George Floyd's death has been confirmed as a homicide after an independent autopsy found cop's knee on his neck caused asphyxia.
Bystander video showed Floyd pleading to be let up and repeatedly saying 'I can't breathe' as Chauvin pinned him to the ground for nearly nine minutes.
Two other officers applied pressure with their knees to Floyd's back while a fourth looked on.
Initial reports said he wasn't strangled but Dr. Michael Baden, who took part in the independent autopsy at the behest of Floyd's family, said that the two other officers' actions also caused Floyd to stop breathing.
'We can see after a little bit less than four minutes that Mr. Floyd is motionless, lifeless,' Baden said.
He countered the argument that if Floyd could speak then he could breathe, saying: Many police are under the impression that if you can talk, that means you're breathing. That is not true.
'I am talking right now in front of you and not taking a breath.'
Baden also refuted the idea that Floyd had coronary artery disease. In a comment in reference to his age group's susceptibility to coronavirus, the 85-year-old quipped: 'I wish I had the same coronary arteries that Mr. Floyd had.'
Baden has worked on several high-profile cases, including the 2014 death of Eric Garner, a black man who died after being placed in an unlawful chokehold by NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo in New York City.
Panteleo, whose actions were caught on video, wasn't criminally charged but was fired from the police force in 2019.
Baden also previously conducted an autopsy on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that suggested he may have been murdered, in addition to testifying at the OJ Simpson murder trial.
Floyd's family demands charges against all four officers involved
Antonio Romanucci and Ben Crump, the attorneys representing the Floyd family, said that all four officers at the scene should be facing charges, not just Chauvin.
Crump added the independent autopsy and video evidence make it clear that Floyd was dead while he was still lying on the street with police atop him.
'That ambulance was his hearse,' he said.
Crump and Romanucci called for Chauvin to be charged with first-degree murder following the independent autopsy, and also said the other three officers involved in the incident - J Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao - should be arrested as well, though they didn't specify on what charges.
'They knew that they were applying restraints that could or would cause death,' Romanucci said. 'They are criminally liable because they knew what they were doing could lead to death.
'Not only was the knee on George's neck a cause of his death, but so was the weight of the other two police officers on his back, who not only prevented blood flow into his brain but also air flow into his lungs.'
Floyd's family had disputed the county medical examiner's findings last week, calling notions he had any underlying health conditions 'an illusion'.
But the family is also seeking an end to the violent protests that have beset the United States to end.
'George died because he needed a breath, a breath of air,' Crump said Monday.
'I implore you all to join his family in taking a breath - taking a breath for justice, taking a breath for peace.'
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