“We do not exercise leg-neck restraints with officers on duty, and as far as I know, we have never done that,” Lieutenant Johnny Mercil said.
While neck restraints may be allowed in suspects who are actively resisting, this should not be done with the knee, and will not be granted to a suspect who is handcuffed and under control, he said. Officers are taught to use only violence that is proportionate to the threat.
“You want to use the least amount of power you need to achieve your goals,” Mercil said. “If you can use a lower level of power to achieve your goals, it’s safer and better for everyone involved.”
“It’s by no means a form or form through policy. It’s not part of our training, and it’s definitely not part of our ethics or our values,” Arradondo said.
Chauvin, 45, pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, third-degree murder and third-degree manslaughter. Defense attorney Eric Nelson did not indicate whether Chauvin would testify in his own defense.
The evidence in the trial began last Monday and is expected to last about a month.
Training coordinator emphasizes de-escalation
The Minneapolis Police Crisis Intervention Program Training Coordinator testified Tuesday about the importance of realizing when someone is in crisis and of aggravating the situation.
“Policy requires that when it is safe and feasible, we must de-escalate,” said sergeant. Ker Yang, who has been with the department for 24 years.
Officers are being trained in a critical decision-making model to address people in crisis who call on them to continually evaluate and reconsider what is needed in the situation, he said. In 2016, Chauvin followed a 40-hour course on crisis intervention training in which actors portrayed people in a crisis and officers had to scale down the situation, Yang testified.
In cross-examination, Yang said the crisis intervention model could potentially apply to the suspect as well as nearby observers. The training advises officers to be confident, stay calm, maintain space, speak slowly and softly and stare or avoid eye contact, he said.
Yang’s testimony comes after Arradondo and other officials criticized Chauvin’s actions. Arradondo on Monday said the knee-jerk violation of the policy on de-escalation, reasonable use of force and the requirement to provide assistance.
“That action is not de-escalation, and if we talk about the framework of our holiness of life and if we talk about the principles and values we have, the action goes against what we are talking about,” Arradondo said.
According to police inspector Katie Blackwell, who was in charge of the department’s training program last year, the use of force in Minneapolis was the use of one- or two-arm neck protections.
“I do not know what kind of improvised position it is,” she testified of Chauvin’s kneeling. “That’s not what we practice.”
Passenger in Floyd’s vehicle plans to plead fifth
Morries Hall, who was in the car with Floyd when police first confronted them last May, appeared in court via Zoom on Tuesday before the jury arrives to discuss his intention to plead the fifth if he is called to to testify at trial.
Both the prosecution and the defense called Hall as a witness. Nelson said he intended to question Hall about his interaction with Floyd that day, their alleged use of a counterfeit account, whether he gave Floyd drugs and his statements to police about Floyd’s behavior in the vehicle. .
Hall’s attorney, Adrienne Cousins, argued that he intended to use the Fifth Amendment’s right to self-incrimination, and she asked Judge Peter Cahill to discontinue his subpoena to testify. Cousins said she was concerned Hall’s testimony could be used as a drug or third-degree murder charge against him.
“This may allow Mr. Hall to incriminate himself in a future prosecution for third-degree murder,” Cousins told Cahill. He notes that the murder law can legally prosecute someone who has supplied drugs that lead to an overdose.
Judge Cahill said any questions about possible violations would not be allowed, yet he said he would be open to allowing specific questions about Floyd’s behavior in the vehicle that day. He asked Nelson to pose specific questions on the point, which will be passed on to Hall and his attorneys and discussed in a future trial.
Hall’s testimony could be the key to the defense, which claimed Floyd’s cause of death was a mixture of drug use and existing health issues.
Hall is currently in custody on unrelated charges of domestic abuse, domestic assault by strangulation and violation of a protective order.