“The carbon monoxide would usually be classified as an accident, although somebody was holding him there, so you could elevate that to a homicide.”
A medical expert who testified in defense of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin told jurors on Wednesday he believed George Floyd’s death while under arrest was the result of heart disease which made his heart beat erratically. Dr. David Fowler, a forensic pathologist who was Maryland’s chief medical examiner until his retirement in 2019, also told the jury he believed exhaust fumes from the police car next to which Chauvin pinned Floyd to the road may also have contributed to Floyd’s death in May 2020. Still, under cross-examination, Fowler agreed with a prosecutor who said Floyd should have been given immediate first aid when his heart stopped beating during the arrest, video of which sparked global protests against police brutality and racism. Chauvin’s central defense against murder and manslaughter charges has been to raise doubts about the cause of Floyd’s death. Dr. Andrew Baker, Hennepin County’s chief medical examiner, ruled the death a homicide last year caused by Chauvin and other officers restraining Floyd in a way that starved his body of oxygen. Fowler, one of Chauvin’s most important witnesses, disputed at least some of Baker’s conclusions, telling the jury he believed the manner of death could be considered a homicide, but he would have instead ruled it “undecided.” Chauvin, who is white, was seen kneeling on Floyd’s neck for nine minutes while Floyd, a Black man in handcuffs, pleaded for his life before going limp.
