Derek Chauvin arrested for his role in the George Floyd death

George Floyd. NBC News

Derek Chauvin has been arrested for his role in the death of George Floyd, who he was filmed with his knee on his neck as he died. NBC News. Chauvin has been charged with third degree murder, which would be the equivalent of manslaughter in many jurisdictions. The medical examiner report showed that Floyd died because of artery and heart disease, made worse by the stress of the arrest and drugs in his system, not because of trauma or strangulation. Floyd's death caused massive riots and was widely condemned across the political spectrum. 

My Comment:

I'm going to focus on the legal case for now, not the protests. I think that this is probably the right call. I know some people were and are calling for a higher charge of murder than 3rd degree, but I think that's all that can be proven here, and even that may be a little shaky. 

As I expected it Floyd didn't die directly from Chauvin's pressure on his neck. It certainly didn't help and I think the charges here are appropriate, but I thought it was pretty obvious that the man was suffering from medical issues beyond what was happening during the arrest. When he started coughing up blood my first thoughts were "he's having a heart attack". 

I think that even with his death being caused by his underlying health conditions and the fact that he had drugs in the system, the charges are warranted here. The 3rd degree murder statue reads, "Whoever, without intent to effect the death of any person, causes the death of another by perpetrating an act eminently dangerous to others and evincing a depraved mind, without regard for human life, is guilty of murder in the third degree and may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than 25 years."

You can make a case that Chauvin caused Floyd's death by holding him the way he did and by not giving him medical attention when he was pretty clearly in medical distress. When he started coughing up blood he and the other officers should have known that he was in serious medical trouble and should have administered aid, or at the very least, stopped restraining him the way he was doing. 

And I don't think you can charge any higher than this as 1st degree and most 2nd degree murder charges in Minnesota require intent to kill and there isn't much in the way of evidence that Chauvin wanted to kill Floyd. He also didn't unintentionally kill Floyd while committing a felony, which would bump the crime up to 2nd degree murder, regardless of intent. 3rd degree murder is the right charge. 

Will it hold up in court? That's the big question and the answer for me at least is "I don't know". Without a complete investigation and with Chauvin not given a chance to defend himself yet I don't know if there is exculpatory evidence. I think if no new evidence surfaces I think there is a good chance that Chauvin will be convicted. For me personally, I would need to see some pretty exculpatory evidence that would clear Chauvin to not convict him of this charge. 

Complicating things is the apparent fact that Chauvin and Floyd worked together for years. It's possible the two men knew each other which could be the only think that could bump this up to 1st degree murder. If, for some reason, it could be proven that the two men had issues it might show that Chauvin had reason and intent to kill him. However, it's likely just a huge coincidence. 

Of course the elephant in the room is the riots. I think there is a vain hope that this charge will placate the mobs and stop the riots. I don't think it will as the riots were never about George Floyd in the first place. These people wanted to cause chaos and destruction and used Floyd's death as an excuse and this charge won't do much to quell the rioters. The legitimate protesters might be dissuaded but the rioters? They don't care at all.