Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin held his knee to George Floyd’s neck and carried most of his weight the entire time the Blackman was handcuffed behind his back, an expert on the use of force testified Wednesday.
Chauvin, 45, is facing charges of murder and manslaughter in connection with Floyd’s death in May 2020. Prosecutors allege that Chauvin kept his knee on Floyd’s neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds, despite the fact that Floyd was handcuffed , in the light position. Floyd was later pronounced dead.
Police at the time responded to a report that Floyd, 46, was trying to use a counterfeit $ 20 bill while buying cigarettes at a neighborhood store, Cup Foods. Chauvin and three other officers were fired after Floyd’s death.
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On Wednesday, Los Angeles Police Department Sgt. Jody Stiger testified as an expert witness on behalf of the prosecution. According to Stiger, Chauvin’s knee was on Floyd’s neck at the moment officers put Floyd on the ground until paramedics arrived.
“That particular force did not change during the entire control period?” prosecutor Steve Schleicher asked when he showed the jury a composite image of five photos taken from the various videos of the arrest.
“Right,” Stiger replied.
Stiger’s testimony comes a day after Chauvin’s lawyer Eric Nelson wanted to point out moments in the video recordings when Chauvin’s knee did not appear to be on Floyd’s neck.
A bystander video of Floyd crying that he could not breathe when bystanders shouted at Chauvin to get away from him caused protests and the spread of violence in the US and caused a scuffle over racism and police brutality.
Nelson argued that the now sacked White officer ‘did exactly what he was trained to do during his 19-year career’, and he suggested that the illegal drugs in Floyd’s system and his underlying health conditions were dead, not Chauvin’s knee.
Nelson grabbed the drug corner in Stiger’s cross-examination and played a snippet of then-officer J. Kueng’s body camera video, asking if Stiger could hear Floyd say, ‘I ate too much drugs.’
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Stiger replied that he could not make out the words in the footage. Prosecutors did not raise the issue when they questioned Stiger again.
Nelson also argued that the officers at the scene viewed the spectators as an increasingly hostile crowd and were distracted by them. The defense attorney got some police witnesses on Tuesday to admit that bystanders harming it could make it harder for officers to do their duty.
On Wednesday, Stiger told the jury: “I did not see them as a threat”, although some spectators used notable words. He added that most of the shouting was due to ‘their concern about Mr. Floyd ‘.
“I would describe a hostile crowd as a crowd or members of the crowd threatening and throwing bottles and stones at the police,” he said.
Nelson’s voice came up when he asked Stiger how a reasonable officer would be trained to see a crowd while dealing with a suspect, ‘and someone else is now walking around watching you, watching you and calling your names and sayings (expressions). ‘ Nelson said that “a reasonable officer can see this as a threat.”
In this image from the video, Defense Attorney Eric Nelson, left, and the accused, former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, listen to the right, while Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill presides over Chauvin’s trial on Tuesday, April 6, 2021. in Hennepin County Court in Minneapolis. Chauvin is charged in the death of George Floyd on May 25, 2020. (Court TV via AP, Pool)
“As a potential threat, correct,” Stiger said.
The lawyer also asked Stiger if the video shows Floyd lifting his head and sometimes moving.
“Slightly, yes. He tried,” Stiger replied.
In his cross-examination, Chauvin’s attorney also noted that shippers described Floyd as between 6 feet and 6 feet and possibly under the influence. Stiger agreed that it was reasonable for Chauvin to come to the scene with greater awareness.
Stiger further agreed with Nelson that an officer’s actions should be seen from the point of view of a reasonable officer at the scene, not afterwards.
The lawyer suggested that Chauvin Floyd should ‘relax’ as he tried to calm down and reassure him. And Nelson said that given typical EMS response times, it was reasonable for Chauvin to believe that paramedics would be there soon.
In this image from the video, witness Jody Stiger, a sergeant from the Los Angeles police, testified while Judge Peter Cahill of the Hennepin District presided over the trial of Derek Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer, in the Hennepin on Wednesday, April 7, 2021. County Courthouse in Minneapolis. (Court TV via AP, Pool)
Stiger also testified that Chauvin Floyd pressed his fingers in and pulled one of his wrists to his shackles. He said it appears that Chauvin uses the practice of ‘pain relief’, a technique used to cause pain and to get a person in the process of coping with it. When asked if he believes Floyd is trying to resist arrest, Stiger said, “No.”
But if someone does not get the chance to comply, “then it’s just pain,” Stiger said.
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Stiger said Chauvin apparently did not disappoint while Floyd was confined.
“During the control period, Mr. “Floyd did not resist – he was in the inclined position, he was handcuffed,” said Stiger. “He did not try to dodge, he did not try to resist, and the pressure caused by body weight can cause positional suffocation, which can cause death.”
Asked by prosecutors whether Chauvin had the obligation to take Floyd’s distress into account while considering the amount of force he should use, Stiger replied: “Absolutely. Over time, clearly in the video, you could “Mr Floyd’s health was deteriorating. His breathing was getting worse. His tone of voice was getting lower. His movements were starting to stop.”
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“So at that point, as a [sic] officer at the scene, you have the responsibility to realize that, “OK, something is not right, something has changed drastically from what happened before,” Stiger continued. So you have to take some kind of action. ‘
It was Stiger’s second day on the stand. On Tuesday, he testified that the power against Floyd was excessive. He said police were justified in using force while Floyd resisted their attempts to place him in a group car. But once Floyd was on the ground and stopped resisting, officers must have ‘slowed down or stopped’ as well.
Fox News’ Danielle Wallace contributed to this report, as did the Associated Press.