Derek Chauvin used “deadly force” on George Floyd before he died last May, a use of force expert told the former Minneapolis police officer’s murder trial on Wednesday.
Chauvin, 45, is charged with murder and manslaughter after kneeling on the unarmed black man’s neck for more than nine minutes. He denies the charges.
Sergeant Jody Stiger, a Los Angeles Police Department officer who has conducted 2,500 use-of-force reviews in his career, told the court: “The pressure . . . that was being caused by Chauvin’s bodyweight could cause positional asphyxia, which could cause death.”
Testifying on the eighth day of the trial, which is expected to last a month, Stiger said that the initial force used on Floyd was appropriate because he did not want to enter the squad car. After officers forced him to the ground, however, “they should have de-escalated the situation,” he said, adding that he believed Chauvin’s use of force was “excessive”.
Floyd’s death, which was caught on camera and followed accusations that he had used a counterfeit $20 bill in a shop, led to racial justice protests across America.
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Eric Nelson, Chauvin’s lawyer, is trying to build a case that Floyd died as a result of drug use and pre-existing health conditions and that the crowd that assembled drew the attention of officers away from Floyd.
On Wednesday, the defence claimed that Floyd could be heard saying “I ate too many drugs” in footage of the incident. Special Agent James Reyerson of the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension initially agreed, before retracting his statement, saying he believed Floyd had said, “I ain’t do no drugs”.
Stiger and Reyerson were the latest in a string of police officers testifying in Chauvin’s trial, following testimony from bystanders and Floyd’s girlfriend last week. On Tuesday the court heard that Chauvin had taken training courses in de-escalation techniques and appropriate use of force in 2016 and 2018.
Rodney Floyd said his brother’s dying words, played repeatedly in court, were replacing his memory of their last conversation, in which they reminisced about their mother. “When someone dies you cherish their last words, but my brother’s last words, oh, those words are suck in my head. Agonising,” he told journalists.
Chauvin faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted of the most serious charge, second-degree murder. The trial continues.