I was really looking for some debunking of the documentary and this article didn't provide any. Nothing stated here wasn't stated in the film. Yes, his knee was on his neck, but the film showed it wasn't for the whole minutes. Yes, people testified that he died of asphyxiation from the knee, but the film alleged that those people didn't actually examine the body. Yes, they pled guilty to some charges, but we all know that people regularly plead guilty to crimes they didnt commit for varius reasons. Yes, Floyd was alive at the beginning and dead at the end. I work in emergent care and often see people who were alive and talking and then minutes later be dead from an OD of fentanyl.
The take home of the documentary, it seems, you have totally neglected to address in your write up. First, that tactic that the cops used to hold down Floyd were by the book, and the claim is that they were trained to use them, and that the police chief lied under oath about them. Second, the autopsy report showed cause of death not by choking, but more likely heart failure, and that he had more than a lethal dose of fentanyl in his system. If these two things are true, they didn't receive a fair trial. Simple as that.
Laypeople like yourself cannot see that the overall poor state of Floyd's health was a HUGE factor in physically confrontational situation, with or without possible drug involvement....even a guy on the street said "get in the car, you're gonna have a heart attack!"
You fail to see the big picture. You posting a link to a news source that is BEING CHALLENGED, based on the accusations in the documentary does nothing. Regardless, I'm not trying to argue fact or fiction. To not question everything we read, see and hear, especially this day and age, is obtuse, at best.
Stephen, even here, Associated Press straight up lies in your face, and you don't question it. They claim: "It does not prove anything new about Floyd’s death, and ignores that the prior page concludes that it was a homicide due to 'cardiopulmonary arrest' from 'law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression.'"
But the coroner does not "conclude" anything, they have just misconstrued parts of the case title: "CARDIOPULMONARY ARREST COMPLICATING LAW ENFORCEMENT SUBDUAL, RESTRAINT, AND NECK COMPRESSION".
Associated Press has just ripped "complicating" out from the case title, and then stuck it back together again by adding "from" instead of "complicating", entirely changing the meaning of the sentence.
The plain meaning of the case title, as written, is that the heart problems Floyd was having complicated his arrest, that is, he died during arrest due to the heart problems. It does not say that the arrest caused the heart problems.
So when the media lies to protect a narrative they have created that is also a lie, you just continue to believe them. Even though evidence of the lie is right in front of you.
What is wrong with you people? Why do you just love being lied to by the media? Are you such weak, gullible, cowardly individuals that you hide behind flock mentality to avoid any responsibility what so ever to evaluate information independently?
From the AP News story you cite: "They have also noted that the fact that no major bruising or damage to the muscles, cartilage or bones in the neck was found — as indicated under the phrase “no life-threatening injuries identified” in the autopsy — does not mean that asphyxia did not occur. Only that there are no signs of it on the body." TRANSLATION: HE WAS CLEARLY ASPHYXIATED BECAUSE THE AUTOPSY REVEALS ZERO EVIDENCE OF ASPHYXIATION
You literally haven’t read the document you are posting or don’t comprehend it’s meaning. Perhaps best stay away from ‘journalism’ as it isn’t something that suits your talents.
There is a question of what happened first in Floyd's case: Did his heart stop first leading to lack of circulation and hypoxia, or did he stop breathing first leading to his heart stopping and then hypoxia. The former has more evidence to back it. Floyd's heart stopped, he went limp, but in the bodycams can be observed still breathing shallowly for another thirty seconds or longer. It was also during that point that Kueng failed to find a pulse. Fentanyl blocks the autonomic center controlling the heart and breathing. Floyd already had a bad heart and blocked arteries, so that went first.
Why did the prosecutors not use the actual fucking medical examiner’s autopsy, and instead went with a report given by to independent investigators hired by Crump WHO NEVER DID A PHYSICAL autopsy OF HIS BODY and acknowledged they didn’t have access to the toxicology report?
Don’t you think those two things would be important?
You are literally the entire point of this documentary. The documentary says that in spite of powerful evidence to the contrary, the racially charged political nature of this case led the leadership of Minneapolis to cowtow to the narrative being fed them by the activist class instead of doing their jobs, which is finding out what actually happened.
