UPDATED: Highly Recommended: Larry Johnson On Floyd's Death

Larry Johnson has a really good guest article at TGP: Death of George Floyd in Minneapolis is a Result of Approved Minneapolis Police Training. As not infrequently happens, the title of an article may not fully communicate the true import of the piece. That's the case here. Johnson covers a lot of ground, including Floyd's toxicological condition as well as the operative Minneapolis PD regulations on "neck restraints." I've selected some excerpts that include a brief passage that in my opinion communicates very clearly what was most likely going on in Floyd's encounter with the police. This will surely be coming out at any trial. The only reason we haven't heard some of these things already is because the Fake News Media doesn't want us to know.

So.

First, be aware that throughout Johnson appears to be assuming that Officer Chauvin's use of a "neck restraint" was applied in order to subdue Floyd. I'm going to argue that that's not exactly the case. More precisely, I argue that the restraint was applied to Floyd to immobilize him for his own safety while the police waited for the paramedics to arrive.

Second, I highly recommend that you follow the link below re "Speedballing." It will give you a very clear idea of Floyd's likely condition. Again, bear in mind that Floyd had in his body 4x the amount of Fentanyl known to cause death. In addition to the Meth and other stuff.

We turn to Johnson:

... The video record of the incident is incomplete. New footage has emerged that shows Floyd in the vehicle and he is not sitting passively. The new video shows evidence of a struggle aka “active aggression.” 

I am not defending the use of this type of restraint. But I am pretty certain that evidence will emerge showing that Chauvin was trained to use the knee to the neck as a means of “non-violent” restraint. ... 

... 

Then there is the matter of George Floyd’s drug intoxication. He was Speedballing. (See here for a full description of Speedballing.) When you mix Methamphetamine with Fentanyl, that is “Speedballing”. You are mixing an upper with a downer. 

... 

Methamphetamine is a stimulant. Fentanyl is a depressant. According to the American Addiction Centers, combining stimulants like meth with depressants (like Fentanyl) can mask overdose symptoms until it’s too late to get help. 

... 

The Florida Alcohol and Drug Abuse Association reports that, “Respiratory failure is particularly likely with speedballs because the effects of stimulants wear off far more quickly than the effects of opioids.” 

Ok. From the above we get a likely picture of Floyd overdosing or experiencing excited delirium--which amounts to much the same thing: likely death. He was foaming at the mouth and active. We now know that the officers saw this and expressed concern that Floyd was in a state of excited delirium. If you were an experienced officer like Chauvin and saw this happening in the back of your squad, what would you do? I think you'd get Floyd out of the car, while calling paramedics and attempting to immobilize Floyd while waiting for the paramedics. Immobilization is a recognized approach to treating persons suffering from excited delirium. Why the "neck restraint"? To immobilize Floyd's head and prevent him from harming his face.

That, I think, is the import of what Johnson says next:

The part of the video that is missing (and the story that still needs to be told) is how Floyd reacted when he was put into the police car. The video that has emerged indicates there was some commotion inside the car. That commotion will explain why Floyd was taken out of the car, put on the ground and restrained in accordance with Minneapolis Police Department procedures. 

Johnson next moves on to Minneapolis Police Department procedures. What's important to be aware of here is that the City Council refers to "chokeholds and other neck restraints". "Chokeholds" is the old fashioned term, "neck restraints" is the more PC term--although LE professionals recognize a distinction. What they both describe are ways of rendering a resisting subject semi- or fully unconscious so that the subject can then be handcuffed. The danger involved in these holds is ending up in a struggle in which--whether intended or not--the officer has his forearm across the front of the subject's throat and ends up crushing the trachea. And that's also the importance of the autopsy report which points out that Floyd suffered no traumatic injuries or even bruising.

It's patently obvious that "chokeholds and other neck restraints" has little if anything to do with the immobilization procedure that Chauvin was employing, and that neither "chokehold" nor "neck restraint" is truly a proper description for Chauvin's actions. It also illustrates the dishonesty of the City Council. They want you to believe, for political reasons, that they're trying to stop police officers from gratuitously murdering people or, at least, from recklessly employing sadistic techniques. But what about potentially life saving or injury prevention techniques?

This part of the story is being largely ignored. Yet, just last night, the Minneapolis City Council admitted this ["chokeholds and other neck restraints"] was a practice by banning its use going forward: 

All 12 members of the city council voted to make “quick changes” as the investigation progresses, ultimately resulting in a consent decree from the courts that will require change, said Lucero, who was appointed to the position in January 2019 by Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat.

The following reforms are to be implemented immediately:

— Chokeholds and other neck restraints are banned.

The mere fact that these “restraints” are now banned is a clear admission that they were approved methods under the rules and procedures of the Minneapolis Police Department. Oh yeah, one last thing, the Chief of Police of the Minneapolis Police Department is black. Are we supposed to believe he was unaware of this practice? Bullshit. He came up through the ranks and his training record will show that he not only was trained in the method used by Officer Chauvin. He also probably used it once or twice during his rise to the top of the force.

As an aside, my wife was listening to CBS News early this morning. It was briefly announced that other police departments around the country were taking the same action that Minneapolis was taking: banning "chokeholds." Places like Seattle and Santa Cruz were mentioned. That's right: Deep Blue cities, like Minneapolis.

UPDATE: Final Autopsy on Floyd: Bad Heart, Drug Use, COVID-19, “No Life-threatening Injuries”.

Hmmmmm. Homicide with no life threatening injuries. Go figure, eh?