INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Two high-powered doctors dueled on the witness stand during the final day of testimony in the trial to decide if Indianapolis police officers Adam Ahmad and Steven Sanchez are guilty of manslaughter in the death of Herman Whitfield III.

Dr. William Smock, who testified in the George Floyd murder trial for the prosecution, took the stand Thursday for the defense. Smock testified that Whitfield died because of the high amount of THC marijuana in his system when he died.

“It’s the deadly combination of THC,” Smock said.

He cited published medical articles that analyzed dozens of cases in which people’s hearts stopped because of a THC-induced cardiac arrhythmia. Whitfield’s enlarged heart was also a major contributing factor. “His heart is basically a time bomb ready to go off,” Smock said.

To counter those claims, the prosecution put a cardiologist, Dr. Alon Steinberg, on the stand. 

Steinberg testified that THC did not play a role in Whitfield’s death. “I’ve never seen a THC arrythmia in my 26-year career,” Steinberg said.

Whitfield “died of prone restraint cardiac arrest,” Steinberg said.

He said the officers not moving Whitfield from the prone position right away was also a contributing factor because they couldn’t see that he was not breathing and needed medical treatment. 

Also on Thursday, Ahmad took the stand to defend his decision to keep Whitfield in the prone position. “I don’t want us to have to fight him again,” the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officer told the jury. 

Ahmad said Whitfield shifting from agitated to completely calm and then to aggression played into his decision. “I absolutely do not want him to go back into that state without us being able to be in an appropriate position.”

The IMPD officer also testified that he never heard Whitfield say he could not breathe. 

Both sides have now rested their cases. Closing arguments will be first thing Friday morning. The fate of Ahmad and Sanchez will then be in the hands of the jury.