You’re saying that what actually happened doesn’t matter because you “saw” what actually happened on a cell phone video.
The fact is, you don’t have a fucking clue what happened based on that cell phone video. We didn’t “all see something” because a cell phone video doesn’t give the full picture of the case. The trial was corrupted at every turn, due process was hijacked constantly, and the crowd got what they want, short of the officers being strung up and gutted publicly.
You’re the problem. You don’t care about truth, especially if it hijacks your worldview.
The "independent" autopsy done by Michael Baden was never admitted as evidence at trial. It was a fraud, paid for by Benjamin Crump, but used in his fleecing of Minneapolis in the $27 million civil suit. Baden never say the toxicology reported, viewed any bodycams or even looked at the official autopsy which was available.
The Darnella Frazier video begins when George Floyd has already been restrained for 5 minutes and Floyd is about to lose consciousness. The angle and quality of the video appear to show Chauvin with his knee on the back of Floyd's neck, but it is impossible to make out the actual outline of his knee. It is actually diagonal from the side of the neck to the center of the should blade on Floyd's back. This is visible on the police bodycams. There are constant repeats that Chauvin had his "hands in his pockets", purportedly to add more force (which it wouldn't). Chauvin has on a pair of gloves that are the same color as his trousers and thus the hands blend into the trousers. Floyd also had a black t-shirt on which came close in color to the navy blue police trousers. In the Frazier video all of this blends into an almost solid blob.
I don't know if you are blind, ignorant or extremely biased based on your hate or some other reason. But it is very obvious that if Floyd was murdered, he was murdered by himself.
There is nothing poorly argued about showing the videos of the former police chief, the prosecution, the politicians, and the media blatantly lying about Floyd's physical condition, the overdose he took while being arrested, and the causes of death listed in his autopsy. There is nothing poorly argued about showing the incredibly critical evidence and other information that the judge prohibited from being presented to the jury. There is nothing poorly argued about showing the videos of politicians essentially forcing the verdict on the jury. There is nothing poorly argued about showing videos of the judge clearly demonstrating what an ass he is.
I was trying to find an article about how truthful this movie is, but this article is not helpful. This is an emotional rant, not a factual debunking of the movie. The “he was alive at the beginning and dead at the end so it was murder” argument is ridiculous. People go into hospitals alive and come out dead every minute of the day. Were they all murdered by the doctors and nurses? Floyd had enough drugs in him to kill a horse, and if you can’t even acknowledge that fact in your argument against the movie, then you appear to be the untrustworthy one, not the movie makers. You’re not even making the common counter to that fact about Floyd’s potential resistance to high levels of fentanyl due to regular use (because then you would have to admit that Floyd might have had some flaws of his own, like being a junkie). Even members of the jury admitted in interviews after the trial that the defense demonstrated that Chauvin didn’t kill Floyd, only that he was guilty of not helping Floyd more once it was obvious he was in distress, which is the specious reasoning they used to find him guilty of murder. The idea that “he was found guilty by the court, therefore he’s guilty” is a completely ludicrous idea. Like courts never get anything wrong.
Your review is biased and non-factual. GF was a drug abusing convicted felon who was arrested in the commission of another crime. It is obvious (to any sane person) that he died in custody in part due to the illicit drugs in his system, a recent COVID infection, and the many bad choices he made that fateful day. GF wasn’t murdered. He isn’t a hero. He isn’t even a tragic figure, which would require him to have some redeeming qualities. He’s a pathetic figure whose otherwise meaningless life was suddenly validated when he became the martyr of the radical left.
Not one substantive or objective argument about any piece of information or actual data presented in the documentary (see all the comments below). This opinion piece is just another prime example of trash liberal journalism. Nobody should accept an opinion on this film without watching it start to finish.
