Officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of second- and third-degree murder, as well as second-degree manslaughter after kneeling on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes.
QUICK FACTS:
- The Jeff Bezos-owned Washington Post falsely claimed on Twitter that George Floyd was “shot and killed” by police.
- But Floyd was not “shot and killed” by police, rather a jury concluded Floyd’s death occurred after former Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin pressed his knee on top of Floyd’s neck.
- “On May 25, 2020, George Floyd was shot and killed in police custody. His death sparked outrage, wide scale protests and calls to change policing,” WaPo’s now-deleted tweet read. “Two years later, what has—or hasn’t changed?”
- Widely shared video evidence showed officer Chauvin had held his knee to the back of Floyd’s neck for roughly nine minutes, reportedly contributing in his death.
- Jessica O’Donnell, an analyst for The Blaze, tweeted, along with a picture of WaPo’s false tweet, that “George Floyd was not shot. If they lie when you know the truth, you better believe they’re lying when you don’t have video evidence.”
- WaPo later admitted the error, tweeting, “We’ve deleted a previous tweet for this form that included language that was changed after published.”
ANDY NGÔ POINTS OUT WAPO’S ERROR:
“WaPo writes that George Floyd ‘was shot & killed in police custody,’ tweeted journalist Andy Ngô. “He was never shot. He died of cardiopulmonary arrest & official autopsy found nothing to ‘support a diagnosis of traumatic asphyxia or strangulation.’ His blood had 11 ng/mL of fentanyl.”
BACKGROUND:
- Wednesday, May 25, will be the two-year anniversary of the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who was convicted of Floyd’s murder and sentenced to 22 and a half years in prison.
- The Washington Post agreed in 2013 to sell its newspaper to Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeffrey P. Bezos.
