Floyd’s Health & Drug Problems Alone Would Be Reasonable Causes of Death
legalinsurrection.com
On cross-examination Baker was also specifically asked by Nelson if the prone position was inherently dangerous? His answer was that according to his understanding of medical literature, it was not.
Did it appear to Dr. Baker, based on autopsy, review of all videos, and every other piece of evidence made available to him, that Chauvin’s knee ever occluded Floyd’s carotid artery? It did not.
But even if it had, noted Baker, it would have done so to only the carotid artery on that side of the body, and the non-occluded artery would have continued to carry blood to the brain.
So much for the testimony of the state’s MMA expert bystander witness Williams who had testified under oath that a “blood choke” could be effectively applied by the knee to merely one side of the neck.
Would the placement of Chauvin’s knee have been able anatomically to cut off Floyd’s airway? It would not, answered Baker.
So how again, exactly, did Chauvin’s conduct kill Floyd?
Baker also testified that a factor in his consideration of cause of death was that Floyd had been given CPR and survived until he reached the hospital, only dying there. This testimony directly contradicts that of early state expert witnesses who testified that they could identify the precise moment of Floyd’s death as he lay prone on the street based on police body camera, surveillance, and bystander videos.
My take away from watching the entirety of the testimony of Thomas and Baker was that, like other earlier state expert witnesses, they’d said the magic words the state had called them to say, but then had their credibility and purported certainty profoundly gutted by the defense on cross examination.
