Defense witness testifies the cause of Floyd’s death ‘undetermined’
The Derek Chauvin murder trial resumed Wednesday with an expert witness backing the defense’s contention that George Floyd died of cardiac arrest combined with illicit drugs in his body and not from a lack of oxygen while pinned to the pavement by the now-fired police officer for more than 9 minutes late last spring.
The testimony of Dr. David Fowler, who recently retired after 17 years as the chief medical examiner for the state of Maryland, marks the start of the cause of death phase of the defense’s case. He wrapped up his testimony by saying he would have classified Floyd’s manner of death as undetermined due to the multiple factors he cited.
During the afternoon and under cross examination by prosecutor Jerry Blackwell, Fowler endorsed the state’s contention that Chauvin and the other officers were negligent in failing to provide lifesaving measures to Floyd once he lacked a
pulse roughly five minutes into being restrained.
“As a physician, I would agree,” Fowler said when asked whether Floyd should have been given immediate medical attention at that point.
“Are you critical that he wasn’t given immediate medical attention?” Blackwell then asked. Again, Fowler responded, “As a physician, I agree.”
At the outset of his testimony, Fowler said Floyd had a cardiac arrhythmia due to his heart disease during his restraint by police while prone on the pavement at 38th and Chicago. The doctor said Floyd’s fentanyl and methamphetamine
use also played a significant role. He also included exposure to vehicle exhaust from a police squad close by his paraganglioma, tumors that can form near the carotid artery, and along nerve pathways in the head and neck.
“All of those combined to cause Mr. Floyd’s death,” Fowler said. He did not include lack of oxygen, or asphyxia, as the prosecution contended during the two-plus weeks it presented evidence.
Much of what Fowler pointed to is largely the same as the findings of Dr. Andrew Baker, the Hennepin County medical examiner. However, Baker previously testified in the trial that paraganglioma played no role in Floyd’s death. Defense attorney Eric Nelson said in his opening statement that the tumor increases the flow of adrenaline.
Fowler said his review of Floyd’s case was subjected to scrutiny by 13 members of The Forensic Panel. He said there were seven forensic pathologists among the 13 who did the peer review, along with specialists in behavioral health, pulmonology, emergency medicine and toxicology.
Under cross examination, prosecutor Blackwell suggested that Fowler was expressing bias, cherrypicking the facts to confuse the jury and jumping to conclusions when he testified about the possibility of carbon monoxide playing a role in Floyd’s death and at other times.
“Going right to the punch line on carbon monoxide,” Blackwell said, “you haven’t seen any data or test results that showed Mr. Floyd had a single injury from carbon monoxide, correct?”
Fowler replied, “It is true.”