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Victoria Bekiempis

Chauvin trial: use-of-force defense witness says ‘I felt Derek Chauvin was justified’ – as it happened

Day 12 of Derek Chauvin trial testimony concludes

The 12th day of testimony in Derek Chauvin’s murder trial has ended.

Chauvin’s lawyer, Eric Nelson, started to call defense witnesses. They included police officers, emergency medical personnel, one of Floyd’s companions on the day of his arrest, and a use-of-force expert.

Chauvin is a white former officer for the Minneapolis police department. He is on trial facing charges of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter, in George Floyd’s death during an arrest on 25 May 2020. He pressed his knee against the neck of Floyd, who is Black, for more than nine minutes. Floyd, who was subdued, prone against the pavement, died.

Chauvin entered not guilty pleas to these charges.

Here are some notable moments from today’s proceedings:

  • Chauvin’s attorney called Barry Brodd to the stand. Brodd is a former police officer and longtime use-of-force expert. Nelson has argued that “reasonable” use-of-force shifts significantly depending on the specifics of a situation. He has maintained that the onlookers watching Floyd’s arrest were aggressive, and distracted officers. When Nelson asked Brodd whether he had an opinion about Chauvin’s behavior, Brodd stated: “I felt that Derek Chauvin was justified” and acted reasonably under “current standards of law enforcement.”
  • The prosecution worked hard to undermine Brodd’s claims about Chauvin’s use-of-force and potential dangers from the crowd. Brodd had actually claimed that “maintaining of the prone control, to me, is not a use-of-force” but said it “could” be a use-of-force it it caused pain. When the prosecution asked Brodd whether it’s “unlikely that orienting yourself on top of a person on the pavement, with both legs, is unlikely to produce pain”, he didn’t seem all that forthcoming. Instead, Brodd said it “could” cause pain.
  • Shawanda Hill, who was with Floyd in the car prior to his arrest, testified that he was alert when she saw him at Cup Foods, the shop where he was accused of using a counterfeit $20 bill. Hill stated that he began falling asleep when they got into the car. When she woke Floyd, he would fall asleep again. Nelson, who called Hill to testify, asked her these questions to establish that Floyd was had taken sleep-inducing opioids. Nelson’s defense is rooted in the premise that Floyd’s drug use and heart problems caused his death, not police restraint.
  • Hill’s testimony didn’t appear to help Nelson that much. She testified “He already told me in the store that he was tired because he had been working—”. Hill was cut off from continuing her statement, but her comment explaining Floyd’s fatigue was clearly audible. During cross-examination, Hill told prosecutors that Floyd didn’t show any signs of heart or breathing problems prior to his arrest.
  • Nelson called Minneapolis park police officer Peter Chang to testify. He asked Chang—who came to the arrest scene—about onlookers. Nelson tried to prove that this crowd presented a threat to police. Chang stated that the crowd “was becoming more loud and aggressive” and that he had safety concerns for the police.
  • Retired Minneapolis police officer Scott Creighton, Nelson’s first witness, arrested Floyd about two years ago. Nelson asked Creighton about Floyd’s demeanor during his arrest. Nelson tried establishing that Floyd was resisting officers’ orders during Creighton’s arrest. The prosecution asked Creighton questions that indicated Floyd was not suffering from any medical distress during this incident, even though he resisted.

That concludes our live coverage of the Chauvin trial for today. We will be back in the morning.

Kenosha police officer who shot Jacob Blake is back on the job

Around three months after it was announced that the officer who shot Jacob Blake in the back last summer would not face criminal charges, the police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, announced that the officer is back on the job.


Without mentioning Blake’s name or details of the shooting last year, beyond referring to a “use of force incident” the Kenosha Police Department put out a statement via Twitter this afternoon.


Blake said in January of this year that he feared becoming the “next George Floyd” if he had allowed himself to fall down last August when he was shot multiple times in the back and side next to his car after a confrontation with police.T he shooting has left him paralyzed from the waist down.

The police statement today on behalf of the chief, Daniel Miskinis, said that the incident “was investigated by an outside agency, has been reviewed by an independent expert as well a the Kenosha county district attorney.”