Why didn't the judge allow the Maximal Restraint Technique to be shown to jury? Why did the Chief of Police lie on the stand about it? George Floyd's medical problems were legion (in and of themselves) as well the critical involvement of fentanyl and meth. Remember, was there PLAUSIBLE DOUBT that he did not intend to murder GF? That is the STANDARD for a guilty verdict and the jury saw NONE of these facts. Your blythe willingness to blow thru truths presented here is really truly shocking and you should be ashamed but you're just running point for your leftist brethren.
The prosecution never even argued that Chauvin was motivated to kill Floyd. There was never a show intent, because there was none. Those 4 cops were trying to keep this guy alive and safe until EMT arrived. There was nothing they could do to help them. The prone position was actually a good position to keep him in.
I love how every comment here is disagreeing with this ridiculous article. The author does not have a single substantive argument. Where the documentary shared facts, personal accounts, video, documents, etc, the author shared emotion. Emotion is what got us to where we are today.
I lived only a few blocks from what is now deemed “George Floyd Square.” What’s NOT shared in any of the information out there is the trauma that locals experienced. I freaking lived in a war zone. A person bleeding in the alley across the street, fireworks and gunshots every single night, a letter in my email from Governor Walz telling me to put everything outside away and to hose down any outdoor fences because they would likely be set aflame. My next door neighbor was both carjacked, broke two fingers from the carjacking AND she was separately mugged walking from her garage into her home. The person directly across the street experienced a mugger in her garage, too. Luckily she was holding a metal water bottle to whip the muggers away.
I had a 9-month-old at the time all this was happening. I had panic attacks. I ran from my garage into my home. My car was stolen out of my locked garage. I was fearful living in my own home. I lost sleep worrying someone throw something through my window, or worse, my baby’s. People don’t know how bad it really was. It was so effing bad. My family and I moved that following fall, and we were really lucky to do so. It took a while to sell but finally someone bought our house. Watching the documentary was cathartic. I never felt like I could even share my personal experiences with someone, because the narrative out there was that it was all in the name of justice. Well, “Justice” my a**.
You claim that the movie is full of right wing bias, but your review seems to share the same level of bias only from a left leaning viewpoint. I guess each of you needs to appeal to the audience you are trying to attract.
Except that the video shows objective truths vs emotional truths of the left. The cops were extensively trained in MRT and the COP lied on stand. Floyd's lungs were saturated with fluid from pulmonary edema from fentanyl. He had severe BP issues. Extremely critical pieces of evidence and testimony were never presented because no one had the courage to tell the truth.
“ both politicians, especially Walz, forcefully denounced rioting and looting”
Ha! Maybe later for the press but not at the time. I am closely related to a 30 yr federal LE veteran, who was called out to assist the locals on the night of the riots, forced to stand down and stand by with his squad across the street as the 3rd precinct was destroyed, not on orders of Donald Trump, but directly from Jacob Frey. When they all objected, they told they would lose their jobs if they disobeyed. Death and destruction explicitly allowed, without penalty or even objection. Why
I want to believe you... I so so so badly want to believe you. Because if what the film suggests is true, it's a tragedy on top of a tragedy, and no one wants that. But your article starts out saying, more or less, "this has all been reviewed at trial... there's nothing new here." But you omit that much of what's in the film was excluded by the judge. You know that right? And later you get lathered because of the half-truths and convenient omissions that you yourself commit? Ugh... where's the objective analysis these days. Everyone has an agenda.
Everything in the film is actual footage, reports or testimony. A great documentary produced on I'm sure what was a lower budget than the January 6th film. This documentary is outstanding journalism.
A clearly biased review, made clear by the hyperbole (“Orwellian”), and the unwarranted smear against the quality of the filmmaking. The film seems to have convinced Glenn Lowry and John McWhorter—their responses are well worth visiting —and persuaded this viewer that if there is anything Orwellian going on, it is from the likes of the author of this “review.”
I was really looking for some debunking of the documentary and this article didn't provide any. Nothing stated here wasn't stated in the film. Yes, his knee was on his neck, but the film showed it wasn't for the whole minutes. Yes, people testified that he died of asphyxiation from the knee, but the film alleged that those people didn't actually examine the body. Yes, they pled guilty to some charges, but we all know that people regularly plead guilty to crimes they didnt commit for varius reasons. Yes, Floyd was alive at the beginning and dead at the end. I work in emergent care and often see people who were alive and talking and then minutes later be dead from an OD of fentanyl.
