The world changed on May 25, 2020. You’ve seen the video. It’s hard to forget those nine minutes and 29 seconds of footage captured on a cell phone outside Cup Foods in Minneapolis. But beyond the viral clips and the global protests, the courtroom battles centered on one technical, grueling question: how did George Floyd die? It wasn’t just a simple answer. It was a clash of medical examiners, toxicology reports, and physics.
He was 46. A father. A brother.
The incident started over a suspected counterfeit $20 bill. By the end of the evening, Floyd was pronounced dead at Hennepin County Medical Center. To understand the "how," we have to look past the headlines and into the gritty details of the trial testimony from experts like Dr. Martin Tobin and Dr. Andrew Baker.
The Physical Mechanics of the Restraint
Basically, the prosecution’s case leaned heavily on the concept of positional asphyxia. When Derek Chauvin pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck and back while Floyd was prone on the pavement, it created a "deadly vise." That’s how Dr. Martin Tobin, a world-renowned pulmonologist, described it.
He didn't just guess. He calculated the liters of oxygen.
Tobin explained to the jury that even a healthy person would have succumbed to that level of pressure. When you’re pinned against a hard surface with your hands cuffed behind your back, your ability to expand your chest is shot. Your lungs can’t take in enough air. Floyd was pressed between the knee above him and the pavement below him. It was a mechanical failure of the body.
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Think about it this way: Floyd’s breathing was shallow. He was using his fingers and his face to try and lift his chest off the ground just enough to get a gasp of air. You can see it in the video if you look closely at his knuckles against the tire of the squad car.
What the Autopsy Actually Said
There was a lot of confusion early on. Two different autopsies were performed, and they didn't use the exact same language, which led to a lot of internet rumors.
The official Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s report, led by Dr. Andrew Baker, classified the death as a homicide. The specific cause? "Cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression." That’s a mouthful. In plain English, it means his heart and lungs stopped because he was being restrained.
However, the defense jumped on the "other significant conditions" mentioned in the report.
Floyd had arteriosclerotic and hypertensive heart disease. He had fentanyl and methamphetamine in his system. He had a history of high blood pressure. These weren't the cause of death according to Baker, but they were factors that made Floyd’s body less able to handle the stress of the restraint. His heart was already working hard; the restraint pushed it over the edge.
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Addressing the Fentanyl Misconception
You've probably heard people argue that it was an overdose. This was the centerpiece of the defense's strategy. They pointed to the 11 nanograms per milliliter of fentanyl in his blood.
But here’s the thing.
Dr. Daniel Isenschmid, a forensic toxicologist, testified that while that amount could be fatal for a first-time user, it’s a different story for someone with a high tolerance. More importantly, the way Floyd died didn't look like a fentanyl overdose. Overdose victims usually get very sleepy; they drift off. They don't struggle for air and scream that they can't breathe for several minutes.
Medical experts noted that Floyd’s carbon dioxide levels were consistent with someone who couldn't breathe, not someone who had stopped trying to breathe because of drugs.
The Role of the "Blue Wall" and Expert Testimony
It wasn't just doctors talking.
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Even the Minneapolis Police Chief, Medaria Arradondo, took the stand. He was blunt. He said the restraint used on Floyd "absolutely" violated department policy. This was huge. Usually, police departments circle the wagons. Not this time. They argued that once Floyd was no longer resisting—and especially once he was unconscious—the force should have stopped.
The 17-year-old girl who filmed the video, Darnella Frazier, provided the most visceral evidence. Her footage allowed experts to sync the timing of the restraint with Floyd’s physiological responses.
- 0 to 4 minutes: Floyd is vocal, struggling, and conscious.
- 4 to 5 minutes: He becomes non-responsive.
- The remaining time: The knee remains in place even after officers are told he has no pulse.
Why the "How" Matters Today
Understanding how did George Floyd die isn't just a history lesson. It changed policing laws across the United States. Many states banned chokeholds and neck restraints specifically because of the medical findings in this case. It highlighted "duty to intervene" policies.
If we don't look at the medical reality—the pressure, the oxygen deprivation, the heart stress—we miss the point of the legal verdict. Derek Chauvin was convicted of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter. The jury decided that the restraint was the "substantial causal factor."
The medical consensus eventually landed here: George Floyd died from a lack of oxygen. The restraint caused the oxygen loss. The drugs and the heart condition were background noise that made him more vulnerable, but they weren't the trigger.
Next Steps for Deeper Understanding:
- Review the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) reports on police use of force to see how policies have shifted since 2020.
- Read the full Hennepin County Medical Examiner Autopsy Report (20-3700) to see the raw data for yourself rather than relying on social media snippets.
- Examine the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which seeks to address the tactical issues—like the prone restraint—that led to this tragedy.
The facts remain in the transcripts. The science of human breathing doesn't change based on politics. It was a failure of oxygen, caused by a failure of procedure.