The emergency room doctor who pronounced George Floyd dead said on Monday that when paramedics brought the 46-year-old black man to hospital on May 25, no one told him they suspected the ‘he had had a drug overdose or a heart attack.
Dr Bradford Wankhede Langenfeld, who was a senior resident at Hennepin County Medical Center at the time, told jurors how he attempted to resuscitate Floyd when he was brought to the emergency room after former Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin held her knee for over nine minutes. He said that although he was immediately told that Floyd had been “detained” by police at the time of the “medical emergency”, paramedics did not mention anything about a possible drug overdose.
“Any time a patient spends in cardiac arrest without immediate CPR dramatically decreases the chances of a good outcome,” Langenfeld told jurors in Hennepin County court, suggesting that officers at the scene should have provided care. medical. “About 10-15% decrease in survival for every minute without CPR.”
Langenfeld said Floyd’s heart was not beating “at a rate sufficient to sustain life” when brought in, prompting his team to perform several vital measurements, including chest compressions and artificial airways. , as they tried to revive him.
After about 30 minutes, however, they pronounced him dead. The doctor said hypoxia, or low oxygen levels, was the most likely cause of Floyd’s cardiac arrest based on information he had at the time of his death. He added that oxygen deficiency is commonly referred to as “asphyxiation”.
Langenfeld’s testimony comes after several current and former Minneapolis police officers criticized Chauvin’s decision to use the position of undue hardship, all insisting that it was “totally unnecessary” after Floyd stopped working. resist.
Chauvin, 45, is on trial for second and third degree murder as well as second degree manslaughter after holding his knee to Floyd’s neck during an arrest for a counterfeit bill. Three other officers – Tou Thao, Thomas K. Lane and J. Alexander Kueng – pleaded not guilty to aiding and abetting second degree murder while committing a felony, as well as aiding and abetting manslaughter second degree guilty with culpable negligence.
Eric Nelson, the defense attorney for the former cop, argued that Floyd’s death was the result of health and drug problems – and that his client was simply doing what he was trained to do. throughout his 19-year career ”.
But former Chauvin peers who were implicated in the aftermath of Floyd’s arrest disagreed with that assessment, saying they would never use the kind of force the cop did on May 25. 2020 – which was captured in a video shared around the world.
Prosecutors revealed Monday that three other MPD officials are expected to testify, including Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo and Inspector Lt. Katie Blackwell, who will insist officers are not trained to place police officers. knees on the necks of detainees. Sgt. Ker Yang will also testify to the MPD crisis response training given to all officers. Two use of force experts are also expected to testify against Chauvin’s actions on Monday.
On Friday, the senior Minneapolis Police Department officer Lt. Richard Zimmerman said officers were never trained to kneel on a person’s neck while handcuffed. Instead, officers are told to put people on their side or sit them down after handcuffing them.
“Totally unnecessary. First of all, pulling him to the ground face down and putting your knee on his neck during that time is just pointless, ”said Zimmerman, who has worked in the department since 1985, when asked about videos of the incident. “I saw no reason why the officers felt unsafe. And that’s how they should feel to be able to use that kind of force.
Sgt. David Pleoger, a former shift supervisor with the Minneapolis Police Department who received a call about Floyd’s arrest from an affected 911 dispatcher, also said Thursday that Chauvin’s use of force was gone. too far.
“When Mr. Floyd no longer offered any resistance to the officers, they could have ended the restraint,” Pleoger said.
Last week, several passers-by emotionally described to jurors how they repeatedly asked Chauvin to remove his knee and check Floyd’s pulse during the arrest. Among the group were a firefighter and EMT from Minneapolis on leave – who said they were ignored after offering to help on several occasions – as well as an MMA fighter who tried to explain that Chauvin’s choke cut off traffic. by Floyd. Several teenagers also testified how they begged the officers to stop when Floyd “gasped.”
When paramedics finally arrived at the scene, Chauvin must have been ordered to get off from Floyd. Prosecutors said when Floyd was loaded into the ambulance, he had no pulse.
The Hennepin County medical examiner concluded that Floyd died of cardiac arrest due to the neck restraint and compression, also noting that Floyd had heart disease and fentanyl in his system. An independent report commissioned by Floyd’s family, which will not be presented at trial, concluded that he died of strangulation from the pressure on his back and neck. Both reports determined that Floyd’s death was a homicide.
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