This is day 13 of testimony at the trial of Derek Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer who was charged in the death of George Floyd.
The defense’s part of the trial will continue today.
If you just read here, a summary of what happened yesterday in court:
Retired Minneapolis Police Officer: The first witness of the defense was the retired Minneapolis police officer, Scott Creighton, who testified about an arrest involving George Floyd in 2019. The judge allowed the evidence “only for the limited purpose of indicating the consequences that the intake of opioids or not on the well-being of George Floyd. ‘
Body camera footage showed Floyd not obeying the officer’s instructions to place his hand on the dashboard of the car. In the video, you can hear Floyd say he does not want to be shot. Creighton testified that the situation ‘increased rapidly’.
Retired paramedic: The next witness was the retired paramedic Michelle Monseng who treated Floyd after he was arrested in 2019. She told the defense that Floyd told her he took an opioid every 20 minutes, “and then another when the officer came up.” She told attorney Eric Nelson that Floyd was upset and confused.
Monseng said during cross-examination that Floyd could walk, get up and be vigilant. She said he did not stop breathing and did not go into cardiac arrest.
George Floyd’s friend: Shawanda Hill was summoned by the defense to testify. She was in the back seat of the car with Floyd at Cup Foods. She testified that he was ‘happy, normal, talkative, alert’ when she saw him.
According to her, Floyd fell asleep while sitting in the car. Hill said she could wake him up, but then he nodded again. She said she was able to wake him up a second time when police approached the vehicle, saying he immediately grabbed the wheel and said, “Please, do not kill me! Do not shoot me!”
Minneapolis Park Police Officer: Peter Chang was on duty and responded to a call at Cup Foods to assist officers. He told the jury that bystanders on the sidewalk became “very aggressive” during the incident and that he was concerned about the safety of the officers.
The defense played body camera footage of Chang. This was shown by standing by Floyd’s car around the corner from the place where Floyd was arrested. During cross-examination, Chang testified that while he was at Floyd’s car, he could no longer see what was going on.
Minneapolis Police Medical Assistant Coach: The defense called Minneapolis police officer Nicole MacKenzie, who is the department’s medical support coordinator. She earlier testified as a witness for the prosecution.
She said one of the officers at the scene, Thomas Lane, was trained to detect a condition called ‘excited delirium’. During cross-examination, she testified that officers were told to roll suspects to their side because the condition could impair breathing.
Stomach use experts: Barry Brodd, a former police officer and violent expert, was the last witness of the day. He testified that Chauvin’s actions were ‘justified’ and that they were not the use of deadly force.
Brodd is being held by attorney Eric Nelson. He paid for his work on the case, he testified.
On Monday, prosecutors testified that Chauvin’s actions were deadly and unreasonable.
Brodd said during cross-examination that Chauvin would have known that Floyd did not respond and did not resist. He said he heard another officer say that Floyd did not have a pulse while Chauvin was on top of him. Brodd also testified that the use of force could pinch a suspect in a light position, after testifying earlier that this was not the case.
Watch the replay of HLN Mike Galanos from day 12: