Chauvin trial: autopsy medical examiner says police pressure exceeds Floyd ‘could take’

The Minneapolis chief investigator, who performed the autopsy on George Floyd’s body and considered his death a murder, testified in the trial of former officer Derek Chauvin on Friday that the way police held him and compressed his neck ‘ was just more than Mr. given the condition of his heart.

Dr. Andrew Baker, chief medical examiner for Hennepin County, took a stand on Friday morning when the second week of evidence during the murder trial of Chauvin, 45, came to an end.

Chauvin is charged with murder and manslaughter in Floyd’s death on May 25, 2020. The former officer, who was fired from the Minneapolis police station, is accused of pressing his knee on or near Floyd’s neck for what prosecutors said. was 9 minutes and 29 seconds while handcuffed and pinned to his stomach on the sidewalk.

Police arrested Floyd outside a neighborhood store, Cup Foods, for allegedly trying to use a $ 20 counterfeit bill to buy cigarettes.

Asked about his finding that the police ‘subdual, self-control and neck compression’ led to Floyd’s death, Baker said Floyd had severe underlying heart disease and an enlarged heart that needed more oxygen than normal to function. , as well as the narrowing of two coronary arteries. .

Baker said that when an argument is involved, adrenaline increases, prompting the heart to beat even faster and provide more oxygen.

“And in my opinion, law enforcement, self-control and neck compression were just more than Mr. Floyd could take on the basis of these heart conditions,” Baker said.

Baker testified that Floyd’s “use of fentanyl did not cause the subdural or neck control. His heart disease did not cause the subdural or the neck control.”

He agrees with prosecutor Jerry Blackwell, who asks, “These are items that may have contributed, but were not the direct cause?”

Chauvin’s attorney, Eric Nelson, argued that the now fired white officer did what he was trained to do and that Floyd’s illegal drug use and underlying health conditions, not Chauvin’s knee, killed him. In an autopsy, fentanyl and methamphetamine were found in Floyd’s system.

Baker testified that neither Floyd’s heart problems or drugs caused his death: “Mr. Floyd’s use of fentanyl did not cause the subdual or neck control. His heart disease did not cause the subdual or the neck restriction.”

Under cross-examination, however, Baker agrees with Nelson that Floyd’s heart disease and drug use played a ‘role’ in death.

Dr. Martin Tobin, an expert witness Thursday, said a healthy person who was subjected to what Floyd endured would also die.

Nelson asked Baker if he had certified deaths from excessive fentanyl doses at lower levels than seen in Floyd’s blood, and Baker said yes. But Baker also noted that fentanyl levels should be considered in the context of how long someone has used the drug, any tolerance put together on it, and what other substances may be involved.

Baker testified that his examination of Floyd’s heart found no “visible or microscopic previous damage” to the heart muscle. The medical examiner also said he did not notice any pill or pill fragments during the examination of Floyd’s stomach contents.

At the beginning of his testimony, Baker said he did not watch the viral video of Floyd’s meeting with police after completing his autopsy.

“I did not want to bias my exam by introducing preconceived ideas that could lead me in one direction or another,” he said.

Dr. Lindsey Thomas, a forensic pathologist who retired from the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office in 2017 and did not work on Floyd’s case, testified earlier Friday that she agrees with Baker’s findings, but appears to be going further, saying the ‘primary mechanism of death’ is. “was asphyxia, or insufficient oxygen.

Thomas said she came to the conclusion mostly from video showing Floyd struggling to breathe.

“It’s a death where both the heart and the lungs have stopped working. The point is that it’s due to law enforcement, self-control and compression,” Thomas said.

During cross-examination, Nelson asked Thomas about what could suddenly make a heart stop beating, noting that Floyd’s larger heart needed more blood and was working hard in a moment of tension and adrenaline, and that one of his veins 90% clogged it. .

Thomas said any blockage of more than 70 to 75% could be used to declare death, in the absence of another cause. But she also said that some people can only live well with an artery that is completely blocked.

The defender pushed Thomas by asking a hypothetical question.

“Let us assume that you are Mr. Floyd was found dead in his home. No police involvement, no drugs, no true. The only thing you found is these facts about his heart. What would be the cause of death for you? ‘ Ask Nelson.

“In that very close set of circumstances, I would probably conclude that the cause of his death was his heart disease,” Thomas replies.

In response to another hypothetical representation of Nelson, she agreed that she would confirm Floyd’s death as an overdose if there were no other explanations.

But during re-examination, Blackwell defended the lawyer’s hypothetical and quickly had Thomas repeat that the cause of Floyd’s death was the police restraint.

“Aren’t these questions very much like asking,” Mrs. Lincoln, if we get John Wilkes Booth out of this … ‘Blackwell began before Nelson objected.

Judge Peter Cahill also summoned a jury member on Friday and asked her if she was subject to outside influences. She replied that she briefly saw TV coverage with the sound off and said that her mother-in-law had sent her an SMS: ‘It looks like it was a bad day’, but that she did not answer.

The judge allowed her to remain on the jury.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.