George Floyd Update: Independent Autopsy Rules Death A Homicide By Asphyxiation

An independent autopsy into George Floyd’s death revealed on Monday that he died by “asphyxiation from sustained pressure” and ruled it a homicide. This ruling contradicts the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s report that found “no physical findings” that Floyd died from “traumatic asphyxia or strangulation.”

“The evidence is consistent with mechanical asphyxia as the cause of death and homicide as the manner of death,” Dr. Allecia Wilson said. Wilson was asked by the family to oversee the second autopsy along with Dr. Michael Baden.

“He was in good health,” Baden added. “The compressive pressure of the neck and back are not seen at autopsy because the pressure has been released by the time the body comes to the medical examiner's office.”

Baden added that Floyd was not suffering from an unknown medical issue “that caused or contributed to his death.” This also conflicts with the original autopsy, which said a combination of underlying medical issues, hypertension, “intoxicants,” and being restrained all contributed to Floyd’s death.

Wilson did caution that because it’s a second autopsy, Floyd’s body is not in the original state it was in immediately after he died. The original pathologist also likely kept several items from the first autopsy, but was confident that these would not have changed their findings.

Floyd’s family and their attorney Ben Crump shared the findings during a press conference.

“The medics, based on the EMT report that we have in our possession, performed pulse checks several times finding none and delivered one shock by their monitor, but George's condition did not change,” Crump said. “They delivered him to the hospital, continued ventilation, but that last report was the patient was still pulseless.”

Crump said neither he nor the family was shocked by the findings, but they “are tragically disappointed in the preliminary autopsy findings. ... We hope that this does not create a false narrative for the reason George Floyd died. Attempts to avoid the hard truth will not stand.”

Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer arrested for Floyd’s death, has been charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.