Chauvin is Guilty

That’s the big news of course. But I also want to draw attention to how the public first found out about George Floyd’s death. Minneapolis police issued this press statement on May 25, 2020:

Man Dies After Medical Incident During Police Interaction"

May 25, 2020 (MINNEAPOLIS) On Monday evening, shortly after 8:00 pm, officers from the Minneapolis Police Department responded to the 3700 block of Chicago Avenue South on a report of a forgery in progress. Officers were advised that the suspect was sitting on top of a blue car and appeared to be under the influence.

Two officers arrived and located the suspect, a male believed to be in his 40s, in his car. He was ordered to step from his car. After he got out, he physically resisted officers. Officers were able to get the suspect into handcuffs and noted he appeared to be suffering medical distress. Officers called for an ambulance. He was transported to Hennepin County Medical Center by ambulance where he died a short time later.

At no time were weapons of any type used by anyone involved in this incident.

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has been called in to investigate this incident at the request of the Minneapolis Police Department.

No officers were injured in the incident.

Body worn cameras were on and activated during this incident.

I interpret the portion about how no “weapons” of any type were used by anyone as providing cover through omission for the 9.5 minutes of knee.

I suppose it might be unfair to expect an organization to immediately throw one of its employees under the bus, but press releases by police are given great deference by the media and the public at large, and often used as a story's sole source.

Does anyone believe the press release is a fair accounting of what transpired? Does this change anyone's priors on the baseline veracity of police accounts?