Officer Rusten Sheskey returned to work with the Kenosha PD on March 31.

”Officer Sheskey was found to have been acting within policy and will not be subjected to discipline,” the statement said, adding: “Although this incident has been reviewed at multiple levels, I know that some will not be pleased with the outcome however, given the facts, the only lawful and appropriate decision was made.”

Testimony from Barry Brodd, who took the stand for Derek Chauvin’s defense as a use-of-force expert, has come to an end.

Judge Peter Cahill has sent jurors home for the day, and lawyers on both sides are now discussing legal matters.

The Guardian’s Oliver Laughland is reporting from Minnesota on the death of Daunte Wright, who was killed by police during a traffic stop Sunday in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center. Wright’s death comes as the trial for Derek Chauvin nears a conclusion, heightening tensions in a city that’s on edge about its outcome.

Laughland writes:

As court broke for lunchtime recess, members of George Floyd’s family held a joint press conference with members of Wright’s family.

It was bitterly cold, with snow pounding the assembled group. Both Wright’s mother, his aunt, cousin and girlfriend addressed reporters along with two of George Floyd’s brothers.

Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who is now representing both families, spoke about the Wright case just as news broke that the Brooklyn Center police chief Tim Gannon and officer Kim Potter who shot and killed the unarmed 20 year-old had resigned. He expressed disbelief that the Wright shooting had occurred while the Chauvin trial was going on.

“It is unbelievable, something I cannot fathom, that in Minneapolis, Minnesota, a suburb ten miles from where the Chauvin trial regarding George Floyd was taking place that a police officer would shoot and kill another unarmed black man,” Crump said.

He continued: “If ever there was a time where nobody in America should be killed by police, it was during this pinnacle trial of Derek Chauvin. What I believe is one of the most impactful civil rights police excessive use of force cases in the history of America.”

Wright’s mother, Katie, told the story of how she had been on the phone to her son as he was apprehended by law enforcement. She spoke through tears and watched as his aunt lead the crowd in a now familiar chant.

“Say his name!,” she shouted.

“Daunte Wright”. The group replied.

The prosecution has pressed Barry Brodd, a defense expert witness on use-of-force, about whether the crowd surrounding George Floyd’s arrest constituted a threat to police officers.

Their line of questioning stems from the fact that Chauvin’s lawyer, Eric Nelson, has claimed the crowd was a distraction and potential threat to officers. Prosecutors are questioning Brodd about this because he has previously said a crowd could change the dynamics for officers, thus impacting what constitutes a “reasonable” use-of-force.

The prosecution is playing body camera video that shows a crowd gather, over time, as police subdue Floyd. In a video from the beginning of Floyd’s subdual, there are only a few people on the sidewalk.

Prosecutors, through their questioning, point out that there are a “handful of onlookers on the sidewalk”—not the street, not near police. They also point out that the initial crowd is comprised of an elderly man and two teenage girls.

“They don’t appear to be making any noise at all at this point,” the prosecution says.

“Not that I can hear, no,” Brodd says.

“And [they] certainly would not have distracted the defendant?”

“That I cannot say,” Brodd replies.

“Well, they’re not doing anything and they’re not saying anything,” the prosecution prods.

“I think they could have been aware of their presence, and started to plan for it.”

The prosecution plays another video of the crowd, when more observers have gathered on the sidewalk, some of whom are making statements about the arrest.

“Was this crowd a threatening crowd?”

“No,” Brodd concedes.

Updated

One of our correspondents in Minnesota, Amudalat Ajasa, has been on location today and yesterday in Brooklyn Center, the suburb of Minneapolis where Duante Wright, 20, was shot dead on Sunday by the police and where people outraged. She’s running around reporting for a forthcoming article, so for now your blogger brings you some of her reportage.

There has been a particularly raw sense of solidarity-in-tragedy in the area, given that Brooklyn Center is only around 15 miles from the junction in south Minneapolis, now known as George Floyd Square, where Floyd, 46, was killed last May by the police.

Outside the Cup Foods corner store where Floyd was pinned to the street by now-ex officer Derek Chauvin, who’s standing trial for murder, statements of support have been written for Duante Wright.

