George Floyd's autopsy claims he died of underlying heart conditions and not strangulation - Daily Mail

George Floyd's family hire their own pathologist after official autopsy finds he died of 'police restraint combined with heart disease and potential intoxicants in his system' and not asphyxiation or strangulation by officer

• The family of George Floyd has hired former NYC medical examiner Dr. Michael Baden to conduct a separate, independent autopsy
• It came after the preliminary results the official autopsy claimed Floyd, 46, had not died from strangulation or asphyxiation
• It blames his death on a combination of heart disease, 'potential intoxicants in his system' and being placed in restraint by police officers
• The family says it 'does not trust anything' from the local police department 
• Dr. Baden said he will travel to Minneapolis on Saturday and reveal his results next week 
• Floyd died on Memorial Day as he was arrested by four police officers over allegedly trying to buy cigarettes with a counterfeit $20 bill 
• The official autopsy results were revealed in the criminal complaint filed against former police officer Derek Michael Chauvin  
• Chauvin, 44, was arrested Friday and charged with Floyd's murder 

By Frances Mulraney For Dailymail.com

Published: 03:38 BST, 30 May 2020 | Updated: 05:08 BST, 30 May 2020

The family of George Floyd has hired their own pathologist for a separate autopsy after the official results claimed he did not die of strangulation or asphyxiation.

The preliminary results of the county’s autopsy instead concluded Floyd, 46, died from a combination of heart disease and 'potential intoxicants in his system' that were exacerbated by the restraint placed on him by police officers.

Floyd's family revealed Friday they have now hired the services of renowned forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden to conduct a second, independent autopsy. 

They claim the underlying health conditions cited in the official report are ‘an illusion’.

'The family does not trust anything coming from the Minneapolis Police Department. How can they?' attorney Ben Crump said. 'We already saw the truth.'

Baden is set to travel to Minneapolis on Saturday and told Fox News he will discuss his findings next week.  

The county's autopsy results were revealed Friday after former police officer Derek Michael Chauvin, who was shown kneeling on Floyd's neck during his arrest on Monday, was charged with his murder. 

The preliminary results of an autopsy on George Floyd have found he died from a combination of heart disease and potential intoxicants in his system that were exacerbated by the restraint placed on him by police officers not by strangulation or asphyxiation

Former NYC medical examiner Dr. Michael Baden is a celebrity pathologist who carried out the private autopsy on  convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that suggested he may have been murdered. The family of George Floyd has hired him to conduct an independent autopsy

George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, died on Memorial Day as he was arrested by four police officers over allegedly trying to buy cigarettes with a counterfeit $20 bill. He was seen in a video pleading that he couldn't breathe as white officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee against his neck. His preliminary autopsy results said strangulation was not the cause of death

It came as Minneapolis faced its fourth day of intense protests over his death and more demonstrations broke out across the country, including in Washington D.C. where the White House was forced to be locked down.

The criminal complaint filed against Chauvin, 44, cited that preliminary findings from a Tuesday autopsy conducted by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner saw 'no physical findings that support a diagnosis of traumatic asphyxiation or strangulation'.

'Mr. Floyd had underlying health conditions including coronary artery disease and hypertensive heart disease,' said the complaint from the Hennepin County Attorney.

'The combined effects of Mr. Floyd being restrained by police, his underlying health conditions and any potential intoxicants in his system likely contributed to his death.'

The full medical examiner's report is pending.

THE CRIMINAL COMPLAINT  

The timeline of events reveals that Officers Lane and Kueng arrived on the scene first after responding to a 911 call of a man using a counterfeit $20 bill to buy goods from Cup Foods Deli.  

They were directed to Floyd's car around the corner from the store where Floyd was sat in the driver's seat, a man was sat in the passenger seat and a woman in the back seat, the complaint states.

It details that Lane pulled his gun on Floyd before putting it away when Floyd showed his empty hands on the steering wheel of the car. 

