Derek Chauvin's Lawyer Says Jury Should Hear About George Floyd's 'Similar' 2019 Arrest When He 'Swallowed Drugs to Avoid Having Them Found by Cops'...

by Laura Collins and Ariel Zilber at Daily Mail and AP

The judge in the murder trial of former Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin has reserved judgement on a defense bid to have details of a ‘remarkably similar’ prior arrest of George Floyd entered into evidence, as jury selection continues.

In May 2019, Floyd allegedly put drugs in his mouth to avoid getting caught by cops during a traffic stop, and almost had a stroke.

Hennepin County District Court Judge Peter Cahill rejected the attempt to have the May 2019 arrest included in proceedings last fall.

But the judge will now reconsider that decision after new evidence suggests Floyd may have attempted to ingest tablets before his arrest in May 2020, where he later died.

A January 2021 search of the squad car into which officers tried to wrestle Floyd in May 2020 found a chewed up ‘near-complete tablet’ bearing Floyd’s DNA, authorities say.

Chauvin’s defense attorney, Eric Nelson, said that the January search was carried out after the defense reviewed photographs taken of the squad car after Floyd’s death last May.

Judge Cahill said it was ‘mind-boggling’ that an extensive search of the squad car was not done until eight months after Floyd’s death.

Nelson, argued that the discovery of the controlled substance shows the two arrests were ‘remarkably similar’ in key aspects except for one main difference.

During the 2019 incident, Floyd never claimed that he was claustrophobic and eventually got into the police squad car – unlike what took place a year later.

On both May 6, 2019 and May 25, 2020 officers approached Floyd, 46, in a car and witnessed ‘furtive behavior’ as he refused to show his hands. According to Nelson, body cam footage of the 2019 arrest shows Floyd ‘saying some of the exact same things that he says in this case.’

In both instances officers drew their weapons and Floyd behaved erratically and tearfully.

He called for his mother and said that he had been shot before.

Attorneys for Derek Chauvin (seen left in court in Minneapolis on Tuesday), the former Minneapolis police officer who is on trial for murder in the death of George Floyd, want Hennepin County District Court Judge Peter Cahill (right) to allow the jury to hear about Floyd’s arrest from May 2019

Chauvin’s lawyer, Eric Nelson (seen above in court on Tuesday), said Floyd’s arrest from May 2019, in which it is claimed that he swallowed drugs in order to avoid having them found by cops, will bolster his case that the 46-year-old black man died of drug use

Minnesota Assistant Attorney General Matthew Frank (pictured above on Wednesday) accused Nelson of seeking to introduce the evidence because he was ‘desperate’ to smear Floyd’s character

And in both instances officers observed white foam or residue around Floyd’s mouth.

In 2019 officers say they witnessed Floyd consume seven or eight pills – controlled substances that he knowingly ingested – as they approached.

Floyd was hospitalized following his consumption of opioids in May 2019 when paramedics found that his blood pressure was so high they said he was at risk of stroke or cardiac arrest.

‘What caused Mr. Floyd’s death is a principal issue,’ Nelson said.

‘Couple that with a specific statement from a paramedic telling him … “You’re about to die from a heart attack or a stroke,” and then ultimate hospitalization of Mr. Floyd.’

Cahill told Nelson that the paramedic’s statement from 2019 could be introduced as evidence since it speaks to ‘What is Mr. Floyd’s medical or bodily response to a large amount of drugs being ingested shortly before?’…