George Floyd had Covid-19, autopsy report says

46-year-old ‘died of cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint and neck compression’, Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office says

Positive test for coronavirus confirmed Floyd had been infected with the pathogen since April 3

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George Floyd was found to have been infected with the coronavirus on April 3. Photo: AFP

Published: 2:13pm, 4 Jun 2020Updated: 12:03am, 5 Jun 2020

George Floyd, the black American man who died after being pinned to the ground by police officers in Minneapolis for almost nine minutes, tested positive for Covid-19, according to a coroner’s report.

The Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office in the Minnesota city said Floyd, 46, “died of cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint and neck compression” and ruled it a homicide.

Floyd’s death on May 25 sparked widespread protests against police violence and racial discrimination against black people in the United States.

The autopsy report, which was released with the permission of Floyd’s family, said that a postmortem nasal swab confirmed he was positive for coronavirus, though said he was found to have been infected on April 3.

Since a person can still test positive weeks after first contracting the coronavirus, the report said the postmortem test result likely reflected asymptomatic characteristics of the disease from a previous infection.

In video footage of Floyd’s arrest he can be heard repeatedly saying “I can’t breathe” as police officer Derek Chauvin presses his knee into his neck.