I have read hundreds of autopsy reports from Hennepin Co medical examiners (including many positional asphyxias) and worked closely with them. They are excellent.

The language circulating is from a charging document’s *interpretation* of a *preliminary* autopsy report. 1/8

A comprehensive autopsy report lists *everything* about the body, including details that did not contribute to the death. It would be easy to cherrypick lines to be misleading. 2/8

charging document: “No physical findings that support a diagnosis of traumatic asphyxia or strangulation”

interpretation: doesn’t rule out positional asphyxia, the more likely cause of death, which doesn’t leave physical evidence. 3/8

charging doc: “potential intoxicants”

interpretation: full toxicology report pending lab results.

Charging doc: “underlying health conditions”

Interpretation: autopsy reports list all underlying health conditions, regardless of contribution to death. 4/8

Positional asphyxia as a cause of death is typically determined from death scene investigation, not autopsy.

A photo or even a description of a body‘s position would normally be enough to classify a death as positional asphyxia, once an autopsy rules out everything else. 5/8

The video of George Floyd’s death is more evidence than is typically available from a death scene investigation where positional asphyxia ends up as likely primary cause of death. 6/8

Anyone who restrains people as part of their job should know what positional asphyxia is, and how to prevent it. And how to recognize it happening in their presence.

(They might also know that it’s almost impossible to prove as a cause of death.) 7/8

Basically, if George Floyd’s death was caused by the Minneapolis police officer (obviously extremely likely), the most damning evidence is already public. Don’t expect much additional evidence from the autopsy, except to rule out other potential causes. 8/8