The attorney for one of the police officers charged in the killing of George Floyd claims the father contributed to his own death as he intentionally ingested a lethal amount of fentanyl.
Minneapolis officer Thomas Lane is one of the cops charged with abetting and aiding murder for keeping Floyd’s feet down during the arrest.
Derek Chauvin, another officer, is charged after bodycam footage showed him kneeling on the father’s neck for almost nine minutes.
Attorney Earl Gray, Lane’s attorney, has been trying to get the charges dropped, claiming there is not enough evidence to determine the 37-year-old officer committed a crime.
Gray claimed that Floyd took a ‘lethal dose’ of fentanyl during the fatal arrest on May 25. He said the victim had a ‘white spot on the left side’ of his tongue when officers approached him.
The attorney has claimed that Floyd intentionally swallowed ‘2 milligrams of fentanyl, a lethal dose’ after officer Lane ordered him to put his hands up.
The filing says: “All he had to do is sit in the police car, like every other defendant who is initially arrested. While attempting to avoid his arrest, all by himself, Mr Floyd overdosed on Fentanyl.
“Given his intoxication level, breathing would have been difficult at best. Mr Floyd’s intentional failure to obey commands, coupled with his overdosing, contributed to his own death.”
An independent autopsy and another medical examiner’s report both ruled that Floyd’s death was a homicide and he passed away from asphyxiation.
The report also added that the father had ‘fentanyl intoxication’ and ‘recent methamphetamine use’ along with coronary artery disease and hypertension.
Grey also claimed that the neck constraint used by Derek Chauvin was not extreme, arguing that the tissue in the victim’s neck was not damaged.
Lane’s attorney also cited a 2019 arrest when Floyd had to be removed from a vehicle where officers found cocaine, rock cocaine, and oxycodone.
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Replaced!