Tobin was called to testify on Thursday,local time,as part of an effort by prosecutors to establish that it was Chauvin’s actions – not Floyd’s illegal drug use and underlying health conditions,as the defence contends – that killed the 46-year-old black man last May.
Tobin took direct aim at the defence theory,declaring:“A healthy person subjected to what Mr Floyd was subjected to would have died as a result of what he was subjected to.”
Chauvin kept his knee on Floyd’s neck for 3 minutes,2 seconds,after Floyd had “reached the point where there was not one ounce of oxygen left in the body,” Tobin said.
The witness cited several factors that he said had made it difficult for Floyd to breathe,beyond Chauvin’s knee on his neck:officers lifting up on his handcuffs,the hard street,his prone position,his turned head,and a knee on his back.
Tobin,analysing a graphic presentation of the three officers pinning Floyd for what prosecutors say was almost 9½ minutes,said Chauvin’s knee was “virtually on the neck for the vast majority of time”. He said it was “more than 90 per cent of the time in my calculations”.
He said it appeared that Floyd was getting enough oxygen for about the first five minutes to keep his brain alive because he was still speaking.