George Floyd riots: Autopsy shows he had COVID-19, Donald Trump attacks former security chief
A full autopsy of George Floyd, who died after crying out ‘I can’t breathe’, has revealed he had COVID-19. Donald Trump has also criticised his former top US security chief who backed protesters.
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- ‘Ruining everything’: No end in sight on NY’s streets of fear
- Eight minutes 46 seconds: George Floyd’s final moments
A full autopsy of George Floyd, the handcuffed black man who died after being restrained by Minneapolis police, has revealed he had tested positive for COVID-19.
The 20-page report released by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office today came with the family’s permission and after the coroner’s office released summary findings on Monday that Mr Floyd had a heart attack while being restrained by officers.
The summary findings classified his May 25 death as a homicide.
The full report by Chief Medical Examiner Andrew Baker spelled out clinical details, including that Mr Floyd tested positive for COVID-19 on April 3 but appeared asymptomatic.
The report also noted Mr Floyd’s lungs appeared healthy but he had some narrowing of arteries in the heart.
The county’s earlier summary report listed fentanyl intoxication and recent methamphetamine use under “other significant conditions” but not under “cause of death”.
The full report’s footnotes noted that signs of fentanyl toxicity can include “severe respiratory depression” and seizures.
TRUMP LASHES FORMER TOP GENERAL
US President Donald Trump has fought back after his former Pentagon chief Jim Mattis issued a stinging condemnation of his erstwhile boss, accusing the president of trying to “divide” America.
Mr Trump tweeted that he was “the world’s most overrated General”.
“Probably the only thing Barack Obama & I have in common is that we both had the honor of firing Jim Mattis, the world’s most overrated General,” he tweeted.
“I asked for his letter of resignation, & felt great about it. His nickname was “Chaos”, which I didn’t like, & changed to “Mad Dog.”
In a second tweet, he went on to say: “His primary strength was not military, but rather personal public relations.
“I gave him a new life, things to do, and battles to win, but he seldom ‘brought home the bacon’.
“I didn’t like his ‘leadership’ style or much else about him, and many others agree. Glad he is gone!”
Mr Trump’s tweets were triggered by a statement Mattis wrote that was posted online by The Atlantic.
“Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people -- does not even pretend to try,” Mattis said.
“Instead, he tries to divide us,” continues the retired Marine general, who had previously argued it would be inappropriate for him to criticise a sitting president
“We must reject any thinking of our cities as a “battlespace” that our uniformed military is called upon to “dominate.”
General Mattis – nicknamed “Mad Dog” served as Defence Secretary from the beginning of the Trump administration until January 2019.
He was replaced by Mark Esper, who has also distanced himself from the President’s threats to use the full force of the military to quell street protests around the country, emphatically arguing against invoking the two-centuries-old Insurrection Act, which would allow Mr Trump to use active-duty troops in a law enforcement role.
The possibility of using the Insurrection Act, which has not been invoked since the 1992 rioting in Los Angeles, had been discussed in the White House but never explicitly proposed publicly by Mr Trump.
The President has suggested he would use all available military force, however, if state governors couldn’t stop the violence.
The Insurrection Act should be invoked, Secretary Esper told reporters, “only in the most urgent and dire of situations.” He declared, “We are not in one of those situations now.”
Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said the president was still willing to deploy federal troops despite Secretary Esper’s comments.
“If needed, he will use it,” she told reporters. “But at this time he’s relying on surging the streets with National Guard. It’s worked with great effect.”
ALL FOUR COPS CHARGED OVER GEORGE FLOYD’S DEATH
All four cops involved in George Floyd’s death have now been charged, with Derek Chauvin, who knelt on his neck until his stopped breathing, facing a new count of murder.
Minnesota Attorney-General Keith Ellison charged former officers Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane with “aiding and abetting murder in the second degree”.
Chauvin has been charged with murder in the second degree, after initially being charged with third degree murder and manslaughter.
Prosecutors will need to prove Chauvin intended to kill Mr Floyd for a guilty verdict.
The new charge carries a potential 40-year sentence as opposed to 25 years for third degree murder, which is defined by recklessly but unintentionally causing death.
Chauvin was filmed kneeling on Mr Floyd’s neck for almost nine minutes, three of them after he lost consciousness.
The four were sacked after Mr Floyd’s death on May 25 as they were responding to a complaint he passed a fake $20 note.
After Mr Floyd resisted getting into their squad car, three of the officers restrained him.
Mr Ellison said the evidence available supported the stronger charge against Chauvin and new charges against the officers.
Although Lane at one point asked ”should we roll him on his side”, after Mr Floyd complained he couldn’t breathe, the fact the officer didn’t help him led to the charge of aiding and abetting.
“Despite his comments, the defendant (Lane) took no actions to assist Mr Floyd,” said the criminal complaint.
Delays in charging the officers helped stoke anger that exploded into more than a week of violent protests across the country, which continues to be the most significant civil unrest in decades.
The bolstered charges were expected after Mr Ellison took over the investigation two days ago from Minneapolis authorities.
Benjamin Crump, the Floyd family lawyer, described the charges as “a bittersweet moment” for his loved ones.
“We are deeply gratified that @AGEllison took decisive action, arresting & charging ALL the officers involved in #GeorgeFloyd’s death & upgrading the charge against Derek Chauvin to felony second-degree murder,” Crump wrote in a post on Twitter.
Mr Ellison urged more witnesses to come forward and asked the public for patience so prosecutors could build their case.
“I ask for our trust that we are pursuing justice,” he said.
“Nine days ago the world watched Floyd utter his very last words: ‘I can’t breathe’, as he pleaded for his life.
“The world heard Floyd call out for his mamma and cry out: ‘Don’t kill me’.
“His life had value and we will see justice for him.”