And the original Black power fist sculpture, made out of wood, that graced the intersection until it was replaced recently with a metal one, was quickly transported to Brooklyn Center and appeared at a vigil for Wright yesterday.

Protest has been constant since Sunday.

They’ve faced police in riot gear. Munitions were fired at protesters last night.

Protesters chant Wright’s name.

And here’s the moment yesterday when some activists outside the Brooklyn Center police and mayoral press conference heard the explanation that the officer Kim Potter, who has since resigned, had meant to draw her Taser to stun Wright but drew her gun by mistake and shot him dead.

Updated

The prosecution is now cross-examining Barry Brodd, a defense witness called to testify about use-of-force. One thing that Brodd has said earlier was that the prone restraint position isn’t inherently a use-of-force. Derek Chauvin kept his knee against George Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes when he was prone against the ground.

The prosecution’s questioning of Brodd has made him seem a bit inconsistent. They ask Brodd whether his opinion would change—whether he would consider the prone position a use of force—if it caused an arrestee pain.

“If the pain was inflicted through the prone control, I would say that is a use of force,” he says.

Prosecutors ask Brodd whether he thinks it’s “unlikely that orienting yourself on top of a person on the pavement, with both legs, is unlikely to produce pain?”

“It could,” Brodd says.

By pressing Brodd on his statement that the prone position doesn’t necessarily cause pain—which does not make much sense—he doesn’t come across as the most reliable witness.

It hasn’t taken long for Chauvin’s attorney to try casting George Floyd as unpredictable drug user whose behavior changed the playing field for appropriate use-of-force. Chauvin’s lawyer, Eric Nelson, has asked use-of-force expert Barry Brodd whether substance use can affect use-of-force requirements.

“It has quite a large impact, in my opinion,” Brodd replies. People on drugs might not “be hearing” what officers ask them to do.

“They may have erratic behavior. They don’t feel pain.”

“They may have superhuman strength,” he also says. “They may have an ability to go from compliant to extreme non-compliance in a heartbeat.”

Brodd also says that the prone position might be “safer” for an arrestee who’s handcuffed, because they can’t run off and injure themselves. It might also prevent an arrestee from choking on their own vomit, he claims.

Barry Brodd, a use of force expert testifies, for Derek Chauvin’s defense.
Barry Brodd, a use of force expert testifies, for Derek Chauvin’s defense. Photograph: AP

The kind of testimony Nelson is eliciting echoes his prior allusions to “excited delirium.” Earlier today, Nelson asked Minneapolis police medical support coordinator Nicole Mackenzie about “excited delirium.”

Nelson has also employed this phrase in his openings and has asked several other witnesses about it. In general, the “excited delirium” describes persons who become agitated or distressed after taking drugs or amid a mental health episode. With some cases, persons described as undergoing “excited delirium” are thought to have higher pain tolerance and intensified physical strength.

Nelson’s contention is that Floyd died from drug use and heart problems, not Chauvin’s actions during his arrest.

Updated

Eric Nelson, Chauvin’s attorney, has called Barry Brodd to testify; he is a former police officer and longtime use-of-force expert. In addition to claiming that Floyd died because of his heart problems and drug use, Nelson has argued that what’s considered “reasonable” use-of-force varies dramatically given the on-the-ground situation. So, it makes sense that he wants a use-of-force expert to say that Chauvin acted correctly.

Nelson has contended that the crowd surrounding Floyd’s arrest was aggressive and distracting to officers carrying out the arrest. When asked whether he had formed an opinion about Chauvin’s behavior, Brodd said “I felt that Derek Chauvin was justified” and acted reasonably according to “current standards of law enforcement.”

Notably, Brodd testified in the trial against Jason Van Dyke—a White Chicago police officer who fatally shot Laquan McDonald in 2014. Brodd, who testified for the defense in this case, said he thought Van Dyke’s actions were justified.

At a rather rushed press conference in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, the mayor of the small city, Mike Elliott, answered questions.

Moments ago, a member of the public, whose name we haven’t caught yet, asked Elliott what he was going to do about what the man said was a “long history of racial profiling” by police in the area.

