Toxicologist testifies that drugs did not kill George Floyd

By STEVE KARNOWSKI
Associated Press

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A toxicologist has testified that it wasn’t drug use, heart disease, nor an agitated state known as “excited delirium” that caused George Floyd’s death after he was pinned to the pavement by Minneapolis police. Dr. Vik Bebarta testified Wednesday at the federal trial for former Officers J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao. They’re charged with violating Floyd’s civil rights. Bebarta is an emergency physician and professor at the University of Colorado in suburban Denver. He bolstered the prosecution’s contention that Floyd died because of how Officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee on the Black man’s neck for 9 1/2 minutes. He also backed up other experts who have faulted the officers for failing to roll Floyd on his side.