The Chauvin Incident - Table of Contents
An independent review
Primary References
(All key factual claims in this review can be checked against these three sources.)
Department of Justice Pamphlet: Positional Asphyxia - Sudden Death
Thomas Lane Bodycam Video Transcripts
Secondary References
The Fall of Minneapolis (A Crowdfunded Documentary)
Correspondence in the Thomas Lane case regarding duty to intervene
Exhibit to the Court in the Trial of Thomas Lane, detailing maximum restraint technique
Preface
There are dozens, maybe hundreds of Americans who could report this story better than I can. The reason you don’t hear from them is, they mostly prefer to avoid being heard from. They’re medical professionals, psychologists, lawyers and police officers. In those professions, it usually doesn’t pay to have public opinions on highly-disputed topics.
My own medical license is extremely advanced: it is expired, a level of advancement which few medical professionals achieve in their lifetimes. Because my license is expired, I am free to publish content under my own name which would be far too risky if I had a medical career in front of me. I still have to abide by the HIPAA, but I don’t have to worry about being canceled.
I was an EMT for ten years, and I worked closely with the police. I’m not an expert on law enforcement or medicine, but my views align with the views of credible, credentialed professionals. This review may be original in its methods and organization, but it contains no deep or unique insights. If I’m doing anything special, it is asking the right questions.
The central question, on which so much depends, is whether or not Derek Chauvin killed George Floyd, as many seem to believe. The verdict against Chauvin being so doubtful, my goal is to present and explain the publicly-available evidence in a sensible, accessible way, without the media, political and institutional influences which tainted Chauvin's trial.
The key evidence, which anyone can review for himself, consists in the various video documents of George Floyd's death. Never has an amateur investigator been so spoiled for information. I chose to focus on the bodycam video of rookie Officer Thomas Lane. Lane was the first officer to contact Floyd; it was Lane who handcuffed Floyd; Lane witnessed the conduct of both Chauvin and Floyd; and Lane was the first to provide chest compressions in a doomed, much-too-late effort to resuscitate Floyd.
To make the video more accessible, I have prepared transcripts. I do not claim these transcripts are perfectly accurate or complete, especially in the later parts when everyone yells at once. I have tried to see, hear, and write down what is essential. The transcripts are surprisingly good reading; you'd have to be a real artist to make this stuff up. They are essential, if one is to disentangle the threads of multiple conversations going on simultaneously.
I have tried to limit my reliance on any materials outside of the Primary References listed above. For instance, I have mostly excluded testimony from the trial, except Shawanda Hill's testimony regarding George Floyd's use of Fentanyl on the day he died, and Dr. Andrew Baker’s testimony about his contact with prosecutors assigned to the case.
Parts One through Three do not directly address the question of whether Chauvin killed George Floyd. They are background material, with elements of subjectivity and guesswork. My opinion of anyone's character is just that: my opinion.
Parts Four through Six are more strictly factual, based on documented events. There is no benign, simple explanation for the events depicted; they are some of the strangest stuff ever seen on video. We can answer most of the questions, but not all. There are limits to our understanding of the Chauvin Incident.