"I called Dr. Baker early that morning to tell him about the case and to ask him if he would perform the autopsy on Mr. Floyd," said Sweasy under oath. "He called me later in the day on that Tuesday and he told me that there were no medical findings that showed any injury to the vital structures of Mr. Floyd's neck. There were no medical indications of asphyxia or strangulation," Sweasy added.
By day two, Baker knew the risks involved in telling the truth. Sweasy continued, "He said to me, 'Amy, what happens when the actual evidence doesn't match up with the public narrative that everyone's already decided on?' And then he said, 'This is the kind of case that ends careers.'" Although Sweasy knows very well why Baker altered his diagnosis, Carlson may not. This story bears retelling in the light of Sweasy's unwitting confirmation.
As I reported on these pages in August 2021, an exhibit surfaced in the case of Chauvin colleague Tou Thao that should have resulted in a new trial for Chauvin and the release of Thao and the other two arrested officers, Thomas Lane and Alexander Kueng.
The exhibit, a memorandum, was that powerful. It memorialized a November 2020 conference between Dr. Roger Mitchell, former Washington D.C. chief medical examiner, and several prosecutors. Sweasy was not among the prosecutors present. Nor was Freeman. All but one were from the attorney general's office.
This should not surprise. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, whose affiliation with the Nation of Islam cost him a shot at becoming DNC Chair, kept a heavy hand on the case. "The AG taking over the Chauvin cases was difficult," said Senior Assistant County Attorney Judith Cole in her deposition in the Sweasy suit, "particularly when we had a governor who kind of threw us under the bus."
The memorandum detailed Mitchell's effort to coerce Baker into including neck compression in his diagnosis of Floyd's death. As noted above, Baker conducted an autopsy on Floyd on May 26, 2020, the day after Floyd's death. Baker reported that same day to the Hennepin County prosecutors, "The autopsy revealed no physical evidence suggesting that Mr. Floyd died of asphyxiation. Mr. Floyd did not exhibit signs of petechiae, damage to his airways or thyroid, brain bleeding, bone injuries, or internal bruising."
Three days later — Friday, May 29 — the state filed its initial complaint against Derek Chauvin. According to the complaint, "The full report of the [medical examiner] is pending but the [medical examiner] has made the following preliminary findings. The autopsy revealed no physical findings that support a diagnosis of traumatic asphyxia or strangulation." Without a diagnosis of asphyxia, however, the state could not accuse Chauvin and the police officers of committing or abetting "Murder-2nd Degree." This is where Mitchell came into play.
A well-connected black political activist, Mitchell boasted of his involvement in Baker's diagnosis to the attorneys present. Their summary of that interaction reads in part:
When the preliminary result came out via the criminal complaint, Mitchell found the statement was bizarre. Mitchell was reading and said this is not right. So Mitchell called Baker and said first of all Baker should fire his public information officer. Then Mitchell asked what happened, because Mitchell didn't think it sounded like Baker's words. Baker said that he didn't think the neck compression played a part and that he didn't find petechiae. Mitchell said but you know you can not have petechiae and still have asphyxia and can still have neck compression.
Mitchell first called Baker on Friday, May 29. He "thought about it more that weekend" and on Monday he called Baker telling him he was about to send an op-ed to the Washington Post critical of Baker's findings. "In this conversation," the memorandum continued, "Mitchell said, you don't want to be the medical examiner who tells everyone they didn't see what they saw. You don't want to be the smartest person in the room and be wrong."
By that Monday cities across America had gone up in flames, none more ferociously than Minneapolis. The ever thoughtful Mitchell showed Baker a way out of the jam. According to the memorandum, "[Mitchell] said there was a way to articulate the cause and manner of death that ensures you are telling the truth about what you are observing on the body and via all of the investigation. Mitchell said neck compression has to be in the diagnosis."
Late on that same Monday, Baker's office sent out a press release that began, "Cause of death: Cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression." (Italics added). With a stroke of the pen and the complicity of the prosecutors, Baker turned four innocent cops into murderers and justified the self-destructive social revolution that followed.
"There was extreme premium pressure, yes. The city was burning down," Sweasy's former colleague Patrick Lofton said in his deposition. He and Sweasy withdrew from the cases against Lane, Kueng, and Thao on June 3, 2020, just a week after Floyd's death. They did not believe the three officers should be criminally charged. "I can tell you that everyone that I associate with to any degree, professionally or personally, agreed with our decision," Lofton testified. He described the pressure on the prosecutors as "insane."
Lofton wrote his letter of withdrawal, he said, "because I have to sleep at night." He and Sweasy might have slept better had they gone public with what they knew, namely that Chauvin and his colleagues were being tried for a crime they did not commit.
How did Floyd die? I asked my consultant on this case, John Dale Dunn, a veteran emergency physician and lawyer with expertise in matters of cause of death. Dunn is in a position to know. He wrote a chapter on forensic evidence for the American College of Legal Medicine. "Derrick Chauvin didn't kill Mr. Floyd," he told me. "His bad heart did." (READ More: The Semantic Burden of Speaking While White)
Dunn believes that Baker did an "assiduous and thorough autopsy." His findings, he argues, "did exonerate the police officers — there was no evidence of asphyxiation or strangulation, not any evidence of damage or compromise of the airway of breathing of Mr. Floyd from the prone restraint." In fact, Dunn made a video recreating the final minutes of Floyd's life. His conclusion, "The prone position restraint is not harmful or lethal."
There was, of course, evidence of methamphetamine and opiates in Floyd's system but not enough to kill. Floyd was a user. He had acclimated to fentanyl. There was compelling evidence, however, "that Mr. Floyd had three-vessel coronary artery disease of the heart" as well as an "enlarged heart from high blood pressure." The methamphetamine use increased the risk of Floyd having a sudden heartbeat regularity problem. "Mr. Floyd was upset and anxious," concludes Dunn. By resisting arrest, he set himself up for "sudden death from cardiac arrest, a sudden heart stoppage."
Chauvin Did Not Murder George Floyd - The American Spectator | USA News and Politics
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