Says Officer Derek Chauvin’s knee was “not on neck of George Floyd.”

Supporters of Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin have rallied around the claim that he did not have his knee on George Floyd’s neck. A post on Instagram showed footage from Chauvin’s trial and declared, “Lying media exposed.”

“Knee not on neck of George Floyd,” the April 8 post said.

The video clip was built around new footage from Police Officer Alex Keung’s body camera. Eric Nelson, Chauvin’s attorney, asked Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo about the new footage.

“Would you say that from the perspective Mr. Kueng’s body camera, Officer Chauvin’s knee was more on Mr. Floyd’s shoulder blade?” Nelson asked April 5.

“Yes,” Arrandondo said.

But the post ignores when the events in the footage took place.

They occurred as the medics arrived and rolled Floyd’s limp body onto a stretcher — in other words, only in the last seconds of the approximately eight minutes that Chauvin had restrained Floyd.

In the rest of the police chief’s testimony, prosecutor Steve Schleicher drilled down on that point.

Schleicher: “You testified that the particular moment in time that you were viewing officer Keung’s body worn camera it appeared, at that moment in time, that the knee of the defendant was more towards the shoulder blade. Is that right?”

Arrandondo: “That is correct.”

Schleicher: “That is at a time where the ambulance had already arrived?”

Arrandondo: “Yes.”

Schleicher: “Very shortly before they loaded Mr. Floyd onto the gurney?”

Arrandondo: “Yes. That is correct.”

Schleicher: “And in your view of the body-worn camera footage, everything you reviewed prior to testifying today, did you see the defendant’s knee anywhere but the neck of Mr. Floyd up until that time?”

Arrandondo: “That is correct.”

Schleicher: “And so, the knee of the defendant was on Mr. Floyd’s neck up until the time you just pointed out?”

Arrandondo: “Yes. When I viewed that video portion, that is the first time that I had seen the knee of the defendant on the shoulder blade area.”

Another prosecution witness, Jody Stiger, a Los Angeles Police Department sergeant, who viewed the footage, testified that Chauvin applied pressure continuously to Floyd’s neck or neck area. 

Several prosecution witnesses testified that Floyd died from a lack of oxygen, not drugs, as the defense has argued.

Our ruling

An Instagram post said video proved that Chauvin had his knee on Floyd’s shoulder, not his neck.

The video was taken only in the last seconds of Chauvin restraining Floyd, and does not show what occurred before. All testimony based on the full video showed that pressure was applied continuously on or near Floyd’s neck. Medical experts say that pressure in that area blocks the flow of oxygen and blood.

We rate this claim False.