Fierce reaction to SA-trained doctor David Fowler testifying for the defence in Chauvin trial

Dr David Fowler, a SA-trained pathologist, has been testifying for the defence in the murder trial of fired Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin charged with killing George Floyd.

Fowler graduated from the University of Cape Town (UCT) in 1983 and is the former state of Maryland chief medical examiner.

Fowler reviewed Floyd's case for the defence and told the court on Wednesday he considered the cause of death to be undetermined. He said there were many factors that could have contributed to his death, including heart disease and exposure to vehicle exhaust fumes during his restraint by the police.

Chauvin kneeling on Floyd's neck was not a significant factor in his death, said Fowler.

Some Americans and South Africans have weighed in on Fowler's involvement in the case.

A tweet by author and CNN commentator Keith Boykin is what triggered the responses.

“Of all the forensic pathologists in the world, why did Derek Chauvin’s defence team pick a guy who graduated from the University of Cape Town in SA in 1983, when SA was still a racist apartheid regime?” Boykin tweeted on Wednesday.

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Broadcaster and journalist Redi Tlhabi said it was “significant” that Fowler, who emigrated to the US just as SA was “working hard to dismantle” apartheid, was involved in the murder trial of a white police officer who killed a black man.

Fowler and a lawsuit 

According to a report by Insider, Fowler's evidence in Floyd's trial is reminiscent of the cause of death given in the case of 19-year-old Anton Black, a black man who died in 2018 after being restrained and pinned to the ground by three white police officers and a white civilian.

A medical report he signed said the teenager's death was because of his heart issues and that it was an accident.

He is facing a lawsuit by the family, which accuses him of concealing evidence and protecting the officers.