MURDER CASE

Authorities Release Criminal Complaint Against Ex-Officer Charged in George Floyd’s Death

The complaint says the medical examiner found nothing physical to “support a diagnosis of traumatic asphyxia or strangulation.”

Hennepin County prosecutors on Friday afternoon released a criminal complaint outlining the case against former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd. Chauvin was arrested Friday and charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter four days after he was caught on camera kneeling on Floyd’s neck as the 46-year-old repeatedly told him he couldn’t breathe. The complaint states Chauvin held his knee on Floyd’s neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds—including two minutes and 53 seconds in which Floyd was unresponsive—in a restraint that police are taught is “inherently dangerous.” Despite the shocking footage, the complaint states that the Hennepin County Medical Examiner found nothing physical to “support a diagnosis of traumatic asphyxia or strangulation.” “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,” the complaint states.