George Floyd autopsy: Why misinformation, overdose and arrest claims still persist, expert reveals
George Floyd died five years ago. To mark the anniversary of the 46-year-old’s murder, Rev Al Sharpton spoke at a graveside service in Houston. He said that Floyd represented all of those ‘who are defenseless against people who thought they could put their knee on our neck’. He further compared the killing to that of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Black child who was abducted, mutilated, and slain in Mississippi in 1955 after being accused of offending a white woman.
George Floyd died five years ago (AFP)
“What Emmett Till was in his time, George Floyd has been for this time in history,” Sharpton said.
Meanwhile, events in Minneapolis were centered around the George Floyd Square, where police Officer Derek Chauvin used his knee to pin Floyd’s neck to the pavement for 9 1/2 minutes, even as Floyd cried, “I can’t breathe.”
However, several conservative influencers brought up claims about George Floyd’s autopsy and arrest records. ‘Drug overdose’ soon started trending on X, platform formerly known as Twitter.
In 2021, Derek Chauvin was convicted of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter. The former Minneapolis officer also pleaded guilty to twice violating a federal criminal civil rights statute. He is currently serving concurrent state and federal sentences.
Months after Floyd’s death, reports about his alleged criminal record surfaced. Two autopsy reports concluded that his death was a homicide. Neither mentioned his official cause of death as a drug overdose.
The Hennepin County medical examiner’s office noted ‘fentanyl intoxication’ and ‘recent methamphetamine use’ among conditions in their report. It added that Floyd ‘experienced a cardiopulmonary arrest while being restrained by a law enforcement officer’. An autopsy conducted by the 46-year-old’s family concluded he died of suffocation.
Reason behind false narratives around George Floyd’s autopsy
Deen Freelon, a University of Pennsylvania Annenberg School for Communication professor, told Al Jazeera: “Marginalised groups have been prime targets of misinformation going back hundreds, even thousands of years because falsehoods can be weaponised to demonise, harm and further oppress and discriminate.”
He added that George Floyd’s murder was a ‘magnet’ for mis- and disinformation because it ‘fits the mould of a prominent event that ties into controversial, long-running political issues’.