There's a little more debunking here https://glennloury.substack.com/p/we-were-too-quick-to-praise-the-fall
And here: https://radleybalko.substack.com/p/the-retconning-of-george-floyd
https://radleybalko.substack.com/p/the-retconning-of-george-floyd-part?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2
I was wondering how on earth this piece could debunk the content of the documentary, and therefore read with curiosity.
I might not have wasted the several minutes ... it tackles nothing technical ... simply emotes.
Ridiculous.
The take home of the documentary, it seems, you have totally neglected to address in your write up. First, that tactic that the cops used to hold down Floyd were by the book, and the claim is that they were trained to use them, and that the police chief lied under oath about them. Second, the autopsy report showed cause of death not by choking, but more likely heart failure, and that he had more than a lethal dose of fentanyl in his system. If these two things are true, they didn't receive a fair trial. Simple as that.
Wrong: https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-george-floyd-autopsy-new-892530421961
Laypeople like yourself cannot see that the overall poor state of Floyd's health was a HUGE factor in physically confrontational situation, with or without possible drug involvement....even a guy on the street said "get in the car, you're gonna have a heart attack!"
You fail to see the big picture. You posting a link to a news source that is BEING CHALLENGED, based on the accusations in the documentary does nothing. Regardless, I'm not trying to argue fact or fiction. To not question everything we read, see and hear, especially this day and age, is obtuse, at best.
Stephen, even here, Associated Press straight up lies in your face, and you don't question it. They claim: "It does not prove anything new about Floyd’s death, and ignores that the prior page concludes that it was a homicide due to 'cardiopulmonary arrest' from 'law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression.'"
But the coroner does not "conclude" anything, they have just misconstrued parts of the case title: "CARDIOPULMONARY ARREST COMPLICATING LAW ENFORCEMENT SUBDUAL, RESTRAINT, AND NECK COMPRESSION".
Associated Press has just ripped "complicating" out from the case title, and then stuck it back together again by adding "from" instead of "complicating", entirely changing the meaning of the sentence.
The plain meaning of the case title, as written, is that the heart problems Floyd was having complicated his arrest, that is, he died during arrest due to the heart problems. It does not say that the arrest caused the heart problems.
So when the media lies to protect a narrative they have created that is also a lie, you just continue to believe them. Even though evidence of the lie is right in front of you.
What is wrong with you people? Why do you just love being lied to by the media? Are you such weak, gullible, cowardly individuals that you hide behind flock mentality to avoid any responsibility what so ever to evaluate information independently?
Just absolutely unconscionable.
From the AP News story you cite: "They have also noted that the fact that no major bruising or damage to the muscles, cartilage or bones in the neck was found — as indicated under the phrase “no life-threatening injuries identified” in the autopsy — does not mean that asphyxia did not occur. Only that there are no signs of it on the body." TRANSLATION: HE WAS CLEARLY ASPHYXIATED BECAUSE THE AUTOPSY REVEALS ZERO EVIDENCE OF ASPHYXIATION
That is the conclusion that Ellison and the 26 lawyers pushed and the compliant jury accepted without a second thought.
You literally haven’t read the document you are posting or don’t comprehend it’s meaning. Perhaps best stay away from ‘journalism’ as it isn’t something that suits your talents.
There is a question of what happened first in Floyd's case: Did his heart stop first leading to lack of circulation and hypoxia, or did he stop breathing first leading to his heart stopping and then hypoxia. The former has more evidence to back it. Floyd's heart stopped, he went limp, but in the bodycams can be observed still breathing shallowly for another thirty seconds or longer. It was also during that point that Kueng failed to find a pulse. Fentanyl blocks the autonomic center controlling the heart and breathing. Floyd already had a bad heart and blocked arteries, so that went first.
Why did the prosecutors not use the actual fucking medical examiner’s autopsy, and instead went with a report given by to independent investigators hired by Crump WHO NEVER DID A PHYSICAL autopsy OF HIS BODY and acknowledged they didn’t have access to the toxicology report?
