George Floyd died of a low level of oxygen while being pinned on the ground with his hands cuffed behind him.
That's what the jury learned from the state's expert Dr. Martin Tobin – a lung and critical care specialist from Chicago – who is nationally known for his expertise on breathing.
Jurors listened intently to Dr. Tobin's testimony explaining how the lungs of a person suffering from a health ailment may be impacted while in a prone position and the result of fentanyl in George Floyd's system.
"The problem is if they have pneumonia, they have bad matching between the blood vessels going through the lungs and the air sacs. In people who have pneumonia, COVID, whatever, that matching is going to be very bad and that's what leads to the worst oxygenation in those patients," Dr. Tobin said. "The second reason why you know fentanyl is not causing the depression of his respiration, what you're seeing is that the increase in his carbon dioxide that is found in the emergency room is solely explained by what you expect to happen in somebody who doesn't have any ventilation given to him for nine minutes and 50 seconds.
Tomorrow, prosecutors are expected to call the Hennepin County Medical Examiner, Dr. Andrew Baker to talk about cause and manner of death.
