However, according to USA Today, subsequent social media posts have made the incorrect claim that Floyd's death from a drug overdose is documented in new court filings.
Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, passed away in Minneapolis in May 2020 as a result of Derek Chauvin, a white police officer, pinning Floyd's knee against his neck for about ten minutes. Global protests for racial justice were triggered by Floyd's passing. In the end, Chauvin was found guilty of second-degree murder.
According to Politifact, Hennepin County Medical Examiner Dr. Andrew Baker stated during Chauvin's 2021 trial that Floyd's drug use and heart condition were "contributing causes" but "not direct causes" of his death.
Even now, he says, "I would still classify it as a homicide."
In a video that he uploaded to his X account on October 20, former Fox News personality Tucker Carlson states, "The official autopsy indicates that George Floyd was not murdered. Rather than passing away from what we used to refer to as "natural causes," he died from a lethal amount of fentanyl in his system on his last day of life, as well as decades of drug usage.
Contrary to popular belief, Floyd's autopsy report remains unchanged, as verified by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's office on November 3, as reported by factcheck.org.
The autopsy report states that although Floyd had fentanyl in his system when he passed away, Chauvin's actions—which led to cardiac arrest—were the reason for Floyd's demise.
According to a recent Instagram post, Floyd's deposition from August in an unrelated lawsuit purports to prove that he was not murdered. This court record from a former Hennepin County prosecutor does exist, according to USA Today, but it doesn't state that Floyd "died from a drug overdose," as the video purports.
Chauvin received a 22 1/2 year prison sentence after being found guilty of both murder and manslaughter. He entered a guilty plea to infringing Floyd's civil rights in a different case, and he was given a 21-year federal prison sentence. Concurrent service of the two sentences is being provided.