Testimony resumed Thursday in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the fired Minneapolis officer charged in the death of George Floyd. Dr. Martin Tobin, an expert who specializes in pulmonology and critical care, was the first witness called to the stand.
Tobin, a Chicago-based physician who is a renowned expert on pulmonology (medical issues involving the lungs and respiratory system), testified that Floyd died of a low level of oxygen. Tobin said Floyd's "shallow breaths weren't able to carry air through his lungs, down to the essential areas of the lungs that get oxygen into the blood and get rid of carbon dioxide."
Tobin testified Floyd's position was akin to being caught in a vise between the pressure from the officers atop him and the street below, interfering with his ability to expand his left lung. Tobin said the weight of Chauvin's knee on Floyd's neck compressed his airway, also compromising his breathing. (CBSN Minnesota)
I have been following this trial, reluctantly! Not because, I lack concern or conscience, but because, watching it on Cable, is so fucking frustrating, knowing that a man died, because he was suffocated and done so with all the evil and lack of concern and conscience by Derek Chauvin, and the seeming lack of remorse is, for me as overwhelming as the mere idea of committing the murder in the first place. Now it is the turn of the defense to tell us that addicts, drug users, those on the lower end of the economy, some who live their lives in neighborhoods of poverty and dread, and perhaps in a body of a color other than white; MIGHT have deserved to be treated as if BEING ALIVE was some kind of unearned gift!
I was not there, I only witnessed the video of those who filmed the torture of George Floyd’s final nine minutes. I am not a Police Officer, nor have I ever wanted to become one (My Dad was a Pittsburgh Police Cop, proud of HIS profession, but also leery that too many of his brethren forgot the professional part…and urged us to be whatever we wanted but NOT a Police Officer) and I had or have no idea what it is or would be like to face choices of life and death. HOWEVER, if in fact, as the Defense Attorneys for Derek Chauvin INSIST, THAT A KNEE TO THE NECK IS NOT BIG DEAL, then why not have one of them lie with his handcuffed face down on the courtroom floor, have a policeman the size of Derek Chauvin place a knee on his neck, set the stopwatch at nine minutes, and demonstrate, what a walk in the park that experience must have been! OR NOT!
