Dr. Jonathan Rich describing to the jury the function of the lungs during the 11th day of the trial of the former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.Credit...Court TV still image, via Associated Press
Dr. Jonathan Rich, a cardiologist called to testify in the trial of Derek Chauvin, said Monday that George Floyd’s heart was not the main cause of his death. He also ruled out a drug overdose.
“Mr. George Floyd died from a cardio pulmonary arrest. It was caused by low oxygen levels” induced by the position “he was subjected to.”
It was an observation that Dr. Rich repeated: that the way the police officers restrained Mr. Floyd led to his asphyxiation. “He was trying to get enough oxygen and because of the position that he was subjected to, the heart thus did not have enough oxygen,” he said.