Because the throat is where the air flow is and if it was being constricted then air flow would be constricted and he wouldn't be able to breath. He said he couldn't breath but that was not why he died.
The knee was on the right side carotid artery, not the throat. He died because he had pre-existing blood flow issues.
Look at this video, specifically at the 5:20 mark and following. Floyd dropped to the ground without being pushed or struck.
Could this have been the beginning of a medical issue? Was he misoriented due to the fentanyl and stumbled down?
I posted this in another thread, and it's related to this one.
Fist of all, I am in no way defending police brutality... This video above didn't show any unreasonable force up to the moment Floyd fell to the ground, on 5:20 mark.
Second, knee-to-neck restraint technique, whether right or wrong, is allowed in Minneapolis.
Having said that, let's look at Floyd incident from different angle.
Floyd smoked weed within an hour of the blood test and likely two pills/rocks one set uppers one set downers, about one hour before getting arrested. He stank and was belligerent. "I can't breathe" was likely the first coherent thing he'd said.
This guy was a 6'4", 220 lb former tight end, on uppers, downers, and pretty ******* baked. It is likely while he was "pliable" if he resisted he wouldn't be in full control, and it would make anyone nervous. Heart problems were one of the lesser known side effects of corona virus. That he was still talking up to his last breath means that his lungs were clear, more that his brain did not have the required oxygen because his heart had stopped. any normal person has a few minutes of air in their blood. Floyd very easily could have been a dead man walking, when you have weakened lungs from corona-virus, potent clinical depressants at lethal doses even for a large powerful man, severely clogged heart. He was clearly in an irreversible downward spiral health wise. Furthermore, in order to numb the outcry of his body he was on euphoric, and opiates. This along with the amphetamines, potent adrenal stimulants, which further stress the heart and numb the nervous system. At these levels this guy could have lost a limb and remained calm with relative ease.
You put the other officers and the clerk saying that this guy wasn't all there, clearly he wasn't, or he would have booked it after getting the cops called on him and staying for several minutes, this tells me both his movement and judgement were impaired. Who goes out of the house alone when they're high? What were his intended purchases? These questions will elucidate his state of mind and sense of his own body very quickly.
If this incident was taken in isolation with three other officers at the scene, who deferred to the "responding officer's" judgement. I think it would have been a hard call. He was a strong man who's distress signals would have been muted. Semi-coherent, with no obvious secondary signs of distress, To slip suddenly from clear and firmly stating he can't breathe to imminent cardiac arrest. Even during a well executed carotid suffocation there are clear signs 10-20 seconds in of distress. Furthermore it is clear that CPR was promptly performed, wherein an ABC check would have been done.
The time from his arrested movement to this ABC check will tell you whether or not this was manslaughter, murder 3 would be very hard to prove given this cocktail. He was walking dead approximately three minutes before his final words. During that part of the video that's been cut I'd expect to see an incoherent babbling man barely able to sit up straight. Where a judgement call could have been made wherein he was safer on the ground. Furthermore the standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt exists. Anyone reading this tox report and autopsy should come to a similar conclusion. even if the guy lived he would have been difficult to handle or judge his state.