MINNEAPOLIS -- George Floyd, the black man whose death last week at the hands of police in Minneapolis prompted widespread protests in the U.S. and abroad, had tested positive for the coronavirus on April 3, according to a full autopsy released Wednesday night.
The autopsy provides several clinical details, including that Floyd appeared asymptomatic.
The 20-page report by the Hennepin County medical examiner's office was released with the family's permission late Wednesday.
On Monday, the coroner's office had released summary findings that Floyd's heart stopped while being restrained by officers, and classified his May 25 death as a homicide.
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The full autopsy report by Chief Medical Examiner Andrew Baker spelled out clinical details and noted that Floyd's lungs appeared healthy, but he had some narrowing of arteries in the heart.
Before releasing the full report, the examiner's office summarized in two public disclosures that Floyd died as a result of "cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression." It also listed "arteriosclerotic and hypertensive heart disease," as well as fentanyl intoxication and recent methamphetamine use as "other significant conditions."
The medical examiner appeared to back the conclusion that Floyd was not asphyxiated -- listing a host of injuries absent in this case, in particular petechiae, or pinpoint-size red spots caused by broken blood vessels that can sometimes be a sign of asphyxiation.
Also highlighted in the report was that the autopsy failed to find "life-threatening" injuries in Floyd's neck near his head, spine, chest, brain, skull or related to the larynx.
The autopsy also revealed:
• Blunt-force injuries on Floyd's face, shoulders, hands, arms and legs.
• Bruises on his wrists from the handcuffs.
• One rib was broken during cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
Earlier Wednesday, prosecutors charged Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis police officer accused of pressing his knee against Floyd's neck, with a more serious charge of second-degree murder. Also, for the first time prosecutors issued arrest warrants and leveled charges against three other officers who were present when the handcuffed Floyd was being held against the ground.
An updated criminal complaint against Chauvin says his actions were a "substantial causal factor in Mr. Floyd losing consciousness, constituting substantial bodily harm, and Mr. Floyd's death as well."
The unintentional-second-degree murder count carries a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison, compared with 25 years for third-degree murder.
"I believe the evidence available to us now supports the stronger charge of second-degree murder," Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said Wednesday afternoon. The complaints against the other officers accuse them of aiding and abetting Chauvin's actions and of manslaughter.
Widely seen bystander video showing Chauvin pressing his knee into Floyd's neck on May 25 has sparked protests nationwide and around the world against police brutality and discrimination.
CHARGES FILED
All four officers were fired, and Chauvin was initially charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. The three other officers involved were not immediately charged, spurring calls from protesters and Floyd's family for them to also face criminal charges.
The unintentional-second-degree murder charge alleges that Chauvin caused Floyd's death without intent while committing another felony offense, namely third-degree assault. For the other defendants -- Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao -- aiding and abetting is legally tantamount to committing the same acts as Chauvin, so they will face the same penalties if convicted.
"George Floyd mattered. He was loved, his family was important, his life had value, and we will seek justice for him and for you, and we will find it," Ellison said during a news conference.
Attorney Earl Gray, who represents Lane, told The Associated Press that he hadn't seen the complaint or talked with his client. He said Lane was not in custody. Before news of the upgraded charges, an attorney for Chauvin declined to comment, and attorneys for Thao and Kueng didn't respond to requests for comment.
Jail records show Kueng was in custody Wednesday afternoon. Authorities expected Lane and Thao to also be arrested. Chauvin has been in custody since last week.
The narratives in the other three complaints are almost identical to the one against Chauvin. The complaint against Lane notes that he asked about rolling Floyd on his side and wondered about delirium, but goes on to say: "Despite his comments, the defendant took no actions to assist Mr. Floyd, to change his position, or to reduce the force the officers were using against Mr. Floyd."
The complaint against Kueng says he was positioned between Chauvin and Lane, and could hear their comments. The complaint against Thao, who was seen in the bystander video standing near a crowd of bystanders, says Thao initially got a hobble restraint from the squad car, "but the officers decided not to use it and maintained their positions."
OFFICERS' PASTS
Personnel records released by the city show Chauvin served as a military policeman in the Army in the late 1990s. Since being hired as a police officer in 2001, he has been awarded two medals of valor: One for being part of a group of officers who opened fire on a stabbing suspect after the man pointed a shotgun at them in 2006, and one for apprehending another man in a domestic incident in 2008. In the latter incident, Chauvin broke down a bathroom door and shot the man in the stomach.
Chauvin was reprimanded in 2008 for pulling a woman out of her car in 2007, frisking her and placing her in his squad car after he stopped her for speeding 10 mph over the limit. His dashboard camera was not activated, and a report said he could have interviewed the woman while standing outside her car.
Lane, 37, and Kueng, 26, both joined the department in February 2019 and neither have any complaints in their files.
Lane previously worked as a correctional officer at the Hennepin County juvenile jail and as a probation officer at a residential treatment facility for adolescent boys.
Kueng was a 2018 graduate of the University of Minnesota where he worked part time on campus security. He also worked as a theft-prevention officer at Macy's in downtown Minneapolis while he was in college.
Thao, a native Hmong speaker, joined the police force as a part-time community service officer in 2008 and was promoted to police officer in 2009. He was laid off later that year because of budget cuts and was rehired in 2012.
Meanwhile, the Minneapolis Board of Education is terminating its longtime contract with the city's Police Department to provide security in school buildings.
"I firmly believe that it is completely unnatural to have police in schools," Kimberly Caprini, treasurer of the board, said during the discussion. She added that schools that have close relationships with their school resource officers who are police officers could continue them with after-school activities, "but not to the degree" that has existed for years.
Information for this article was contributed by Amy Forliti, Steve Karnowski, Scott Bauer, Todd Richmond, Bernard Condon and Michael Sisak of The Associated Press; by Valerie Strauss of The Washington Post; and by Paul Walsh of The Minneapolis Star Tribune.
CORRECTION: George Floyd, the black man who died May 25 when he was handcuffed and who pleaded for air as a white Minneapolis police officer pressed a knee on his neck, had tested positive for the coronavirus, but appeared asymptomatic, according to an autopsy report released by the Hennepin County medical examiner’s office. The report also said Floyd’s heart stopped while he was being restrained. An earlier version of this story incorrectly said that Floyd had covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, and that he had a heart attack while being restrained.
A Section on 06/04/2020