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.
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.
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.