, had to concede that at 11 ng/mL, Floyd had "a fatal level of fentanyl under normal circumstances." He also conceded that the fentanyl overdose "can cause pulmonary edema," a frothy fluid build-up in the lungs that was evidenced by the finding at autopsy that Floyd's lungs weighed two to three times normal weight.
This is consistent with Officer Kueng's observation at the scene that Floyd was foaming at the mouth and, as found at autopsy, that his lungs were "diffusely congested and edematous."
In other words, like a drowned man, Floyd's lungs were filled with fluid. And that was the obvious and inescapable reason why Floyd kept shouting over and over again that he couldn't breathe even when he was upright and mobile.
"Justice must be blind and without favoritism or bias," Thomasson said. "No one can be charged with committing a crime without probable cause based on the available evidence. But the evidence for murder just wasn't and isn't there, and county prosecutors knew that at least three months ago. Three days, let alone three months, is too long to falsely imprison anyone and is blatantly unconstitutional. Derek Chauvin, Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane, and Tou Thao are political prisoners who should be promptly released from incarceration, and restored to honorable status as law enforcement officers, with back pay, even if they have to relocate outside of politically-correct Minneapolis."
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SaveCalifornia.com is a leading West Coast nonprofit, nonpartisan organization standing strong for moral virtues for the common good. We represent children and families in the areas of marriage and family, parental rights, the sanctity of human life, religious freedom, financial freedom, and back-to-basics education.
