(New York Post) It’s a self-protective aspect of human nature to put aside painful memories, and that’s what most of us have done about the murderous riots in the summer of 2020 that were sparked by George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis.
But for the people of that fallen city, and for all the cops across the nation who were abandoned and betrayed by their feckless political leaders, the pain still burns bright.
It ought to burn for the rest of us, too, because we still are suffering the consequences, in the catastrophic breakdown of law and order nationwide. We will continue to do so while the lies about George Floyd’s death are left to fester.
A brilliant new crowdfunded documentary, “The Fall of Minneapolis,” aims to remedy our collective amnesia about the events of May 25, 2020 — a time when the country was already half-mad from the ravages of COVID-19 and forced lockdowns, and when Democratic Party operatives, including candidates Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, seized on the “Defund the police” movement, in order to bring down President Donald Trump.
So many lies have been told since, and so much truth buried by the Big Tech censors that control reality, that the documentary arrives like a slap in the face.
Flames from a nearby fire illuminate protesters standing on a barricade in front of the Third Police Precinct on May 28, 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during a protest over the death of George Floyd.AFP via Getty Images
Wake up, it says. Remember. Look at the truth and hang your head in shame a little that you allowed yourself to be fooled.
Personal connection
“The Fall of Minneapolis” reveals a shocking tale of injustice and perfidy, and a ruthless political operation that contained the seeds of the January 6 Capitol riot eight months later and the consequent hyperbolic crackdown on Trump supporters.
The film was produced by Liz Collin, a former anchor at a CBS affiliate in the Twin Cities who was taken off air during the riots and demoted because her husband, Bob Kroll, was the Minneapolis police union chief at the time.
Their house was besieged by angry mobs yelling abuse over megaphones and beating piñata effigies of the couple throughout the trial of police officer Derek Chauvin.
Protesters set fire to a police vehicle on May 30, 2020, during a protest against the death of George Floyd.NurPhoto via Getty Images
But she does not allow personal emotion to creep into the film, instead driving the narrative dispassionately with shocking new evidence. She interviews Chauvin in jail, where he is serving 21 years, his mother and many of the cops who have resigned.
From false testimony in Chauvin’s trial to police bodycam footage of Floyd’s arrest that was withheld for two months, to the autopsy report that was altered after the FBI got involved, Collin presents a damning forensic record that needs avenging.
Collin draws on new evidence unveiled last month in a sexual harassment lawsuit, filed by former Hennepin County prosecutor Amy Sweasy, against then-County Attorney Mike Freeman.
Sweasy’s complaint details a revolt in the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office over the decision to charge Chauvin’s fellow officers Tou Thao, Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane with aiding and abetting second-degree murder. Lane and Kueng, who is black, were fresh out of the academy.
Sweasy and three other prosecutors refused to work on the case because it “violated professional and ethical rules.”
George FloydBen Crump Law
In sworn testimony, prosecutors told of the “insane … extreme premium pressure” they were under to throw the book at Chauvin and charge the other cops because “the city was burning down.”
One said that Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison “taking over the Chauvin cases was difficult particularly when we had a governor who kind of threw us under the bus.”
The original autopsy report by Hennepin County Medical Examiner Dr. Andrew Baker the day after Floyd died found there was “no physical evidence suggesting that Mr. Floyd died of asphyxiation.
“Mr. Floyd did not exhibit signs of petechiae, damage to his airways or thyroid, brain bleeding, bone injuries, or internal bruising.”
Sweasy claims that Baker also told her that day that “there were no medical findings that showed any injury to the vital structures of Mr. Floyd’s neck. There were no medical indications of asphyxia or strangulation.”
The “I Can’t Breathe – Silent March for Justice” on March 7, 2021, in front of the Hennepin County Government Center, site of the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, charged with murdering African American man George Floyd.AFP via Getty Images
But then she claims Baker told her: “Amy, what happens when the actual evidence doesn’t match up with the public narrative that everyone’s already decided on? … This is the kind of case that ends careers.”
On May 31, 2020, Sweasy said Baker shared the results of toxicology tests with prosecutors, which showed that Floyd, 46, had a “fatal level of fentanyl” in his blood, along with methamphetamine.
Floyd also had COVID and severe “arteriosclerotic heart disease,” with one artery 75% obstructed, and “hypertensive heart disease.”
But Ben Crump, the ambulance-chasing attorney who represented the Floyd family and secured them a $27 million payout from the Minneapolis City Council, told the media: “George Floyd was a healthy young man.”
