I'm not going to shoot a cop, nor am I going to interfere with an arrest, also, if you can talk you can breathe, had I been there I might have said something and then again maybe not.
I do not remember what caused of death the legal system decided on. But if you are full drugs with heart disease and have three people siting on you with a forth with knee on your neck, hey just what could go wrong with that.
Testimony at the trial
CNN —
https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/09/us/derek-chauvin-trial-george-floyd-day-10/index.html
George Floyd's heart disease and use of fentanyl were contributing factors to his death, but they were not the direct cause, the medical examiner who performed his autopsy testified on Friday in the
trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin.
Hennepin County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Andrew Baker
ruled Floyd's death last May a homicide and identified the cause as "cardiopulmonary arrest" that occurred during "law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression" – all findings he stood by in court on Friday.
Asked about the autopsy and Floyd's death certificate, Baker described the "top line of the cause of death" as "what you think is the most important thing that precipitated the death."
"Other things that you think played a role in the death but were not direct causes get relegated to what's known as the 'other significant conditions' part of the death certificate," he said. "For example, you know, Mr. Floyd's use of fentanyl did not cause the subdual or neck restraint. His heart disease did not cause the subdual or the neck restraint."
Floyd had hypertensive heart disease, Baker said, "meaning his heart weighed more than it should." This meant Floyd's heart needed more oxygen than a normal heart and was "limited in its ability" to provide more oxygen when there was a demand for it.
In the midst of an altercation and being held to the ground, adrenaline would pour into the body, Baker said, making the heart beat faster.
"In my opinion, the law enforcement subdual, restraint and the neck compression was just more than Mr. Floyd could take by virtue of those heart conditions," he said.
Chauvin's defense attorney, Eric Nelson, has argued that Floyd died as a result of drugs and preexisting health conditions. And under cross examination, Baker said he believed those factors played a role.
"So in your opinion," Nelson asked, "both the heart disease as well as the history of hypertension and the drugs that were in his system played a role in Mr. Floyd's death?"
"In my opinion, yes," Baker said.
But Baker reiterated he stood by the cause of death he wrote on Floyd's death certificate and his finding Floyd's death was a homicide, which to a medical examiner means his death was caused by another person and does not necessarily indicate guilt.
"Yes, I would still classify it as homicide today," he said.