“I’m going to tell you because I know, as a Black man,” the man said.

“When I watched the video [of Duante Wright being pulled over and shot by police on Sunday] it was triggering. What can you do going forward to make sure this racial profiling does not continue?”

The man added that the small city felt like a “sundown town”, a way of describing a historical term for a white supremacist community where it is made known that people of color are in danger after dark.

Updated

Brooklyn Center mayor calls for more community-based policing, names new acting chief

Brooklyn Center mayor Mike Elliott moments ago named police officer Tony Gruenig as the acting police chief of the small city on the outskirts of Minneapolis.

Brooklyn Center mayor Mike Elliott.
Brooklyn Center mayor Mike Elliott. Photograph: Kerem Yucel/AFP/Getty Images

This came after Elliott announced that police chief Tim Gannon had resigned.

There has been an upwelling of outrage that another young Black man has been killed by police during a seemingly minor traffic stop that escalated almost immediately as the police tried to handcuff Daunte Wright, 20, on Sunday afternoon.

Police officer Kim Potter, who is white, apparently reached for her Taser to stun Wright but drew her gun instead and shot him, he died shortly afterwards. Potter offered her resignation on Tuesday morning.

Elliott just said at the press conference that he thought there were 49 sworn officers serving in Brooklyn Center, which has a population of around 30,000. He only took over authority of the department yesterday after the city manager was fired.

Elliott said that as far as he knew, none of the serving officers actually live in Brooklyn Center.

“As of this moment I don’t believe even one of our officers live in Brooklyn Center, that’s something we are aware of,” Elliott said.

He added: “I do feel very strongly that you need officers to be from the community....there is a huge importance to having a significant number of our officers living in the community where they serve. It helps inform the culture of the department..and can only enhance the work of the officers.”

Daunte Wright’s mother, Katie Wright, just spoke at a press conference outside the court in downtown Minneapolis where former city police officer Derek Chauvin is standing trial for the murder of George Floyd.

Members of Wright’s and Floyd’s families, and local activists, attended the conference, led by civil right attorney Ben Crump.

Crump put his arm around Katie Wright as she sobbed, with snow falling on the crowd, and spoke of the last time she talked to her son, on the phone after he was shot on Sunday afternoon by police officer Kim Potter, about 10 miles away in the suburb of Brooklyn Center.

Daunte Wright, 20, had called her to tell her he’d been pulled over by the police. But she heard scuffling and he ended up shot dead.

“I never imagined this was what was going to happen,” she said, through tears.

Mike Elliott, the mayor of Brooklyn Center, the suburb of Minneapolis where Daunte Wright, was shot dead by the police on Sunday, is holding a press conference right now.

He took attendees at the meeting by surprise when he announced that the small city’s police chief had resigned.

The news had broken moments before that Kim Potter, the police officer who fired her gun at Wright and killed him on Sunday afternoon, had submitted her resignation a few hours before.

“I don’t know if she got wind of a termination,” Elliott said.

He had expressed the view the day before that she should not continue to serve. Overnight the Brooklyn Center city council had voted to recommend firing the police chief.

The city manager of Brooklyn Center had already been fired on Monday, a position that had had authority over the police department, and that authority transferred to the mayor.

Police chief and officer resign over fatal shooting of Daunte Wright

The police chief in Brooklyn Center, the suburb of Minneapolis, where 20-year-old Daunte Wright was shot dead by an officer on Sunday afternoon has resigned.

Tim Gannon, the chief, submitted his notice on Tuesday afternoon, the mayor of Brooklyn Center, Mike Elliott, announced moments ago. An acting chief has been named.

The veteran officer who shot Wright, Kim Potter, who had been a police officer for 26 years, also resigned on Tuesday.

Potter shot Wright during a traffic stop on Sunday, with Gannon announcing on Monday that she had mistakenly drawn her gun instead of her Taser stun gun.

Chauvin trial midday summary

The Derek Chauvin trial is now on a lunch break and is scheduled to return at 1:15 PM CT.

Chauvin, a white ex-officer for the Minneapolis police department, is being tried on charges of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter, in George Floyd’s death during an arrest last May. Chauvin pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes during this arrest.