Don’t you think those two things would be important?
You are literally the entire point of this documentary. The documentary says that in spite of powerful evidence to the contrary, the racially charged political nature of this case led the leadership of Minneapolis to cowtow to the narrative being fed them by the activist class instead of doing their jobs, which is finding out what actually happened.
You’re saying that what actually happened doesn’t matter because you “saw” what actually happened on a cell phone video.
The fact is, you don’t have a fucking clue what happened based on that cell phone video. We didn’t “all see something” because a cell phone video doesn’t give the full picture of the case. The trial was corrupted at every turn, due process was hijacked constantly, and the crowd got what they want, short of the officers being strung up and gutted publicly.
You’re the problem. You don’t care about truth, especially if it hijacks your worldview.
The "independent" autopsy done by Michael Baden was never admitted as evidence at trial. It was a fraud, paid for by Benjamin Crump, but used in his fleecing of Minneapolis in the $27 million civil suit. Baden never say the toxicology reported, viewed any bodycams or even looked at the official autopsy which was available.
The Darnella Frazier video begins when George Floyd has already been restrained for 5 minutes and Floyd is about to lose consciousness. The angle and quality of the video appear to show Chauvin with his knee on the back of Floyd's neck, but it is impossible to make out the actual outline of his knee. It is actually diagonal from the side of the neck to the center of the should blade on Floyd's back. This is visible on the police bodycams. There are constant repeats that Chauvin had his "hands in his pockets", purportedly to add more force (which it wouldn't). Chauvin has on a pair of gloves that are the same color as his trousers and thus the hands blend into the trousers. Floyd also had a black t-shirt on which came close in color to the navy blue police trousers. In the Frazier video all of this blends into an almost solid blob.
I don't know if you are blind, ignorant or extremely biased based on your hate or some other reason. But it is very obvious that if Floyd was murdered, he was murdered by himself.
He’s extremely biased, clearly!
There is nothing poorly argued about showing the videos of the former police chief, the prosecution, the politicians, and the media blatantly lying about Floyd's physical condition, the overdose he took while being arrested, and the causes of death listed in his autopsy. There is nothing poorly argued about showing the incredibly critical evidence and other information that the judge prohibited from being presented to the jury. There is nothing poorly argued about showing the videos of politicians essentially forcing the verdict on the jury. There is nothing poorly argued about showing videos of the judge clearly demonstrating what an ass he is.
I was trying to find an article about how truthful this movie is, but this article is not helpful. This is an emotional rant, not a factual debunking of the movie. The “he was alive at the beginning and dead at the end so it was murder” argument is ridiculous. People go into hospitals alive and come out dead every minute of the day. Were they all murdered by the doctors and nurses? Floyd had enough drugs in him to kill a horse, and if you can’t even acknowledge that fact in your argument against the movie, then you appear to be the untrustworthy one, not the movie makers. You’re not even making the common counter to that fact about Floyd’s potential resistance to high levels of fentanyl due to regular use (because then you would have to admit that Floyd might have had some flaws of his own, like being a junkie). Even members of the jury admitted in interviews after the trial that the defense demonstrated that Chauvin didn’t kill Floyd, only that he was guilty of not helping Floyd more once it was obvious he was in distress, which is the specious reasoning they used to find him guilty of murder. The idea that “he was found guilty by the court, therefore he’s guilty” is a completely ludicrous idea. Like courts never get anything wrong.
Your review is biased and non-factual. GF was a drug abusing convicted felon who was arrested in the commission of another crime. It is obvious (to any sane person) that he died in custody in part due to the illicit drugs in his system, a recent COVID infection, and the many bad choices he made that fateful day. GF wasn’t murdered. He isn’t a hero. He isn’t even a tragic figure, which would require him to have some redeeming qualities. He’s a pathetic figure whose otherwise meaningless life was suddenly validated when he became the martyr of the radical left.
Not one substantive or objective argument about any piece of information or actual data presented in the documentary (see all the comments below). This opinion piece is just another prime example of trash liberal journalism. Nobody should accept an opinion on this film without watching it start to finish.
