Derek Chauvin trial:
Dr Andrew Baker told the court that the police pinning the 46-year-old Black man to the ground was “just more than Mr Floyd could take” by making it hard for him to breathe, causing stress hormones that worsened a heart condition and led to his death.
But the Hennepin county medical examiner did not support the evidence of other medical specialists who told the trial that Floyd was suffocated under Chauvin’s knee, on his neck for more than nine minutes as he was pinned to the ground by him and two other police officers.
“In my opinion, the law enforcement subdual, restraint and neck compression was just more than Mr Floyd could take, by virtue of those heart conditions,” he said.
Baker said that “the stress of that interaction tipped him over the edge” because Floyd had heart disease and used illicit drugs.
Baker classified the death as a homicide, which he said in a medical context meant that it resulted from the actions of a person or persons but did not imply any criminal action.
Dr Andrew Baker