Floyd, who is Black, died after being subdued prone against the pavement while Chauvin kept his knee against his neck. Chauvin previously pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Here are some major points from today’s proceedings so far:

  • Chauvin’s attorney, Eric Nelson, has started calling defense witnesses, which have included police officers, emergency medical personnel, and Floyd’s companion on the day of his arrest.
  • Shawanda Hill, who was in the car with Floyd prior to his arrest, said that he was alert when she ran into him at Cup Foods, the store where he was accused of using a counterfeit $20 bill. Hill said that Floyd started falling asleep when they entered the car. When Hill woke Floyd up, she said, he would doze off again. Nelson’s line of questioning was meant to establish that Floyd was under the influence of sleep-inducing opioids. Nelson contends that Floyd’s drug use and heart problems caused his death.
  • Hill’s testimony, however, didn’t seem all that great for Nelson. She said “He already told me in the store that he was tired because he had been working—” and while she was cut off, her statement explaining Floyd’s fatigue was audible. More, on cross-examination, she told prosecutors that Floyd wasn’t showing any signs of chest pain or shortness of breath.
  • Nelson also called Minneapolis park police officer Peter Chang to the stand. Nelson asked Chang—who responded to the scene—about the crowd. Nelson has attempted to prove that the crowd posed a threat. Chang said the crowd “was becoming more loud and aggressive” and that he had concern for the officers.
  • Nelson’s first witness, retired Minneapolis police officer Scott Creighton, arrested Floyd two years ago, and was asked about his demeanor during his arrest. He was trying to establish, through Creighton’s testimony, that Floyd was resisting officers’ orders. But the prosecutors asked Creighton questions that revealed Floyd was not undergoing medical distress during this arrest, even though he was resisting.

That’s all for now. Our live coverage will resume after lunch.

Nicole Mackenzie, Minneapolis police medical support coordinator, has completed her testimony, during which Chauvin’s lawyer, Eric Nelson, asked her about “excited delirium.” Nelson has argued that Floyd’s physical state caused his death, not the circumstances surrounding his arrest.

The court is now taking a lunch break and testimony will resume at 1:15 pm CT.

Chauvin’s lawyer, Eric Nelson, has re-called Minneapolis police medical support coordinator Nicole Mackenzie to testify; she was a witness in the prosecution’s case.

When Mackenzie testified for the prosecution, she said that police officers have a number of obligations to provide first aid and attempt to resuscitate a person who’s stopped breathing; Chauvin did none of these despite his training.

Nicole Mackenzie answers questions during the seventh day of Chauvin’s trial.
Nicole Mackenzie answers questions during the seventh day of Chauvin’s trial. Photograph: Reuters

During her testimony for the prosecution, she was asked: “Do you train officers that if a person can talk it means they can breathe?” Mackenzie said no. She said:“That would be incomplete to say...because somebody could be in respiratory distress and still able to verbalize it. Just because they are speaking does not mean they are breathing adequately.”

Nelson is now asking Mackenzie about “excited delirium.” He has used this phrased in his opening arguments and has asked several witnesses about it. As The Guardian’s Oliver Laughland has previously explained: “Broadly, the term has been used to describe individuals who become agitated or distressed after using drugs or during a mental health episode. In some instances, those described as experiencing ‘excited delirium’ are perceived to exhibit higher pain thresholds and unusual levels of strength”.

Nelson has argued that Floyd was under physical distress during his fatal arrest, to claim that his health problems, not police restraint, caused his death.

Testimony from Minneapolis park police officer Peter Chang, who arrived at the scene of Floyd’s arrest, has ended. The court is taking another quick break.

As Chauvin’s trial continues, tensions in Minneapolis are increasing still more following the death of Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, at the hands of police in a nearby suburb on Sunday.

Former president Barack Obama has issued a statement on Wright’ s death, saying on Twitter: “Our hearts are heavy over yet another shooting of a Black man, Daunte Wright, at the hands of police. It’s important to conduct a full and transparent investigation, but this is also a reminder of just how badly we need to reimagine policing and public safety in this country.”

