HEART DISEASE KILLED FLOYD: DEFENCE EXPERT

A medical expert testifying in defence of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin told the jury on Wednesday he believed that George Floyd's death during last May's arrest was the result of heart disease making his heart beat erratically.

Dr. David Fowler, shown, who was Maryland's chief medical examiner until his retirement in 2019, said the exhaust fumes of the police car against which Chauvin restrained Floyd on the road may also have contributed to Floyd's death.

Fowler appeared to dispute the findings of the Hennepin County medical examiner, who ruled Floyd's death a homicide caused by police restraining Floyd in a way that starved his body of oxygen.

Fowler said he had studied the findings of the county medical examiner and decided Floyd's death was caused by his heart suddenly beating in an erratic way, known as sudden cardiac arrhythmia.