Ep. 2162 - The Case For Derek Chauvin | Episode 2: The Incident

78.117 - 96.67 Ben Shapiro

This statement from Caroline Lovett isn't a reason to stop educating yourself on the issue or to remain silent if you believe a terrible injustice has occurred. In fact, it is even a better reason for citizens to familiarize themselves with the facts, analyze the case objectively, and speak out if they believe our justice system has failed. Now, let's dive into the incident. Memorial Day 2020.

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The country was nearly three months into the COVID-19 lockdowns. Businesses were closed. Millions were unemployed. People were increasingly frustrated with government-imposed restrictions on their daily lives. Minneapolis, like many urban centers across America, was experiencing this pressure cooker environment, along with pre-existing tensions between law enforcement and minority communities.

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Minneapolis had been a laboratory for progressive criminal justice policies. Racial tensions had been mounting for years. Following the 2014 shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and the subsequent Hands Up, Don't Shoot narrative, the Black Lives Matter movement had gained significant influence over police policy nationwide.

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Minneapolis was at the forefront of implementing reforms that restricted officers' ability to effectively police high crime areas. To understand the full context, we actually need to go back to the 1990s, when critical race theory began to migrate from the academic fringes into mainstream discourse.

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Scholars like Derrick Bell and Kimberly Crenshaw push the idea that America is fundamentally racist at its core, that our entire system is designed to oppress minorities, that concepts like colorblindness, equal opportunity, meritocracy are themselves racist constructs.

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The media stoked fears about the virus, while simultaneously downplaying the devastating consequences of lockdown itself. It was in this powder keg environment, with people frustrated, economically stressed, socially isolated, already primed to see everything through a racial lens after years of media conditioning, that the incomplete video of Floyd's arrest went viral.

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On the evening of the arrest, Eric Chauvin was working as a field training officer in the Minneapolis Police Department's 3rd Precinct. He was partnered with Officer Tao Thao, patrolling one of the higher crime areas of Minneapolis. Meanwhile, George Floyd spent part of his day with friends.

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At approximately 8 p.m., Floyd walked into the Cup Foods grocery store at the intersection of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue in Minneapolis' Powderhorn Park neighborhood. Surveillance footage from inside the store shows Floyd moving around, acting erratic, interacting with store employees and customers.

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According to Christopher Martin, the 19-year-old cashier who testified at Chauvin's trial, Floyd appeared to be high, but was very friendly, approachable, and talkative. Floyd purchased cigarettes with a $20 bill that Martin believed to be counterfeit because of its blue color and texture.

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After Floyd left the store, Martin and other employees at their manager's direction went outside to ask Floyd to return to address the issue of the potentially counterfeit bill. When Floyd refused, the manager instructed an employee to call the police. This single phone call set in motion the chain of events that would end with Floyd's death approximately one hour later.

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As he noted in his piece, What Really Happened to George Floyd, Chauvin did not improvise the restraint position. He was utilizing the maximum restraint technique, again, part of the MPD training manual. But the photo on the training slide demonstrating this technique was redacted at trial. In the documentary, The Fall of Minneapolis, six current and former MPD police officers affirm that

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The MRT was indeed standard training, training they themselves had received. When asked if he was trained on MRT, Rich Walker, an African-American MPD sergeant with 19 years on the force, replied, yes, all the police officers were trained in MRT. Politicians, celebrities, corporations all rushed to signal their virtue. Companies pledged millions to Black Lives Matter organizations.

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Sports teams knelt during the national anthem. Social media profiles posted little black squares. Anyone who dared to suggest we should wait for the legal process to unfold was immediately branded a racist." As Hughes noted in a subsequent piece on Derek Chauvin, George Floyd, and reasonable doubt, there are two different theories of what caused Floyd's death.

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The positional asphyxia theory put forth by medical examiner Dr. Michael Bodden, hired by Floyd's family, and the adrenaline surge theory, a term coined by Hughes and presented by the county medical examiner Dr. Baker.

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As Hughes correctly points out, as a juror, if you have two reasonable explanations for cause of death, one of which implicates the defendant and one of which does not, you are supposed to acquit. But that's not what happened. In our next episode, we'll examine the autopsy findings in detail and explore how the prosecution's narrative required jurors to disregard key medical evidence.