Watch live as Derek Chauvin murder trial continues
The prosecution is expected to call more witnesses to testify in court on Thursday in the murder trial of Derek Chauvin, who is charged in the death of unarmed Black man George Floyd.
Several senior members of the Minneapolis police force have testified against Mr Chauvin this week in a damning indictment of the former officer’s actions, with police chief Medaria Arradondo telling the court on Monday that officer Chauvin should not have put his knee into Mr Floyd’s neck.
On Tuesday, Jody Stiger, a use of force expert from the Los Angeles Police Department, agreed, stating in testimony: “My opinion was that the force was excessive.”
Returning to court on Wednesday, Mr Stiger claimed that once Mr Floyd was on his stomach and in handcuffs, Mr Chauvin and other police officers should’ve used “no force.”
Mr Stiger said that Minneapolis police continued using “deadly” force on Mr Floyd last May for more than nine minutes, failing to meet the constitutional “objective reasonableness” standard that police must follow when interacting with suspects.
Read more:
- ‘No force’ should have been used on George Floyd, LAPD expert says
- Police training boss says Derek Chauvin used an ‘improvised’ neck hold
- Who are the leading prosecution and defence attorneys in Derek Chauvin trial?
- Who is Derek Chauvin, the officer charged with murdering George Floyd?
“My opinion was that no force should’ve been used once he was in that position,” Mr Stiger said on Wednesday morning.
“He was in the prone position. He was handcuffed. He was not attempting to evade. He was not attempting to resist. And the pressure that was being caused by the body weight could cause positional asphyxia, which could cause death,” he added.
The jury is set to reconvene at 9:15am CT (3:15 UK) on Thursday, as the prosecution is expected to call several more witnesses to testify.
Check out The Independent’s live updates and analysis below.
