American settlement is weird.
If you settle for a murder case that means the accussed is guilty. It's one thing settling for a gray manslaughter case such as slipped on a wet floor. But this?
It's basically saying you're right. It's murder, here's some cash to drop the case
I think there are some aspects of this case that is overlooked, missed or ignored. When I saw the original video, I was 100% that I had witnessed a murder. However when I saw the full body cam footage from a pro-cop angle there was some aspects that made me doubt whether this was murder, manslaughter or a death due to a perfect storm(drugs, medical conditions, knee on the neck and panic attack/toxic delirium).
I think there are some things.
1. He admits in the full body cam footage to taking drugs. He shows signs of toxic delirium. He screams I can't breathe 8 times before he hits the floor and there is a knee on his neck. In the toxicology report, he had 3 x the lethal threshold of Fentanyl in his system. The coroner concluded that under any other circumstances he would have concluded that he would have died of pulmonary edema and of an overdose.
2. If the Chauvin wanted to murder him, what would be his motive, and would he do it in broad daylight whilst being filmed.
3. Restraining with the knee is allowed by the police protocol, however I cannot find any good excuse to do this on George Floyd for 8.5 minutes especially considering with him already complaining about him not being able to breathe.
However I think with the findings of toxicology report and the full body cam footage, I think it's unlikely he would be found guilty of homocide, but perhaps manslaugter due to recklessness. On top of that this would be the most politized trial in decades in the US and perhaps both the family and the police thought a settlement would be the best course of action. I'd just like to add that I'm not making excuses for the Chauvin here, since I can't make any excuse for him keeping his knee on his neck for 8.5 minutes, just that there is information of the case that seems to be ignored.