The lawyer representing the family of George Floyd expects the team defending the former police officer accused of murdering Floyd will try to slander his character.
The trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who is facing charges of third-degree murder, second-degree murder, and manslaughter for his role in the May 2020 death of Floyd in police custody, is set to begin on Monday.
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Ahead of the trial, Ben Crump, the family lawyer, and Floyd’s brother, Philonise Floyd, appeared for an interview on NBC.
Crump, when asked about the medical examiner’s report that there was fentanyl and methamphetamine in Floyd’s system and that he had preexisting conditions, alleged it to be a tactic from “the same old playbook.”
“They’re going to try to assassinate his character. The fact that they found trace amount of drugs in his system is just a distraction because George Floyd was breathing, walking, talking just fine until Derek Chauvin put his face down with his knee on his neck,” Crump said. “The thing that killed George Floyd was an overdose of excessive force. This murder case is not hard. Just look at the torture video of George Floyd, and that’s what we need to start referring to it as. A torture video.”
“Everything they’re trying to do is assault his character,” Crump reiterated when NBC’s Craig Melvin said the defense will be allowed to introduce a video from a similar arrest in 2019.
Floyd, 46, a black man, allegedly used a counterfeit $20 bill last summer. When the police attempted to apprehend him, they pinned him to the ground, and Chauvin, who is white, placed his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than 8 minutes, long after he became unresponsive. Floyd died, and his death sparked nationwide protests and conversations about law enforcement’s use of force and their interactions with minority communities.
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In Monday’s interview, Philonise Floyd said he thinks Chauvin “should be found with at least second-degree murder” because “it clearly showed that he killed my brother.”
