There is much that suggest George Floyd’s death was an accident

Robert Henderson

Some facts about the death of Floyd and the subsequent  trial of the police officer Derek Chauvin

1. Floyd  was a very large and powerfully built man , much larger than any of the police involved.

2. He had twice refused police orders: the first time to get out of his car and the second time to get into the police car. Had he obeyed the second order he would be alive today in all probability.

3. The second act of disobedience occasion involved Floyd going limp to avoid bring put in the police car.

4. The restraint hold Chauvin used was one sanctioned by his police force.

5. Floyd had a heart condition which may have contributed to his death. Chavin cannot have known that.

6 Floyed had drugs in him at the time which may have contributed to his death. Chavin cannot have known that.

In summary, the police had reason to believe that Floyd was simply being difficult and potentially carried a physical threat because of his size.

There is also the fact that Floyd was a violent career criminal. Whether Chauvin knew about Floyd’s criminal record is unclear from the coverage of the event. However, Chauvin may well have done because he knew Floyd having met him when he (Chauvin) worked a a security officer and Floyd was acting as a bouncer.

I find the argument  that the heart condition and drug use cannot affect the change of homicide strange. As far as Chauvin was concerned at the time of the death Floyd was simply being treated as what he was ostensibly a large powerful man who worked as a bouncer who had already been truculent. Moreover, Chauvin almost certainly had used the hold before with no ill effects.

Taking all the circumstances into account it is unreasonable to suggest Chauvin was behaving recklessly.