Mr Crump thanked the citizens of Australia and other countries who have taken part in Black Lives Matter protests for their support, on behalf of the Floyd family.
“We are here proud that this family’s call for justice was heard by so many people not just in Minnesota, but in New York, in Houston, Texas, in Australia,” Mr Crump said.
“Everywhere people have heard this call for justice for George.”
Mr Crump and the Floyd family had asked for all four officers to be charged with first degree murder, but said the decision to go after Chauvin on second degree murder was also welcome.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison explained why he didn’t pursue first degree murder charges.
“According to Minnesota law you have to have premeditation and deliberation to charge first degree murder,” Mr Ellison said.
“(For) second degree murder, you have to intend for death to be the result.”
He also said there were no current plans for prosecutors to entertain a plea bargain deal with any of the four cops.
“It’s simply way too early to begin that conversation,” he said.
“At this point we are preparing to try this case. If something else happens along the way, we’ll see, but at this point we don’t have any plans in that direction.”
‘IT MAKES ME FEEL OPTIMISTIC’: OBAMA SPEAKS
Former US President Barack Obama spoke out about the protests, saying he was inspired by the number of young people who had turned out.
“It makes me feel optimistic,” he said in a video town hall.
“It makes me feel as though...this country is going to get better.”
After making few public appearances recently, Mr Obama is becoming an increasingly powerful voice for Democrats as the election approaches.
He said demonstrators needed to also vote in order to bring change.
This was his first on-camera statement about Mr Floyd’s death following a widely shared essay last week.
“You have communicated a message of urgency that is as powerful and transformative as anything I have seen in years,” he said.
TRUMP SLAMS BUNKER CRITICISM
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has tried to downplay being taken to a security bunker in the White House during violent protests outside, saying he was inspecting the room.
He also denied tear gas was used the next day to clear a large crowd from an adjacent area so he could walk to a nearby church for a photo to be taken with a bible.
“They didn’t use tear gas,” Mr Trump told Fox News Radio.
This contradicts video footage and eye witness accounts from many who were present, including Australian media.
The church visit has been widely criticised for sparking a heavy-handed response by police, who pushed back protesters as well as volunteers and clergy at St John’s church.
“Now, when I went, I didn’t say: ‘Oh, move them out.’ I didn’t know who was there,” Mr Trump said.
Washington DC is among dozens of American cities rocked by riots, violence and looting over the past week, as well as arson attacks such as that on the historic church.
Mr Trump was widely reported to have been swept by the Secret Service into a security bunker used during terrorist attacks for almost an hour, when demonstrators first tried to breach the White House grounds on Friday night.
“I was there for a tiny, short little period of time,” Mr Trump said.
“It was much more for the inspection.
“Nobody ever came close to giving us a problem.
“It was during the day, it was not a problem.”
It came as Defence Secretary Mark Esper appeared to step back from Mr Trump’s plan to send the Army into states that couldn’t control civil unrest, a move which would be only possible with the rarely used Insurrection Act of 1807.
“I do not support invoking the Insurrection Act,” Mr Esper said at the Pentagon.
“The option to use active-duty forces in a law enforcement role should only be used as a matter of last resort and only in the most urgent and dire of situations. We are not in one of those situations now.”
The Insurrection Act was last used to quell riots after the Rodney King trial in 1992.
CHAOS IN NEW YORK AS THOUSANDS DEFY CURFEW
On Tuesday night (local time), thousands of New Yorkers defied the city’s strictest curfew in 70 years after a day of mainly peaceful protests across the country over the deaths of black Americans at the hands of police.
While dozens were arrested in New York and there was looting and shootings, an increased police presence successfully avoided a repeat of the widespread mayhem of the night before.
Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of dozens of major cities but there were fewer clashes with police and no repeat of the wild scenes in the nation’s capital the night before.
A march in Washington to the Lincoln Memorial saw an unprecedented security operation at the site, which is considered almost sacred to many Americans.
Authorities also erected a large fence around Lafayette Park, outside the White House, to deter protesters after the Trump administration controversially cleared the area Monday with tear gas and rubber bullets.
Mr Trump continued to ratchet pressure on the states to control the riots, and to call in the National Guard, after the protests devolved into the most significant civil unrest in decades.
“NYC, CALL UP THE NATIONAL GUARD,” he tweeted. “The lowlifes and losers are ripping you apart. Act fast!”
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden slammed Mr Trump’s response to the current crisis, saying his inflammatory comments were making it worse.
“I won’t traffic in fear and division. I won’t fan the flames of hate. I’ll seek to heal the racial wounds that have long plagued our country, not use them for political gain,” Mr Biden said, on his first journey outside his home state of Delaware in 10 weeks.
“I’ll do my job and I’ll take responsibility, I won’t blame others,” he said in a speech, which was seen as his return to campaigning after secluding himself in his basement amid the coronavirus pandemic.
It comes as the family of Floyd paid tribute to him as a father.
Roxie Washington, the mother of his six-year-old daughter Gianna, said in Minneapolis he was a good man.
“I want everybody to know that this is what those officers took from me,” she said, crying.
“Gianna does not have a father. He will never see her grow up, graduate.”
Former NBA player Stephen Jackson also revealed he was a close friend of Mr Floyd and that the 46-year-old father of two had moved to the midwest city to find work.
“That was the main reason for moving. When he called me, his whole reason coming was to get here, get away from Texas so he could provide for his family, be a better father,” Mr Jackson said.
“His whole reason being in Minnesota was to drive trucks. He was doing great here, turning a curve, and then this happened. So he was doing his part.”
While one officer has been charged with Mr Floyd’s death, three others who also restrained him have not been charged.
The state of Minnesota filed a civil rights charge against the city’s police force over the killing, saying it would investigate the actions of the department over the past decade.