Lane then pulled Floyd from the car and handcuffed him. The complaint states that Floyd 'actively resisted' being handcuffed but then became compliant and walked with the cop to the sidewalk where he sat for two minutes and had a conversation with him.

Lane and Kueng then tried to walk Floyd to their squad car but Floyd 'stiffened up, fell to the ground, and told the officers he was claustrophobic', the complaint says.   

Chauvin and Thoa arrived on the scene and the four officers tried to get Floyd into the squad car, it states, adding that Floyd 'struggled with the officers by intentionally falling down, saying he was not going in the car, and refusing to stand still'.

Floyd began telling the officers he could not breathe while standing outside the car, the report states. 

Chauvin then tried to get Floyd into the passenger side of the car before pulling him out of the car moments later. 

'My. Floyd went to the ground face down and still handcuffed. Kueng held Mr. Floyd's back and Lane held his legs. The defendant placed his left knee in the area of Mr. Floyd's head and neck,' it reads. 

Floyd is heard saying 'I can't breathe', 'Mama' and 'please' multiple times but Chauvin, Kueng and Lane maintain their positions on his body and tell him 'You are talking fine', the report notes.

Lane then suggests rolling Floyd onto his side but Chauvin says 'No, staying put where we got him'.

'Officer Lane said, 'I am worried about excited delirium or whatever.' The defendant said , 'That's why we have him on his stomach.' None of the three officers moved from their positions,' the report adds.  

Floyd then stops moving at 8:24:24 and at 8:25:31 he appears to stop breathing and speaking, it notes.  

Lane again suggests rolling Floyd onto his side but none of the cops move position. Kueng checked his right wrist for a pulse and said 'I couldn't find one' but all the officers maintained their position, the report adds.  

Chauvin finally moved his knee from Floyd's neck at 8:27:24 and he was taken away in an ambulance, 8 minutes and 46 seconds after he first held it on his neck and two minutes and 53 seconds after Floyd became unresponsive, the complaint states.  

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Attorneys for Floyd have now requested a second, independent autopsy, unhappy with the findings from the county medical examiner that they claim create an 'illusion' of underlying health conditions being responsible for his death.

Ben Crump and S. Lee Merritt said in a press conference Friday that they have called on Dr. Michael Baden, a renowned forensic pathologist, to conduct an independent autopsy instead of the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's office.

Dr. Baden conducted a separate autopsy on Eric Garner, whose death in 2014 while being placed in an unauthorized chokehold by NYPD Officer Daniel Panteleo was also captured on video.

Panteleo wasn't criminally charged but fired from the police force in 2019.

Dr. Baden also previously conducted an autopsy on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that suggested he may have been murdered and he testified at the OJ Simpson murder trial.

'We're going to take custody back of George Floyd's body, and we're bringing in Dr. Michael Baden to perform an independent autopsy because we saw in the Eric Garner case and so many other cases where they have these people who work with the city come up with things that are such an illusion,' Crump said.

'They're going to have their own autopsy. We're not going to rely on this DA or this city to tell us the truth. We already saw the truth.

'He had asthma, he had a heart condition - all these things that are irrelevant when they were living, breathing, walking, talking, just fine until the police accosted them,' Crump added.

Baden, a former New York City chief medical examiner, confirmed to Fox News Friday that he had been asked to perform the autopsy by the family.  

They also called for a more serious charge to be brought against Chauvin and for the arrests of the other three officers who were fired alongside Chauvin over Floyd's death - J Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao.

'We call on authorities to revise the charges [against Chauvin] to reflect the culpability of this officer,' the statement continued.

'We fully expect to see the other officers who did nothing to protect the life of George Floyd to be arrested and charged soon.'

Prior to Chauvin's arrest Friday, Crump and Merritt had called for a congressional hearing and a national task force to address deadly police-involved shootings.

'We need a national response -- we can no longer do this on a case-by-case basis' Merritt said.

'We have been dealing with the pandemic of racism and discrimination for far too long,' said Ben Crump.

