Minneapolis Police chief who fired Derek Chauvin testifies about proper police training in his trial
Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo testified in Derek Chauvin’s criminal trial on Monday about the importance of training, deescalation and respect as prosecutors sought to show Chauvin did not follow department policy.
After going through his own resume, Arradondo described the department’s training programs and the core value of treating everyone with “dignity and respect.” He said that officers are required to be familiar with policies, including de-escalation.
“The goal is to resolve the situation as safety as possible, so you want to always have de-escalation layered into those actions of use of force,” the chief said.
Last year, Arradondo fired Chauvin and three other officers involved in George Floyd’s death, which he said was “murder.”
“Mr. George Floyd’s tragic death was not due to a lack of training — the training was there. Chauvin knew what he was doing,” Arradondo said in a June 2020 statement.
The testimony comes as prosecutors began to shift their focus from what happened to Floyd to a closer analysis of what it means legally.
The first week of the trial in Minneapolis centered on a blow-by-blow breakdown of Floyd’s last day, including video from a bevy of cellphones, surveillance cameras and police body cameras; harrowing testimony from bystanders who watched Chauvin kneel on Floyd; descriptions from paramedics and police supervisors who responded to the scene; and Chauvin’s own statements about what happened.
With that groundwork established, the prosecution is expected to focus on proving Chauvin’s actions that day should be considered murder and manslaughter. That will require analysis from medical experts who will explain Floyd’s cause of death as well as testimony from police experts who will say that Chauvin used excessive and unnecessary force.
Some of that use of force analysis has already entered the trial. On Thursday, Chauvin’s direct supervisor said his use of force should have ended earlier.
“When Mr. Floyd was no longer offering up any resistance to the officers, they could have ended the restraint,” Sgt. David Pleoger said. “It would be reasonable to put a knee on someone’s neck until they were not resisting anymore, but it should stop when they are no longer combative.”
And on Friday, the Minneapolis Police Department’s top homicide detective testified that kneeling on Floyd’s neck after he had been handcuffed was “totally unnecessary,” saying that “if your knee is on someone’s neck — that could kill them.”
Chauvin, 45, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, third-degree murder and third-degree manslaughter.
Defense attorney Eric Nelson has argued that Floyd died of a drug overdose and other preexisting health issues, and that Chauvin’s actions were within his police training. Nelson has not indicated whether Chauvin will testify in his own defense.
Testimony in the trial began last Monday and is expected to last about a month.
Doctor says Floyd likely died of asphyxia
The Hennepin County Medical Center doctor who treated Floyd and declared him dead last May testified Monday that he believed Floyd likely died of asphyxia.
Dr. Bradford Langenfeld, an emergency medicine physician, said he treated Floyd for about 30 minutes on May 25, 2020, as hospital staff unsuccessfully tried to restart his heart. Based on what paramedics reported and on Floyd’s medical condition, Langenfeld said the “more likely possibility” of Floyd’s cardiac arrest was hypoxia, or lack of oxygen.
“Doctor, is there another name for death by oxygen deficiency?” prosecuting attorney Jerry Blackwell asked.
“Asphyxia is a commonly understood term,” Langenfeld responded.
On cross-examination, Langenfeld said that hypoxia can be caused by many things, including drugs such as fentanyl, methamphetamine or a combination of both.
Earlier Monday, Judge Peter Cahill spoke to jurors outside of the view of cameras about an allegation of juror misconduct. He ruled there was not been any misconduct and the jurors were credible.
Feelings of guilt and horror in first week of trial
Pain, trauma and regret spilled out from the Minneapolis courtroom last week as a series of bystanders and first-responders spoke about watching Floyd’s last breaths.
In opening statements, jurors heard for the first time that Chauvin actually knelt on Floyd for 9 minutes and 29 seconds — not the 8 minutes 46 seconds that had became a symbol and rallying cry of a worldwide protest movement against police brutality.
Blackwell said Chauvin knelt for 4 minutes and 45 seconds as Floyd cried out for help, 53 seconds as he flailed due to seizures, and 3 minutes and 51 seconds as Floyd was non-responsive. He only let up on Floyd’s neck when a paramedic motioned for him to get off.
The bystanders who watched the incident described feelings of horror and guilt on the stand. The teenager who took the widely known bystander video testified that she had lost sleep at night, wondering what she could have done differently.
“It’s been nights I’ve stayed up apologizing to George Floyd for not doing more and not physically interacting and not saving his life. But it’s not what I should have done, it’s what he should have done,” Darnella Frazier said, referring to Chauvin.
Frazier was walking with a 9-year-old girl to the Cup Foods convenience store at the time of the arrest.
“I was sad and kind of mad,” the girl testified. “Because it felt like he was stopping his breathing, and it was kind of like hurting him.”
An off-duty firefighter who came upon the scene said she tried to offer help, but the officers rebuffed her.
“I tried calm reasoning, I tried to be assertive, I pled and was desperate,” said Genevieve Hansen. “I was desperate to give help.”
Christopher Martin, the 19-year-old cashier who suspected Floyd had handed him a counterfeit $20 bill before the police were called, echoed the regret of other witnesses.
“If I would have just not taken the bill, this could have been avoided,” he said.
