Chauvin trial: Medical examiner who performed autopsy says police pressure was more than Floyd 'could take'

The Minneapolis chief medical examiner who conducted the autopsy on George Floyd’s body and deemed his death a homicide testified Friday in former officer Derek Chauvin’s trial that the way police held him down and compressed his neck "was just more than Mr. Floyd could take," given the condition of his heart.

Chauvin is accused of murder and manslaughter in the May 25th 2020 death of Floyd. The former officer, who has been fired from Minneapolis Police Department, is accused of pressing his knee on or close to Floyd’s neck for what prosecutors have said was 9 minutes and 29 seconds, while he was handcuffed and pinned to the pavement on his stomach. Police were arresting Floyd outside a neighborhood store, Cup Foods, for allegedly trying to use a counterfeit $20 bill to buy cigarettes. When questioned about his finding that police "subdual, restraint and neck compression" led to Floyd’s death, Baker said that Floyd had severe underlying heart disease and an enlarged heart that needed more oxygen than normal to function, as well as narrowing of two heart arteries.