Updated

Chauvin’s lawyer, Eric Nelson, has played Minneapolis park police officer Chang’s body-worn camera footage for the jury. Chang had responded to the scene of Floyd’s arrest.

One portion of the video shows Shawanda Hill and Morries Hall standing on the sidewalk across the street from Floyd; they were in the car with Floyd prior to his arrest.

“He’s making it more difficult,” Chang can be heard saying. At one point, Chang tells Hill and Hall that if they don’t have any warrants, they can leave when everything is “settled.” It appears that Hall gave the police a fake name.

Floyd’s companions are following Chang’s orders.

“Something happened…” one of them says at one point as the situation progresses. “Can I just see what y’all did to him?”

Toward the end of Chang’s video, they ask to get Floyd’s phone from the SUV.

“He’s already gone. He doesn’t need his phone. He went to the hospital,” Chang says.

Updated

Floyd was ‘very’ startled when police pointed gun at him, witness tells Chauvin jury

Things are moving very quickly. Shawanda Hill’s testimony has already ended. Chauvin’s lawyer, Eric Nelson, has tried to establish that Hill, who ran into Floyd in Cup Foods on 25 May, saw him behave in a way that indicated drug use. Remember: Floyd’s fatal interaction with police stemmed from store employees claiming he had used a counterfeit $20 bill.

Hill has testified that Floyd was “normal, talking, alert” in the store. When they got into the car, she recalls, he “suddenly fell asleep.” He was still asleep when Cup Foods employees approached their car.

Shawanda Hill, right, reacts near the spot where Floyd died while in custody of the Minneapolis Police, one day after his death.
Shawanda Hill, right, reacts near the spot where Floyd died while in custody of the Minneapolis Police, one day after his death. Photograph: Kerem Yucel/AFP/Getty Images

Hill says that she tried to wake him up. Floyd would, but he would “nod back off.

“He already told me in the store that he was tired because he had been working—” she tries explaining, before being cut off.

Nelson’s intent was clear—he wants to show that Floyd was tired and falling asleep, to indicate that he was under the influence of a sleep-inducing opioid.

On cross, though, prosecutors pressed Hill on Floyd’s general behavior. When asked if Floyd was “alert”, “friendly”, and “talking”, she responded in the affirmative.

“Did a little dance as he went out to the car?” the prosecution asks.

“Yes.”

Hill says that while he nodded off, she was able to wake him, although “he wasn’t that coherent at times.”

Her description of his reaction to the police when they approached conveyed alertness.

“The man had the gun at the window,” she says.

“So, he instantly grabbed the wheel and was like ‘please, please, please, don’t kill me...please don’t shoot me’”.

“Did he complain of shortness of breath at all?” the prosecution asks.

“No”.

“Did he complain of chest pains at all?”

“No.”

“Did he seem startled when the officer pulled a gun on him?”


“Very,” she says.

Now Minneapolis park police officer Peter Chang is on the stand. Nelson is asking Chang—who came to the scene—about the crowd. Nelson has tried to establish that the crowd posed a threat.

“I guess the crowd was becoming more loud and aggressive,” Chang says.

He also says he had concern for the officers.

Updated

Nelson has called his next witness for the defense, Shawanda Hill, who was in the car with Floyd on 25 May before his fatal interaction with police.

Moseng has completed her testimony, and the court is now on a quick break. Nelson will resume presenting his case when court returns.

What’s interesting here is watching Nelson’s defense strategy play out with seemingly mixed results. Nelson wants to establish that Floyd was high and agitated during the 2019 arrest. He wants to establish a pattern that Floyd has repeatedly engaged in behavior that is risky given his health conditions.

However, through cross examination of both witnesses, the prosecution seems to have established that Floyd was not suffering medical distress in a similar circumstance. That is, Floyd wasn’t reeling from acute cardiac issues during a stressful, intense arrest. So, this might well undermine Nelson’s premise.

Updated

Nelson, on direct, used his questions to try showing that Floyd was resistant to police commands in May 2019. Thoroughout the trial, Nelson has been trying to elicit testimony that will support his position that Floyd died from health problems, not the officers’ actions during the May 2020 arrest.

