Cassandra Fairbanks – Gateway Pundit April 7, 2021

Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin’s defense lawyers played audio of George Floyd allegedly saying “I ate too many drugs,” while being detained.

The video clip was presented during cross examination of Los Angeles Police Sgt. Jody Stiger, a paid witness for the state, who claims that “no force should have been used” on Floyd

Defense attorney Eric J. Nelson countered that Floyd was saying “I can’t breathe,” while resisting being put into the cop car — before Chauvin’s knee was anywhere near him.

“If somebody is saying, ‘I can’t breathe,’ and they’re passing out and they’re not resisting, that’s one form of an analysis, right, because the actions of the suspect are consistent with the verbal utterances he’s making, right?” Nelson asked.

“Other times and in this particular case, when Mr. Floyd was initially saying that he couldn’t breathe, he was actively resisting arrest initially when he was in the back seat of the vehicle, right?” he continued.

Nelson went on to explain that the officers had to change tactics “when the futility of the three officers continuing their efforts forcibly to seat Floyd in the squad’s back seat became clear.”

The defense also played the clip of Floyd allegedly admitting to eating too many drugs. He added that the rowdy scene caused “a heightened sense of awareness” for the officers.

When asked if he could make out what Floyd was saying in the clip, Stiger said that he could not.

Nelson responded that “in the chaos of a situation, things can be missed.”

loyd’s autopsy showed that he had consumed a fatal amount of methamphetamine and fentanyl.

“This is what’s called a Speedball – a mixture of an opioid and a stimulant,” Nelson said at the start of the trial. “The evidence will show that Mr. Floyd died of a cardiac arrhythmia that occurred a result of hypertension, his coronary disease, ingestion of methamphetamine and fentanyl, and the adrenaline flowing through his body.”

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