Public schools in Minneapolis, Minnesota, will shift to virtual learning ahead of the verdict in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former officer accused of killing George Floyd in late May 2020.
Minneapolis Public Schools will remain open on Monday and Tuesday, though the educational body will shift to virtual learning on Thursday and Friday, according to Fox 9, which cited a letter Superintendent Ed Graff wrote to parents. Middle schoolers in the area were set to arrive back to in-person instruction next week for the first time since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
After-school and before-school sports and activities have also been canceled.
The school system did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Washington Examiner.
Derek Chauvin, the former officer accused of killing Floyd, is on trial after he pleaded not guilty to charges of third-degree murder, second-degree murder, and manslaughter.
Closing arguments from both the prosecution and defense in the Chauvin case are scheduled for Monday, however, a jury verdict may not be announced for days. Minneapolis has been bracing for a new wave of unrest since the trial began.
Chauvin’s defense lawyer, Eric Nelson, has summoned a multitude of witnesses after he was allowed to begin his case following 11 days of testimony from the prosecution. He has posited that Floyd died from cardiac problems in conjunction with the hard drugs found in his system during an autopsy.
Dr. David Fowler, a former top Maryland medical examiner, testified on Wednesday that Floyd died from a “cardiac arrhythmia” and his death in Minneapolis police custody last year should have been classified as “undetermined” rather than homicide.
“In my opinion, Mr. Floyd had a sudden cardiac arrhythmia due to his atherosclerosis and hypertensive heart disease … during his restraint and subdual by the police,” Fowler said, adding that the presence of fentanyl and methamphetamine in addition to Floyd’s paraganglioma tumor contributed to his death.
Fowler added that there were a number of other factors, including possible carbon monoxide poisoning from being near a car exhaust and Floyd’s enlarged heart. He concluded that, due to the number of competing causes, his death should have been classified as “undetermined” rather than homicide. Floyd was 46 when he died.
The prosecution called on its own medical experts, such as Martin Tobin, a physician specializing in critical care of the lungs, who said last week that Floyd’s prone position in the street and pressure on his neck and back led to a pulseless electrical activity arrhythmia “that caused his heart to stop.”
“Mr. Floyd died from a low level of oxygen,” he said at the time. “The cause of the low level of oxygen was shallow breathing, small breaths, small, tidal volumes, shallow breaths that weren’t able to carry the air through his lungs down to the essential areas of the lungs that get oxygen into the blood and get rid of the carbon dioxide.”
Andrew Baker, the chief medical examiner in Hennepin County since 2004, who ruled Floyd’s death a homicide, said in testimony last week that the police restraint was “just more than Mr. Floyd could take” because of his heart conditions.
