“In my opinion, Mr. Floyd had a sudden arrhythmia, or arrhythmia, as a result of his atherosclerosis and hypertensive heart disease … during his restraint and police oppression,” said Dr. David Fowler, a forensic pathologist.
Floyd had narrowed coronary arteries, known as atherosclerosis, and an enlarged heart due to his high blood pressure, or hypertension, Fowler said. Floyd’s use of fentanyl and methamphetamine and a tumor known as a paraganglioma were other major conditions that contributed to his death, he said.
Fowler also advanced a new argument that carbon monoxide from the patrol car’s exhaust may have contributed to his death.
All in all, he said that Floyd’s death should have been classified as “ undetermined ” rather than murder, because there were so many competing causes.
Dr. Jonathan Rich, a cardiologist who testified to the prosecution on Monday, said Floyd’s heart showed no evidence of injury at all.
“I can state with a high degree of medical certainty that George Floyd did not die of a primary cardiac event, and he did not die of a drug overdose,” said Rich.
Dr. Fowler’s analysis came after six other witnesses had been called the day before, the first day of the defense. On Tuesday, an expert on violence said Chauvin’s actions were justified. Several other witness statements instead focused on Floyd’s drug use, especially during an earlier arrest in May 2019.
Defense attorney Eric Nelson filed a routine defense on Wednesday to acquit Chauvin, but Judge Peter Cahill turned it down.
Chauvin, 45, has pleaded not guilty to charges of unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter. The defense’s case is expected to last only a few days, and closing arguments are expected before Monday, Cahill said.
The expert on defense use of force defends Chauvin
On Tuesday, an expert on defense use of force said the former Minneapolis police officer rightly knelt on Floyd for more than nine minutes and did not use lethal force.
“I felt Derek Chauvin was justified and acted with objective reasonableness, consistent with Minneapolis Police Department policies and current law enforcement standards in his interactions with Mr. Floyd,” said Barry Brodd, a former police officer.
The gist of his argument was that he was not considering putting a handcuffed Floyd in the “prone” position on the street to use violence because it does not cause pain. He even suggested it was safer for the subject, because if they get up and fall, they could hurt their face.
In cross-examination, prosecutor Steve Schleicher showed Brodd a still image of Chauvin’s knee that was in Floyd’s neck and asked if that position could cause pain. Brodd said it was “possible,” so Schleicher asked him if that meant Chauvin’s action was a use of force.
“In this photo, it could be violence,” Brodd said.
During a cross-examination, he said he was not specifically aware of the Minneapolis Police Department’s definition of violence, which defines violence as a restraint that causes injury or pain. He also recognized that putting someone in the side recovery position is simple and quick.
At one point, Brodd said that Floyd resisted agents for a “few minutes” after being knocked to the ground. Prosecutors then played several video clips of Chauvin kneeling on Floyd, and Brodd admitted that he wasn’t sure if Floyd was wrestling with the police or squirming on the ground.
At another point, Brodd said that a slow-breathing, weakened Floyd wasn’t acting the way a compliant person would.
“A compliant person would be able to rest comfortably with both hands in the lower back, while still walking around,” he said, a comment that puzzled Schleicher.
Upon further questioning, Brodd admitted that any reasonable officer in Chauvin’s position would have known that Floyd had eventually stopped breathing, had no pulse, and offered no resistance. Despite that knowledge, Chauvin did not change his position on top of Floyd, Brodd testified.
Defense emphasizes Floyd’s earlier arrest
To start the case Tuesday morning, the defense played police camera footage of Floyd’s arrest in May 2019.
The footage showed the officer pulling his service weapon and yelling at Floyd, who was in a vehicle, to obey orders. After being handcuffed and taken for medical treatment, he told a paramedic that he had taken percocet pills while the police walked to the car.
Floyd was taken to hospital that day and not jailed. A CNN search of the Hennepin County District Court’s files shows that he was not charged in connection with the 2019 arrest.
However, Judge Cahill did not allow the defense to make that argument explicit and allowed only limited evidence of the incident to demonstrate the physical effect of opioid drugs on Floyd.
“This evidence should not be used as evidence of George Floyd’s character,” Cahill told the jury.
Also on Tuesday, the fifth officer at the Cup Foods scene testified that he was concerned about the safety of the officers because of the crowd of bystanders. A medical support coordinator testified about the signs of agitated delirium, and a passenger in Floyd’s vehicle, Shawanda Hill, said he was sleepy and had trouble waking up.
Morries Hall, another passenger in the vehicle that day, will not testify in the trial after saying he would invoke his Fifth Amendment right, Judge Cahill ruled Wednesday morning.
CNN’s Brad Parks contributed to this report.