Defense blames Floyd’s heart
Also raises notion of car exhaust being factor
A medical expert testified for ex-police officer Derek Chauvin’s defense Wednesday that underlying heart issues led to George Floyd’s death in May.
MINNEAPOLIS – A medical expert testifying for the defense in the murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin told jurors Wednesday the manner of George Floyd’s death was “undetermined,” contrary to various prosecution witnesses who labeled the death a homicide.
Dr. David Fowler, former head of the medical examiner’s office in Maryland, said he believes that Floyd had a “sudden cardiac arrhythmia” while being restrained and subdued by police.
Chauvin’s defense, which is close to wrapping its case, is arguing that Floyd’s hypertensive heart disease and ingestion of drugs, together with the struggle with police, led him to suffer from heart strain and ultimately die.
Prosecutors contend Floyd died due to Chauvin’s knee on his neck for more than nine minutes during an arrest in May 2020. Several witnesses for the state said Floyd died from low oxygen due to law enforcement restraint.
Chauvin is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
Fowler said the plaque built up inside Floyd’s arteries and his hypertensive heart disease were the direct cause of death, in his opinion, noting that Floyd had a “sudden cardiac arrhythmia” due to those heart issues while being restrained and subdued by police.
Fowler noted that that significant contributing conditions would include: Floyd’s fentanyl and methamphetamine ingestion, what other experts have called an “incidental” abnormal cell growth in his pelvic area, and exposure to vehicle exhaust that may have led to carbon monoxide poisoning. That last contributory condition has not been raised by any expert before.
Fowler conceded during cross-examination by state’s attorney Jerry Blackwell that while Floyd was officially pronounced dead in the hospital, he was dead “long, long before that.” He agreed that Floyd should have been given immediate medical attention when he went into cardiac arrest.
Fowler said he is “critical” about officers not providing medical assistance. “Immediate medical attention for a person who has gone into cardiac arrest, may well reverse that process,” he said.
There’s no reference in Floyd’s records of a blood test for carbon monoxide, Fowler said. But he noted that a police squad car’s engine was running while Floyd was restrained nearby. He explained to jurors that as carbon monoxide intake goes up, a person’s oxygencarrying capacity goes down.
People with significant heart disease are more adversely affected and die at lower levels of carbon monoxide poisoning than healthy people, he said.
When asked how he knew the car engine was running, Fowler told Blackwell that he saw water dripping from the tailpipe. He took that to mean the police squad car ignition was turned on. He acknowledged that he didn’t get more information or ask to verify his conclusion about the car.
Fowler also agreed with Blackwell that he did not do testing to simulate what Floyd could have been exposed to near a similar vehicle.
Fowler also repeated previous expert witness testimony that Floyd’s right coronary artery showed the greatest amount of narrowing, at 90%, which increases the risk of sudden death. Physical exertion increases the body’s need for oxygen, while methamphetamine increases the heart rate and causes arteries to narrow to the point where it slows down blood flow, Fowler said.
Methamphetamine also increases the risk of arrhythmia, he said.
“There’s multiple entities all acting together and adding to each other and taking away from a different part of the ability to give oxygen into his heart,” Fowler said. “At some point, the heart exhausted its reserves of metabolic supply and went into an arrhythmia and stopped pumping blood effectively.”
Prompted by lead defense attorney Eric Nelson, Fowler cited a study suggesting Chauvin’s knee restraint on Floyd would have transferred less than 35 pounds of weight onto his body. Last week, Dr. Martin Tobin, a pulmonologist who wrote the book on mechanical ventilation and testified for the prosecution, said 91.5 pounds of Chauvin’s weight was pressed directly onto Floyd’s neck.
Fowler is facing a federal lawsuit. While chief medical examiner in Maryland, Fowler ruled the death of Anton Black, a Black 19-year-old experiencing a mental health crisis who was killed by police in 2018, an accident, according to The Baltimore Sun.
No one was charged, and Black’s family filed the lawsuit in December.
Man in SUV with Floyd won’t testify
Judge Peter Cahill quashed a subpoena for testimony from Morries Hall, a man who was in the car with George Floyd before the fateful struggle with police.
The judge ruled that Hall had a Fifth Amendment right not to testify because answering even narrowly tailored questions could expose Hall to criminal charges.
The charges could include allegations about possession of any drugs found in the car as well as a potential third-degree murder charge if the drugs were linked to Floyd’s death.