Why didn't the judge allow the Maximal Restraint Technique to be shown to jury? Why did the Chief of Police lie on the stand about it? George Floyd's medical problems were legion (in and of themselves) as well the critical involvement of fentanyl and meth. Remember, was there PLAUSIBLE DOUBT that he did not intend to murder GF? That is the STANDARD for a guilty verdict and the jury saw NONE of these facts. Your blythe willingness to blow thru truths presented here is really truly shocking and you should be ashamed but you're just running point for your leftist brethren.
The prosecution never even argued that Chauvin was motivated to kill Floyd. There was never a show intent, because there was none. Those 4 cops were trying to keep this guy alive and safe until EMT arrived. There was nothing they could do to help them. The prone position was actually a good position to keep him in.
I love how every comment here is disagreeing with this ridiculous article. The author does not have a single substantive argument. Where the documentary shared facts, personal accounts, video, documents, etc, the author shared emotion. Emotion is what got us to where we are today.
I lived only a few blocks from what is now deemed “George Floyd Square.” What’s NOT shared in any of the information out there is the trauma that locals experienced. I freaking lived in a war zone. A person bleeding in the alley across the street, fireworks and gunshots every single night, a letter in my email from Governor Walz telling me to put everything outside away and to hose down any outdoor fences because they would likely be set aflame. My next door neighbor was both carjacked, broke two fingers from the carjacking AND she was separately mugged walking from her garage into her home. The person directly across the street experienced a mugger in her garage, too. Luckily she was holding a metal water bottle to whip the muggers away.
I had a 9-month-old at the time all this was happening. I had panic attacks. I ran from my garage into my home. My car was stolen out of my locked garage. I was fearful living in my own home. I lost sleep worrying someone throw something through my window, or worse, my baby’s. People don’t know how bad it really was. It was so effing bad. My family and I moved that following fall, and we were really lucky to do so. It took a while to sell but finally someone bought our house. Watching the documentary was cathartic. I never felt like I could even share my personal experiences with someone, because the narrative out there was that it was all in the name of justice. Well, “Justice” my a**.
You claim that the movie is full of right wing bias, but your review seems to share the same level of bias only from a left leaning viewpoint. I guess each of you needs to appeal to the audience you are trying to attract.
Except that the video shows objective truths vs emotional truths of the left. The cops were extensively trained in MRT and the COP lied on stand. Floyd's lungs were saturated with fluid from pulmonary edema from fentanyl. He had severe BP issues. Extremely critical pieces of evidence and testimony were never presented because no one had the courage to tell the truth.
“ both politicians, especially Walz, forcefully denounced rioting and looting”
Ha! Maybe later for the press but not at the time. I am closely related to a 30 yr federal LE veteran, who was called out to assist the locals on the night of the riots, forced to stand down and stand by with his squad across the street as the 3rd precinct was destroyed, not on orders of Donald Trump, but directly from Jacob Frey. When they all objected, they told they would lose their jobs if they disobeyed. Death and destruction explicitly allowed, without penalty or even objection. Why
I want to believe you... I so so so badly want to believe you. Because if what the film suggests is true, it's a tragedy on top of a tragedy, and no one wants that. But your article starts out saying, more or less, "this has all been reviewed at trial... there's nothing new here." But you omit that much of what's in the film was excluded by the judge. You know that right? And later you get lathered because of the half-truths and convenient omissions that you yourself commit? Ugh... where's the objective analysis these days. Everyone has an agenda.
Much of this was presented at the trial, however, the cowered jury chose to ignore it. They were in fear of their lives as well.
Everything in the film is actual footage, reports or testimony. A great documentary produced on I'm sure what was a lower budget than the January 6th film. This documentary is outstanding journalism.
A clearly biased review, made clear by the hyperbole (“Orwellian”), and the unwarranted smear against the quality of the filmmaking. The film seems to have convinced Glenn Lowry and John McWhorter—their responses are well worth visiting —and persuaded this viewer that if there is anything Orwellian going on, it is from the likes of the author of this “review.”