'It is a pandemic, a national pandemic, we cannot keep looking at this regionally, this is affecting all African Americans, this a state of emergency. If we don't address this in the next month or two we will see another senseless, unjustifiable killing of an African American at the hands by people who are police or pretend to be police.'

Chauvin was fired earlier this week after footage emerged showing him kneeling on Floyd's neck for eight minutes while placing him under arrest.

Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, died on Memorial Day as he was arrested by four police officers over allegedly trying to buy cigarettes with a counterfeit $20 bill.

He was seen in a video pleading that he couldn't breathe as white officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee against his neck.

Floyd repeatedly asked for the officer to get off his neck but Chauvin remained.

Chauvin is also heard saying that Floyd will be 'staying put where we got him'.

Video showed Floyd was unresponsive for the last 2 minutes and 53 seconds.

He died minutes later in police custody.

A criminal complaint was filed against Chauvin Friday in which he was charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter.

The complaint stated that he had received training about how holding a person in the kind of restraint seen in the Floyd arrest would be dangerous.

'The defendant had his knee on Mr. Floyd's neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds in total. Two minutes and 53 seconds of this was after Mr. Floyd was non-responsive. Police are trained that this type of restraint with a subject in a prone position is inherently dangerous,' the arrest warrant read.

 

Floyd family attorneys Ben Crump (left) and S. Lee Merritt (right) said in a press conference Friday that they have called on Dr. Michael Baden, a renowned forensic pathologist, to conduct an independent autopsy instead of the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's office

Dr. Michael Baden, pictured, also conducted a separate autopsy on Eric Garner, whose died in 2014 while being placed in an unauthorized chokehold by NYPD Officer Daniel Panteleo

Floyd's family released this statement after the arrest of former police officer Derek Chauvin

The criminal complaint brought against Chauvin details the events leading up to Floyd's death during his arrest on Monday for allegedly using a counterfeit $20 bill. 

It also lays out the charges that have finally been brought against Chauvin following four days of bubbling anger that the suspected murderer could walk free. 

It reveals that Floyd had stopped struggling under the grip of the officers for more than a minute before he then stopped speaking and breathing. 

It was then another two minutes later that Chauvin finally moved his knee from Floyd's neck.

At one point, when Floyd was still talking and breathing, one of the other officers suggested moving Floyd into a different position but Chauvin refused, telling them they were 'staying put', the complaint states.  

It also says that after Floyd passed out, one of the officers checked and found no pulse, but still none of the three officers holding him down - Chauvin, Lane and Kueng - moved from their positions pinning him to the floor - or began giving him medical assistance.  

The murder charge states that Chauvin caused Floyd's death 'by perpetrating an act eminently dangerous to others and evincing a depraved mind, without regard for human life'.   

Chauvin also faces a second degree manslaughter charge citing that his 'culpable negligence' led to Floyd's death.

He faces up to 35 years in prison if convicted - a 25 year maximum sentence for murder and a 10 year maximum sentence for manslaughter. 

Calls are now mounting for the other three officers to be charged. 

Washington DC: The protests have now reached the seat of the US government, with protesters marching to the White House, sending it into lockdown

Minneapolis: Chauvin's arrest came as Minneapolis faced its fourth day of intense protests over his death and more demonstrations broke out across the country

Protesters in Minneapolis taking to the streets chanting 'One down, three to go' and 'all four got to go' following the news. 

Minneapolis County District Attorney Mike Freeman said the investigation is ongoing involving the other three officers, saying, 'We felt it appropriate to focus on the most dangerous perpetrator.' 

Chauvin is being held in the Ramsey County jail, according to the Star Tribune. 

Authorities have yet to explain why he was booked in a jail located other than in the county where he was charged. 

According to the Tribune, he is also the first white officer in Minnesota to be criminally prosecuted in the death of a black civilian. 

He remains jailed with his first court appearance yet to be scheduled but has soght legal counsel with attorney, Tom Kelly, declined to comment about the allegations against his client. 

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2020-05-30 04:27:44Z
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