George Floyd had coronavirus a month before he was killed, his autopsy shows.
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office has released the full autopsy results following the 46-year-old’s death with permission from his family.
The report also details “blunt-force injuries” to Mr Floyd’s face, shoulders, hands, arms and legs, as well as bruises on his wrists from the handcuffs.
He died on May 25 while in police custody, with video then emerging showing a Minneapolis officer kneeling on his neck for eight minutes as he pleaded for his life.
The 20-page report detailed that Mr Floyd had tested positive for Covid-19 in April, but did not suggest it was a factor in his death.
The report does cite that a positive diagnosis for the potentially deadly disease “can persist for weeks after the onset and resolution.”
There is, however, a crucial difference in the examiner’s report to the private autopsy findings released by family Attorney Benjamin Crump on Monday.
The medical examiner does not believe Mr Floyd died from asphyxia – while the private autopsy focuses heavily on it, due to pressure on his neck and back.
Asphyxia is a condition arising when the body is deprived of oxygen, leading to suffocation.
The examiner puts the death down to “cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement sub-dual, restraint, and neck compression.”
The report also refers to “arteriosclerotic and hypertensive heart disease”, as well as fentanyl intoxication and recent methamphetamine use as “other significant conditions.”
Mr Chauvin now faces a second degree murder charge over the death of Mr Floyd after he was initially charged with the less serious third degree murder.
And three more United States police officers are to be charged aiding and abetting murder in relation to the incident, after they were caught on camera appearing to do nothing to stop Mr Floyd’s tragic death.
