George Floyd died from lack of oxygen caused by police restraint, doctor testifies

A critical care doctor called as a prosecution witness in Derek Chauvin’s murder trial testified on Thursday that less oxygen state caused by being handcuffed face down in the street with the former Minneapolis police officer’s knee on his neck was the reason for George Floyd’s death. 

“Mr. Floyd died from a low level of oxygen,” said Martin Tobin, a doctor treating patients in a Chicago hospital’s intensive care unit. Dr. Martin told the jury that lack of oxygen caused Floyd’s death as the prosecution sought to undermine the argument by Chauvin’s defense that the 46-year-old Black man died of a drug overdose in the May 2020 arrest.

Chauvin has pleaded not guilty to murder and manslaughter charges. The viral video of the arrest on social media showed Chauvin pinning Floyd’s neck to the ground with his knees for more than nine minutes as Floyd begged for his life, repeatedly gasping: “I can’t breathe.”

Tobin testified that the way that Chauvin and other officers pushed Floyd into the street during the arrest was like putting the left side of his body “in a vice.”

Tobin appeared to validate the findings of the county medical examiner, who charged Floyd’s death as a homicide caused by police restraint.

Floyd’s death spurred protests against racism and police brutality in many cities across the United States and around the world. 

Tobin said that the way police restrained Floyd led to his heart stop beating due to less oxygen could be called asphyxia. 

“The cause of the low level of oxygen was shallow breathing,” Tobin said.

Tobin calculated that at times Chauvin exerted downward pressure on Floyd’s neck of 91.5 pounds (41.5 kg).

“The toe of his boot is no longer touching the ground, this means that all of his body weight is being directed down at Mr. Floyd’s neck,” testified Dr. Tobin. This visual presented during court says a lot. #DerekChauvin pic.twitter.com/D9xfAGim5V

— Omar Jimenez (@OmarJimenez) April 8, 2021

Tobin testified that Chauvin and another officer, Alex Kueng, manipulated the handcuffs to limit Floyd’s breathing. He discussed frames from the video that showed Floyd trying to push his chest up from the street with his fingers and his face as leverage as he struggled for breath. 

Chauvin along with three other officers were trying to arrest Floyd on suspicion of using a fake $20 bill to buy cigarettes at a food store.