A full autopsy of George Floyd, who died after being
handcuffed and restrained by Minneapolis police, has revealed that he had
tested positive for COVID-19.
The 20-page report, which was released by the Hennepin
County Medical Examiner’s Office, came with the family’s permission – and after
the coroner’s office released summary findings on Monday that Floyd had a heart
attack while being restrained by officers, and classified his May 25 death as a
homicide.
The report by Chief Medical Examiner Andrew Baker spelled
out clinical details, including that Floyd had tested positive for COVID-19 on
April 3 but appeared asymptomatic. The report also noted Floyd’s lungs appeared
healthy but he had some narrowing of arteries in the heart.
The county’s earlier summary report listed fentanyl
intoxication and recent methamphetamine use under “other significant
conditions” but not under “cause of death.”
The full report’s footnotes noted that signs of fentanyl
toxicity can include “severe respiratory depression” and seizures.
The revelations come as US President Donald Trump fought
back after his former Pentagon chief Jim Mattis issued a stinging condemnation
of his erstwhile boss, accusing the president of trying to “divide” America.
Mr Trump tweeted that he was “the world’s most overrated
General”.
“Probably the only thing Barack Obama & I have in
common is that we both had the honor of firing Jim Mattis, the world’s most
overrated General,” he tweeted.
“I asked for his letter of resignation, & felt great
about it. His nickname was “Chaos”, which I didn’t like, & changed to “Mad
Dog.”
In a second tweet, he went on to say: “His primary strength
was not military, but rather personal public relations.
“I gave him a new life, things to do, and battles to win,
but he seldom ‘brought home the bacon’.
“I didn’t like his ‘leadership’ style or much else about
him, and many others agree. Glad he is gone!”
Mr Trump’s tweets were triggered by a statement Mattis
wrote that was posted online by The Atlantic.
“Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who
does not try to unite the American people — does not even pretend to try,”
Mattis said.
“Instead, he tries to divide us,” continues the retired
Marine general, who had previously argued it would be inappropriate for him to
criticise a sitting president.
“We must reject any thinking of our cities as a
“battlespace” that our uniformed military is called upon to “dominate.”
FORMER DEFENCE SECRETARY GENERAL JIM "MAD DOG" MATTIS |
General Mattis – nicknamed “Mad Dog” served as Defence
Secretary from the beginning of the Trump administration until January 2019.
He was replaced by Mark Esper, who has also distanced
himself from the President’s threats to use the full force of the military to
quell street protests around the country, emphatically arguing against invoking
the two-centuries-old Insurrection Act, which would allow Mr Trump to use active-duty
troops in a law enforcement role.
The possibility of using the Insurrection Act, which has
not been invoked since the 1992 rioting in Los Angeles, had been discussed in
the White House but never explicitly proposed publicly by Mr Trump.
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