Official Report Says 'No Sign of Strangling' in George Floyd's Death, Family Secures Independent Autopsy

The family of George Floyd has asked a former New York City chief medical examiner to conduct an independent autopsy on the deceased man, after a report from from local officials said there were “no physical findings that support a diagnosis of traumatic asphyxia or strangulation” in Floyd’s death.

The information from the preliminary autopsy, revealed in the official criminal complaint against Derek Chauvin–the former Minneapolis police officer who was captured on video kneeling on Floyd’s neck for over eight minutes, CNN reported on Friday.

The autopsy conducted by officials pointed to the combined effect of George Floyd being restrained by the police, “along with his underlying health conditions and any potential intoxicants in his system” as likely contributors to his death, but found nothing to support a diagnosis of strangulation.

From CNN:

Floyd had underlying health conditions, including coronary artery disease and hypertensive heart disease, the complaint said, citing a preliminary autopsy conducted by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner.

Chauvin had his knee on Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds in total, and 2 minutes and 53 seconds after Floyd was unresponsive, the complaint said.

Yesterday, the lawyer representing Floyd’s family announced that an independent autopsy would be conducted by a forensic pathologist secured by the family.

“We’re going to take custody back of George Floyd’s body, and we’re bringing in Dr. Michael Baden to perform an independent autopsy because we saw in the Eric Garner case and so many other cases where they have these people who work with the city come up with things that are such an illusion,” Crump said at a press conference on Friday, NY Daily News reported.

“We’re not going to rely on this DA or this city to tell us the truth,” Crump added. “We already saw the truth.”

The results of the independent autopsy will come out early next week, Dr. Baden reportedly told Fox News.