“I approached the vehicle on the passenger side. The passenger window was down. I start giving the individual that was in the passenger seat commands several times”, recalls Creighton, who is now retired, of the May 2019 arrest.

“The passenger was unresponsive and non-compliant to my commands”.

Creighton testifies that he had “to physically reach in... ‘cause I wanted to see his hands.” Floyd was removed from the vehicle and handcuffed.

“In my mind his behavior was very nervous, anxious”.

“Did you draw your service weapon?” Nelson asks.

“Yes, I did.”

Nelson introduces Creighton’s body-worn camera footage from that day. He says “I don’t plan on shooting you” and his service weapon is visible in the frame.

“Keep your hands where I can f----n’ see them!” Creighton says at one point while telling Floyd to put his hands on the dashboard.

“I’m not going to shoot you,” he also says.

This video does show Floyd resisting.

On cross, the prosecution asks Creighton questions to indicate that Floyd was not in medical stress during this arrest, in an effort to undermine Nelson’s health problem-oriented defense.

“Was he awake during this incident?” the prosecution asks.

“Yes.”

“Was he conscious?

“Yes,” Creighton says, later noting, “He was incoherent in my mind.”

Cahill told jurors that Creighton’s testimony was not about Floyd’s character.

With Creighton’s testimony completed, Nelson has called the defense’s next witness, Michelle Moseng. She is a retired Minneapolis paramedic who was called to assist Floyd following his May 2019 arrest.

“It was quite hard to assess him,” Moseng testifies. “He was upset and confused.” Nelson then asks her whether Floyd told her he had taken drugs.

“He told me that he had been taking multiple, like every 20 minutes, and it was, I don’t remember if it was oxy or Percocet, but it was opioid-based,” she says.

Updated

The Chauvin prosecution rests

“The state of Minnesota rests,” prosecutors have just told Cahill.

Nelson has called his first witness to the stand, Scott Creighton. According to The Washington Post’s Holly Bailey, Creighton is the Minneapolis police officer who arrested Floyd two years ago.

Cahill has decided that most of the video can be presented to jurors, but ordered that Nelson redact the portion where the officer looks up Floyd on his squad car computer.

Nelson is now removing that portion of the video. The jury will be brought into the courtroom at 930 CT.

The prosecution, Chauvin’s lawyer, and judge Peter Cahill have appeared in court and are now discussing the admissibility of body camera video from an officer on the scene. Jurors are not present for this discussion.

One issue prosecutors have with this video is that part of it shows the screen when an officer looks up Floyd’s name in the squad car. This reveals personal information about Floyd, they contend. They are not opposed to this segment being admitted if this information is obscured somehow.

Prosecutors are opposing a later portion of the video, claiming audio on there contains heresay statements. Nelson wants this admitted, saying it will show that the crowd surrounding Floyd’s death presented a distraction and a threat.

The Guardian’s Oliver Laughland is in Minnesota reporting on the police killing of Daunte Wright and protests that have followed. Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, was fatally shot during a traffic stop Sunday in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center. He was unarmed.

Wright’s death has heightened tensions across the area, which have run already high as Chauvin’s trial nears a close. Laughland reports that the second night of protests started hours after Brooklyn Center police released body camera video of the deadly incident on Monday.

The city’s police chief, Tim Gannon, claimed that this shooting was an “accidental discharge,” saying footage seemed to show an officer, 26-year force veteran Kim Potter, threatening to use her Taser before she opened fire. Gannon claimed that Wright was pulled over for an alleged traffic violation, and that he was shot following a brief scuffle with police on the scene.

Laughland writes:

Police have clashed with protesters for a second night in the suburbs of Minneapolis after the officer-involved death of 20-year-old Daunte Wright on Sunday.

Multiple law enforcement agencies swarmed the suburb of Brooklyn Center on Monday, deploying teargas, flash bangs and other non-lethal force to disperse hundreds of people who gathered outside the police headquarters.

The Minnesota governor, Tim Walz, issued a 7pm curfew in the wake of Sunday night’s unrest but the large crowd of protesters defied verbal orders by police to go home. Police fired volleys of teargas, smoke and pepper-balls, initially from behind a newly erected fortified fence, before advancing in formation and pushing the remaining protesters back.

