Authorities in Minnesota said Monday that George Floyd’s death was a homicide that occurred while he was being restrained by law enforcement.
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner said an autopsy listed Floyd’s cause of death as a “cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression.” A spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for clarification.
The autopsy listed other "significant" conditions, including hypertensive heart disease, fentanyl intoxication and recent methamphetamine use, the medical examiner said in a news release.
The document’s release came hours after pathologists hired by Floyds’ family concluded that he died after blood and air flow was cut off to his brain, causing him to die by mechanical asphyxia.
That autopsy, conducted by Dr. Michael Baden, the former chief medical examiner of New York City, found that he had no underlying medical problems that caused or contributed to his death.
“He was in good health,” Baden said.
Derek Chauvin, a Minneapolis police officer, was arrested in Floyd’s May 25 death. Video footage showing Chauvin pressing his knee into Floyd’s neck for several minutes set off waves of sometimes violent protests that have rocked cities across the country.