A report by the medical examiner’s office in Hennepin County, Minnesota, claims that George Floyd had a “fatal level” of fentanyl in his system when he died on May 25 while in police custody.
Dr. Andrew Baker, Hennepin County Chief Medical Examiner, said there was “no physical evidence,” according to court documents. The documents stated that Floyd’s level of fentanyl was “pretty high,” claiming that he had potentially fatal levels of the drug in his system.
A memo from the medical examiner’s office has stated that had “Mr. Floyd had been found dead in his home (or anywhere else) and there were no other contributing factors he would conclude that it was an overdose death.”
The memo also noted that additional tests were underway to complete the autopsy.
New report contradicts earlier information
The Armed Forces Medical Examiner has stated that George Floyd’s death was, in part, due to a homicide. This is supported by video footage of his arrest, which shows former police officer Derek Chauvin with his knee pressed down on Floyd’s neck before his death. (Related: Transcript shows that George Floyd was doped up on drugs, resisting arrest during police encounter.)
“His death was caused by the police subdual and restraint in the setting of severe hypertensive atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, and methamphetamine and fentanyl intoxication,” the Armed Forces Medical Examiner said.
Prior to the most recent release, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner had also concluded that the homicide was the primary cause of Floyd’s death.
New documents, released at the request of the attorneys of former police officer Tou Thao, paint a different picture.
One of the memorandums, filed on May 26 after a virtual meeting with Baker, claimed that Floyd’s autopsy revealed no physical evidence of asphyxiation. Baker, however, did admit that his investigation was incomplete, pending a toxicology report.
The other memorandum, filed on June 1 by the Attorney’s Office, indicated that Baker claimed that Floyd’s fentanyl level was “pretty high,” potentially at a “fatal level.”
However, reports by independent medical examiners hired by Floyd’s family that were released alongside the memorandums still list Floyd’s death as being caused by “traumatic asphyxia due to the compression of his neck and back during restraint by police.”
Drug use played a role in George Floyd’s death
The report from the Hennepin County Medical Examiner isn’t the first to point out Floyd’s fentanyl use and the role it may have played in his death.
Last week, the defense attorney representing Thomas Lane, one of the officers charged in the case, argued that these charges against his client should be dropped. Lawyer Earl Gray cited body camera footage of the arrest and alleged that Floyd had ingested drugs.
He specifically pointed to a “white spot on the left side of his tongue” that was apparently “two milligrams of fentanyl, a lethal dose.”
“All he had to do is sit in the police car, like every other defendant who is initially arrested. While attempting to avoid his arrest, all by himself, Mr. Floyd overdosed on Fentanyl,” wrote Gray in the motion. “Given his intoxication level, breathing would have been difficult at best. Mr. Floyd’s intentional failure to obey commands, coupled with his overdosing, contributed to his own death.”
On top of fentanyl intoxication, other factors, including other drugs, are also being pointed to as having played a role in Floyd’s death. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s office also lists arteriosclerotic and hypertensive heart disease as being contributing factors to Floyd’s death, alongside “recent methamphetamine use.”
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