Except he wasn't choking. If you can say "I can't breathe" you are breathing by definition. It takes breath to talk. You cannot speak if you are choking. Look it up if you don't believe me. That is a scientific fact.
Worse, Floyd complained of being unable to breathe well before he was put on the ground, and we now know he had roughly three times the dose of fentanyl in his system to cause a lethal overdose. One of the symptoms of such an overdose is an increasing inability to breathe.
Now, toss in that Floyd
lied to the cops when asked if he was on anything (well before he was put on the ground in that hold and on video from several of the officer's body cams along with bystander testimony) and said he wasn't. That meant the officers might have
suspected he was high but had no verifiable proof of that at the time due to Floyd's lie. Had they known he was on fen fen they might have acted differently.
So, the facts have Floyd with several serious medical conditions, high on fentanyl and possibly meth as well, in an overdose condition that the officers aren't fully or even close to fully aware of because of Floyd's own lies to them, attempting to arrest and subdue an increasingly panicked and resisting suspect.
There are two sides to this story, and as all the facts come out, it's looking worse and worse for the prosecution. This isn't to defend officer Chaven in the least. I think his use of a knee hold was totally inappropriate and unnecessary, but it doesn't amount to murder either. Floyd likely did himself in by his improper use of illicit drugs, particularly one as lethal as fentanyl.