Top Kilkenny doctor gives crucial evidence in high-profile US trial
A Kilkenny doctor today gave crucial evidence in the trial of the policeman accused of kilkenny George Floyd.
Mr Floyd died while being restrained by the accused, police officer Derek Chauvin, in the US. Images of Mr Floyd’s harrowing death went viral online and sparked widespread unrest in cities across the US.
This evening Dr Martin J Tobin, an internationally renowned medical expert from Freshford, told the trial in Minneapolis that Mr Floyd “died from low levels of oxygen”.
Dr Tobin is Pulmonologist at the Loyola University Medical Centre in Chicago and one of the leading experts on acute respiratory failure, mechanical ventilation and the control of breathing. He told the trial that due to the position Mr Floyd was in while being restrained by the police officers it caused “shallow breathing”.
This was the cause of Mr Floyd’s death, Dr Tobin told the trial. He said: “Mr Floyd died from a low level of oxygen, and this caused damage to his brain that we see, and it also caused a P.E.A arrhythmia because his heart stopped.”
Dr Tobin said the position the officer had Mr Floyd in, and the pressure being exerted on him, limited the amount of air he would have been able to inhale. He said he did not believe George Floyd died a sudden death.
Minnesota Police officer Derek Chauvin is facing charges of murder, manslaughter and unintentional murder of George Floyd after kneeling on his neck for more than 12 minutes, while handcuffed and pressed against a footpath.
Three more officers, Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao are facing charges of aiding and abetting a murder.
George Floyd died on a street in Minnesota on May 25, 2020 after being removed from his car and restrained following a report he tried to pass off a forged $20 bill in a store.
