Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
George Floyd died of asphyxia, independent autopsy shows.
MINNEAPOLIS — An autopsy commissioned for George Floyd’s family found he died of asphyxiation due to neck and back compression when a Minneapolis police officer held his knee on Floyd’s neck until he stopped breathing, ignoring his cries of distress, the family’s attorneys said Monday.
The autopsy by a doctor who also examined Eric Garner’s body found the compression cut off blood to Floyd’s brain, and that the pressure of other officers’ knees on his back made it impossible for him to breathe, attorney Ben Crump said. He called for the third-degree murder charge against former Officer Derek Chauvin to be upgraded to first-degree murder and for three other officers to be charged.
The family’s autopsy differs from the official autopsy as described in a criminal complaint against the officer. That autopsy included the effects of being restrained, along with underlying health issues and potential intoxicants in Floyd’s system, but also said it found nothing “to support a diagnosis of traumatic asphyxia or strangulation.”
The family’s autopsy found no evidence of heart disease and concluded he had been healthy.
“Make no mistake about it,” said Antonio Romanucci, one of the attorneys representing the family. “This case is about the Minneapolis Police Department and Derek Chauvin and the shameless standby police officers who were on scene, who had every opportunity to stop and prevent a senseless death.”
Romanucci, a Chicagobased attorney, has handled several high-profile police brutality cases in recent years. In 2017, he won the largest civil award for a police misconduct case in Illinois history after a federal jury found that the Chicago Police Department enable the bad behavior of a rogue police officer and gave his victim $44 million for the catastrophic head wound he suffered.
At Monday’s news conference, Romanucci described the Minneapolis Police Department much like he has CPD, accusing the agency of endangering the public by failing to train and discipline troubled cops.
“What this actually was, was the weight of the Minneapolis Police Department on George’s neck,” he said.
Floyd, a black man who was in handcuffs at the time, died after Chauvin, who is white, ignored bystander shouts to get off him and Floyd’s cries that he couldn’t breathe. His death, captured on citizen video, sparked days of protests in Minneapolis that have spread to cities around the country.
The official autopsy last week provided no other details about intoxicants, and toxicology results can take weeks. In the 911 call that drew police, the caller described the man suspected of paying with counterfeit money as “awfully drunk and he’s not in control of himself.”
The family’s autopsy was conducted by Michael
Baden and Allecia Wilson. Baden is the former chief medical examiner of New York City, who was hired to conduct an autopsy of Garner, a black man who died in 2014 after New York police placed him in a chokehold and he pleaded that he could not breathe.
Chauvin, who was also charged with manslaughter, is being held in a state prison. The other three officers on scene, like Chauvin, were fired the day after the incident but have not been charged.
The head of the Minneapolis police union said in a letter to members that the officers were fired without due process and labor attorneys are fighting for their jobs. Lt. Bob Kroll, the union president, also criticized city leadership, saying a lack of support is to blame for the days of sometimes violent protests.
When asked to respond, Mayor Jacob Frey said: “For a man who complains so frequently about a lack of community trust and support for the police department, Bob Kroll remains shockingly indifferent to his role in undermining that trust and support.” Frey said Kroll’s opposition to reform and lack of empathy for the community has undermined trust in the police.
Gov. Tim Walz announced Sunday that Attorney General Keith Ellison would take the lead in any prosecutions in Floyd’s death.