Testimony resumed Friday in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the fired Minneapolis officer charged with the death of George Floyd, after two medical experts stated that Floyd died of oxygen starvation – not drugs, as the defense has suggested. The first witness to take the stand is forensic pathologist Dr. Lindsey Thomas, who testifies for the prosecution.
She testified that Floyd would not have died that day had he not been stopped by the police, and explained that she was able to rule out a cardiac arrhythmia or a fentanyl overdose as a case of death.
“The actions of the law enforcement officers resulted in the death of Mr. Floyd – in particular, those actions were sub-dual, restraint and neck compression,” Thomas said.
Her testimony came a day after another medical expert, Dr. Martin Tobin, testified that Floyd died of a low level of oxygen that damaged his brain and caused his heart to stop. Tobin said Floyd was “in a vice” between the officers’ body weight and the street. He also ignored the defense’s suggestion that Floyd’s underlying heart conditions and fentanyl use contributed to his death.
Later, emergency physician and forensic medicine specialist Dr. Bill Smock took the position and expressed a similar view, saying that Floyd did not die of a drug overdose, but because he “had no air left in his body.”
Smock said Floyd’s pleas “I can’t breathe” are an example of “air hunger,” which he called “the human desire to live, to breathe.” He described a drowning person struggling to get to the surface of the water. In contrast, someone suffering from a fentanyl overdose would not experience “air hunger” because their body would be in “sleep mode,” and their breathing would gradually slow down until they fall into a coma, Smock said.
“He’s breathing, he’s talking, he’s not snoring, he’s like, ‘Please, please get off me, I want to breathe, I can’t breathe,” Smock said. “That’s not an overdose of fentanyl, that’s someone begging for to breathe. ‘
Chauvin, who was seen in disturbing videos kneeling on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes, is charged with second-degree murder. murder in the third degree and second degree homicide.
Chauvin pleaded not guilty. The other three officers involved are charged with complicity and are expected to be tried jointly in August.