Footage of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer on trial on charges of murder and manslaughter in the death of George Floyd, does not show him with his left hand in his pocket as he kneels on Floyd’s neck. Contrary to what is claimed on social media, Chauvin wears dark gloves that match the color of his pants.
The claim was recycled on social media during the murder trial of the former policeman, which came almost a year after Chauvin, who is white, pushed his knee into the neck of Floyd, a 46-year-old black man who was handcuffed and tends to lie more than nine minutes outside the grocery store in Minneapolis (here).
Floyd’s dying pleas for help were captured on video of bystanders being widely viewed, sparking one of the largest protest movements ever seen in the United States (here).
The extensive video footage of Floyd’s death from various angles has become a central part of the prosecutor’s case. Jurors watched for hours and again watched the videos played in the courtroom (here).
The image shared in the reports is a screenshot of a video of the scene filmed by Darnella Frazier, who saw Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck and sharing the footage on Facebook (here).
The caption on one report says: “Derek Chauvin’s defense wants the jury to believe it was necessary to stay on his neck because he’s afraid of what the crowd is going to do. Is he concerned about imminent violence from the crowd with his hand his pocket for you? ”(here).
Other posts claiming that Chauvin’s hand was in his pocket are seen here, here and here.
Although Chauvin’s hand in his pocket appears from video stills, the full footage shows otherwise: Chauvin wears dark gloves, which instantly match the color of his pants. By adjusting the exposure to the silences, Reuters found that Chauvin’s hand, with his fingers inward, was on his thigh.
Reuters Fact Check also re-examined Frazier’s video and found that at no point during the footage did Chauvin have his hand in his pocket.
VERDICT
Untrue. In photos of Darnella Frazier’s video of George Floyd’s arrest and death, Derek Chauvin does not have his hand in his pocket.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here.