“All George Floyd had to do is sit in the police car, like every other defendant who is initially arrested. While attempting to avoid his arrest, all by himself, Mr. Floyd overdosed on Fentanyl. Given his intoxication level, breathing would have been difficult at best. Mr. Floyd’s intentional failure to obey commands, coupled with his overdosing, contributed to his own death.”

Gray says that bodycam footage from Lane, who was the first officer to confront Floyd, shows Floyd with “a white spot on the left side of his tongue” that resembles “2 milligrams of fentanyl, a lethal dose.”

“Rather than comply with Officer Lane’s reasonable instructions, [Floyd] turns his head away at 20:09:45; at 20:09:48, the white spot is gone,” Gray says. The Hennepin County medical examiner said that Floyd tested positive for fentanyl intoxication, as well as recent methamphetamine use.

The medical examiner found cuts and abrasions over Floyd’s body, but no sign of significant or “life-threatening” injury or trauma, except for a cracked rib due to medical workers attempting to resuscitate Floyd at the hospital.