Five years ago on May 25, 2020, a white police officer in the United States killed George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, during an arrest.
A bystander’s video showed officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck for about nine minutes in Minneapolis, Minnesota, as Floyd pleaded that he couldn’t breathe. The footage sparked weeks of global protests against police brutality and racism. It contributed to a jury’s murder conviction against Chauvin and a federal investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department.
list of 2 itemslist 1 of 2
list 2 of 2
end of list
Although ample evidence showed that Chauvin and police misconduct were to blame for Floyd’s death, another narrative quickly emerged – that Floyd died because of a drug overdose.
Five years later, that falsehood is central to calls for President Donald Trump to pardon Chauvin.
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a member of Trump’s Republican Party from Georgia, for example, recently revived her longstanding and long-debunked take that Chauvin did not cause Floyd’s death.
“I strongly support Derek Chauvin being pardoned and released from prison,” Greene wrote in a May 14 X post. “George Floyd died of a drug overdose.”
In 2021, a Minnesota jury convicted Chauvin of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter....
Five years ago on May 25, 2020, a white police officer in the United States killed George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, during an arrest. A bystander’s video showed officer Derek Chauvin kneelin...