Watch live as murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin continues
The murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin entered its seventh day on Tuesday, following an eventful day of witness testimony on Monday.
Several senior members of the Minneapolis police force testified against Mr Chauvin this week in a damning indictment of the former officer’s actions.
Under official police training, former Minneapolis police officer Chauvin should not have put his knee into George Floyd’s neck, and even if he did, he should have stopped once Mr Floyd stopped resisting arrest and eventually fell unconscious, they testified.
“Once Mr Floyd had stopped resisting, and certainly once he was in distress and trying to verbalise that, that should have stopped,” Minneapolis police chief Medaria Arradondo told the court on Monday.
On Tuesday, a Los Angeles police department use of force expert agreed.
“My opinion was that the force was excessive,” Jody Stiger, a use of force expert from the Los Angeles Police Department, said in testimony.
Mr Stiger noted that officers initially had grounds to use force on Mr Floyd, since he was “actively resisting” arrest and flailing as officers tried to get him into a squad car.
“Initially when Mr Floyd was being put in the backseat of the vehicle, he was actively resisting the officers,” Mr Stiger testified. “However, once he was placed in the prone position on the ground, he slowly ceased his resistance and at that point the ex-officers, they should have slowed down or stopped their force as well,” he continued.
Read more:
- Who are the leading prosecution and defence attorneys in Derek Chauvin trial?
- Derek Chauvin: Will he take the stand and what is he charged with?
- Who is Derek Chauvin, the officer charged with murdering George Floyd?
- ‘I thought he was dead’: Paramedic describes responding to George Floyd scene
Check out The Independent’s live updates and analysis below.
