The Prosecutor earlier today mentioned this and said the amount would not necessarily be fatal to an addict, which Floyd was.
With my very limited knowledge of the law and only relying on what our resident lawyer says on this, I think Chauvin was criminally negligent in two ways:
(1) Chauvin should have recognized the potential for an OD was present and gotten EMS involved more quickly than they were. This can be tricky for EMS when a subject is resisting and restrained - they have to get permission from law enforcement to treat. Keep in mind, before Chauvin arrived, two other officers at the scene had already intervened when they were called to investigate a claim that Floyd had tried to pass a counterfeit $20. Things escalated right away and an opportunity to use NARCAN was probably missed by those first two cops on the scene. Chauvin should have deescalated, seen this failed opportunity and administered it himself.
Reports I read state that once EMS arrived they assessed him and there was already no pulse and he was unresponsive. Instead of treating him at the scene they loaded him into the ambulance and headed for the ER. In the ambulance he was aggressively treated for cardiac arrest. The details of that treatment aren't public but they would have included a boat-load of drugs, presumably NARCAN, CPR and defibrilation (shock) attempts. NB, NARCAN is ineffective in a patient suffering from full cardiac arrest but it's still administered. For it to work, it has to be administered before that happens.
(2) During the restraint process Chauvin was executing (lawful?), Chauvin should have recognized that Floyd was in medical extremis and acted on that.
Comment