George Floyd put himself in a stressful situation.
By stressful situation, I was referring to a literal physical position one can be in that makes one stressed (elevated heartbeat, etc, which doesn't help a bad heart). Being held down on the ground is one of those.
If he'd responded rationally to the cops, and not been carrying drugs, he could have gone down to the station, said 'I had no idea it was a forged 20,' and that probably would have been that. Unless they could prove he knew, it'd be hard to make that stick to him.
But he literally fought and made things worse all along the way.
This could be a defense to second degree (that Chauvin committed no felony). But this in no way legally affects whether Chauvin caused Floyd's death. It doesn't matter that Floyd put himself in danger, or anything else. All that matters is did Chauvin cause the death. And kneeling on the neck is what the state coroner found to be the cause of the heart problem causing his death, ruling it to be a homicide.
Then the question becomes third degree, and Chauvin hits the rest of that out of the park. He kept kneeling on the guy's neck after he knew Floyd had no pulse. Anyone watching that video will know Chauvin didn't give a shit what happened to Floyd. That plus cause of death is Murder 3.
If they push the Jury to rule that 'putting him in a stressful situation' was the cop's fault, not Floyd's fault, then it basically becomes impossible to police.
Right, that is the entire thing here. Any police officer doing their job in response to George Floyd could be charged similarly with that argument. Floyd was resisting arrest, force had to be used to restrain him, any physical struggle could have exacerbated Floyd’s fentanyl overdose and potentially made it lethal.
Which is why charging Chauvin would murder is so ridiculous as well as believing that it can be fairly proved beyond a reasonable doubt.
No, it's quite possible to police. It's not that Chauvin caused Floyd's death that made it a crime. It's that he clearly demonstrates he doesn't care if Floyd lives or dies while killing him that makes it a felony.
If Cedric Daven, an alt timeline Derek Chauvin, had used the same hold, but been paying attention to Floyd when he went unconscious and then let up to put him in the car, there would be no crime, even if after Floyd went unconscious he died. That wouldn't show disregard for life, and since it was at the time standard procedure, wouldn't be assault.
If Cedric Daven hadn't been paying attention, but when told by an officer that the guy was unconscious got off the neck and flipped him over, that's negligence, but probably not charged.
The illegal stuff starts when Derek Chauvin has control of an unresisting Floyd (which is definitely has begun when Floyd is unconscious). The time between when Floyd is unconscious and Chauvin is told, Chauvin is negligent as he has a duty of care to arrestees, and harming unconscious arrestees is illegal. After Chauvin is told but still is on Floyd, that's not just negligence, then it become assault or Police Brutality. And when Chauvin has his knee on the neck of a man he's just been told has no pulse, he's clearly shown he doesn't give a shit if the guy dies.