George Floyd autopsy doctor stands by homicide ruling

The medical examiner who performed the autopsy testified in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.

The chief medical examiner who ruled George Floyd’s death a homicide testified Friday that the way police held him down and compressed his neck “was just more than Mr Floyd could take”, given the condition of his heart. Dr Andrew Baker, the Hennepin County medical examiner, took the stand at the murder trial of former officer Derek Chauvin for pressing his knee on or close to Floyd’s neck for what prosecutors said was as much as nine and a half minutes as the 46-year-old Black man lay pinned to the pavement last year. Asked about his finding that police “subdual, restraint and neck compression” led to Floyd’s death, Baker said that Floyd had severe underlying heart disease and an enlarged heart that needed more oxygen than normal to function, as well as narrowing of two heart arteries.