Competing autopsy reports?

Hennepin Medical Examiner classifies George Floyd's death as 'homicide'

During a news conference Monday afternoon, two doctors hired by the Floyd family to do a private autopsy said they believe he died of asphyxia, which happens when oxygen flow is cut off, causing the brain and other organs to stop working.

 

Hours later, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office issued its final public report, stating that Floyd died as a result of “cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression.” A spokesperson for the office, citing Minnesota laws, said they could not discuss that cause of death further.

The report noted that Floyd “experienced a cardiopulmonary arrest while being restrained by law enforcement officer(s).”

It also listed “arteriosclerotic and hypertensive heart disease,” as well as fentanyl intoxication and recent methamphetamine use as “other significant conditions.”

We've been through this before, where we learned that the term "homicide" in an autopsy was not necessarily the equivalent of murder. It simply means that the cause of death involved the actions of another person, rather than a suicide, natural causes, or something else. Nobody is denying that the officer is responsible, but calls for first degree murder at this point (because of the autopsy) make no legal or logical sense. First degree murder requires planning of the events and a motive to kill someone intentionally.

The state will charge him with third degree murder and manslaughter and hope for the best when it invariably goes to trial.

The autopsy bought and paid for by the Floyd family done on the fly is simply not as complete and likely less accurate than the one done over the course of several days by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner. I doubt anyone seriously believes that Examiners office would make up claims that he had medical conditions that seem fairly common and consistent with who the man was and what happened.

The alarming thing here, however, isn't the disagreement as to whether this was a perfectly healthy man or a man with preexisting conditions, or even whether he died of asphyxia or cardiopulmonary arrest. The main issue at hand is the intoxication at the time, and the finding of fentanyl and meth in the blood stream.

Further investigations have uncovered that the original call to the police was not because of of the fact that Floyd was attempting to pass a funny $20 bill, but that he was causing a disturbance in the store and was over the top intoxicated according to the store worker who made the complaint. The worker described Floyd to be at the point of being fall down drunk  (in fact he was high on fentanyl and meth but fall down drunk may be a similar look).

How this affects a possible trial or even if it does affect a trial is something we will have to see. But it certainly gives a good defense attorney some fodder to work with. A very large man, high as a kite, police called because of disturbing actions, resisting arrest to the point were a second unit needed to be called... is a very different narrative to a quiet man being harassed by the police because he tried to pass a counterfeit $20 bill.  It doesn't change the end result that Floyd is dead and the police officer is responsible, but it muddies the water a little bit.