As the triple-guilty verdict for former police Officer Derek Chauvin in the murder of George Floyd reverberated, it stood in sharp contrast to the original press release issued by the Minneapolis Police Department on that fateful day last year.
CNN’s Jake Tapper posted the May 25, 2020, statement on Twitter, with the words: “Seriously, read it again knowing what we know.”
Glaringly absent is any mention of knees on necks, crowds urging Chauvin and his then-fellow officers to stop what they were doing, the warnings that Floyd was on his last breaths. Also missing were his cries for his mother.
Police said they had responded to a “forgery in progress” and that “the suspect ... appeared to be under the influence.”
The statement says he “physically resisted” the officers, who nevertheless managed to cuff him “and noted he appeared to be suffering medical distress,” the release said.
“Officers called for an ambulance,” the statement continued. “He was transported to Hennepin County Medical Center by ambulance where he died a short time later.”
It was noted that no one had used any weapons and that no officers had been injured.
Nearly a year later, Chauvin was found guilty Tuesday of three counts of murder and manslaughter by a seven-woman, five-man jury.
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