Politics
Medical expert who testified in Chauvin’s defense faces 17 YEARS worth of death reports probed after testimony at trial
THE MEDICAL expert for the defense in ex-cop Derek Chauvin’s murder trial is getting a checkup on his years of work.
Dr. David Fowler’s seventeen years’ worth of post mortem reports during his tenure as Maryland’s chief medical officer, are expected to be scrutinized after he testified that George Floyd didn’t die of asphyxia but rather a “sudden cardiac arrhythmia,” according to The Baltimore Sun.
Maryland’s former chief medical examiner Dr. David Fowler testified during ex-cop Derek Chauvin’s trial that carbon monoxide from the police unit may have contributed to George Floyd’s death[/caption]
“We agree that it is appropriate for independent experts to review reports issued by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) regarding deaths in custody,” a spokeswoman for Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh said in a statement to the Baltimore Sun.
The probe would take a close look at all “deaths in custody from 2003 to 2020” when Fowler was at the helm.
“We are already in conversations with the Governor’s Office about the need for such a review, and have offered to coordinate it,” the spokeswoman added.
Fowler’s testimony that car exhaust from the police cruiser “may have contributed” to Floyd’s demise stands at odds with his fellow medical professionals and the prosecution.
Convict Derek Chauvin was walked away from court after he was found guilty of murder and manslaughter charges for the killing of George Floyd[/caption]
400 medical examiners endorsed an open letter denouncing Dr. David Fowler’s opinion that exhaust fumes from the cops’ squad car contributed to George Floyd’s death[/caption]
It was proven at trial that Floyd died last year in Minneapolis because of asphyxia as a direct result of Chauvin’s knee restraint to the 46-year-old man’s neck.
The decision to look at Fowler’s past, came after an open letter signed by 400 doctors around the country ripped Fowler’s testimony in the Chauvin trial as “baseless” and “revealed obvious bias.”
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“We believe the unsubstantiated opinion that carbon monoxide exposure may have contributed to the death of George Floyd is far outside that standard and is grounds for an immediate investigation into the practices of the physician as well as the practice of the Maryland State Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) while under his leadership,” the letter read before demanding an inquiry, the Baltimore Sun confirmed.
Chauvin was found guilty on all counts of murder and manslaughter on Tuesday in the death of Floyd when he and fellow officers tried to make an arrest last May.
He’s set to be sentenced in June.