Some protesters responded by launching fireworks towards police as drum beats pounded and people chanted Wright’s name.

Laughland also reports that Brooklyn Center’s mayor, Mike Elliot, called for Potter’s firing, and described the shooting as “deeply tragic.”

“We cannot afford to make mistakes that lead to the loss of life of other people,” he had said.

Elliott, the town’s first Black mayor, announced that the city council had voted to give his office “command authority” over their police department to “streamline things and establish chain of command and leadership”.

Late last night, Elliott stood alongside the Minnesota attorney general, Keith Ellison, in front of the protesters who remained after police dispersed crowds following curfew.

“I’m going to do everything I can in my power to make sure justice is done,” Elliott, dressed in a suit and wearing a protective helmet, said.

Proceedings to resume in Chauvin murder trial

Good morning, readers. Welcome to the Guardian’s coverage of the Derek Chauvin murder trial.

Trial proceedings will resume resume after 9 am CT this morning in Minneapolis. Chauvin’s trial is entering its 12th day of witness testimony.

Chauvin’s trial is taking place in the wake of another Minneapolis-region police killing—which has spurred two nights of protests and ramped up tensions in a community that has been on edge over the Chauvin trial’s conclusion.

A police officer in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, shot and killed Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, during a traffic stop Sunday afternoon.

Chauvin, a white officer formerly with the Minneapolis police department, is facing charges of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter, in George Floyd’s death during his May 2020 arrest. Chauvin pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes during this encounter.

Floyd, who is Black, died after being restrained prone on the ground while Chauvin kept his knee against his neck. Chauvin has pleaded not guilty plea to the charges.

Here are some key points from Monday’s proceedings:

  • Philonise Floyd, George Floyd’s brother, took the witness stand. Although Philonise’s testimony was brief, he emotively painted a portrait of George as a devoted family man who careed deeply for his siblings and family. “He would always make sure that we had our clothes for school,” Philonise testified. “He made sure that we all were going to be to school on time”.
  • One of the most gripping parts of Philonise’s testimony was his portrayal of George’s bond with their mother. “He was a big momma’s boy,” Philonise recounted. When their mother died three years ago, Philonise recalled, George “would just say ‘mama, mama,’ over and over again”. Philonise’s testimony was incredibly important for prosecutors. Chauvin’s defense repeatedly discussed up George’s drug use, but Philonise’s words stressed that George was a multidimensional person—someone “everybody loved”.
  • Dr Jonathan Rich testified about Floyd’s heart and cause-of-death, repeatedly saying that he would have lived had he not been subdued and restrained. “In this case, Mr George Floyd died from a cardiopulmonary arrest that was caused by low oxygen levels, and those low oxygen levels were induced by the prone restraint and positional asphyxiation that he was subjected to”, he recalled. “It was truly the prone restraint and positional restraints that led to his asphyxiation”.
  • Seth Stoughton, a law professor and expert on use-of-force, who had served as a police officer, repeatedly stated that Chauvin’s actions were not those of a “reasonable officer”. Stoughton stated: “The use of force had the foreseeable effect and substantial likelihood of resulting death” or bodily harm. He also testified: “Both the the knee across Mr Floyd’s neck, and the prone restraint, were unreasonable, excessive, and contrary to generally excepted police practices”.
  • Judge Peter Cahill announced that closing statements would likely begin on Monday, in six days. This news about the trial’s schedule initially emerged after Chauvin’s lawyer made an unsuccessful request to sequester jurors. He asked to do so because of protests surrounding Daunte Wright’s death. Cahill explained to jurors they can expect to be sequestered when closings start. “Expect that when you report for duty on Monday, that it will be followed by sequestration. So, pack a bag”, he remarked when court ended.

As for today’s proceedings, Cahill said yesterday that he will call Morries Hall, who was with Floyd during his deadly arrest, to the stand. Cahill wants to see whether Hall will invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. If Hall does so, it might mean that he doesn’t answer any questions.

Cahill also said that Chauvin’s lawyer is expected to start calling defense witnesses today.

That’s it for the time being. We will have updates on breaking news as they happen.

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