Derek Chauvin violated department policies, and other key testimony from day 6 of his murder trial
On the sixth day of testimony in the trial of fired Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, jurors heard from department leadership about the training and policies employees pledge to abide by.
Chauvin, they said, was not following that guidance when he kneeled on George Floyd's neck for more than nine minutes.
Chauvin violated department policies for use of force and rendering medical aid during his interaction with Floyd, Chief Medaria Arradondo testified Monday.
Arradondo told the jury Chauvin should have stopped using a neck restraint — which may have initially been reasonable — on Floyd once he was no longer resisting.
The neck restraint used on Floyd was not something officers learn in training, either, Minneapolis Police Inspector Katie Marie Blackwell testified.
"I don't know what kind of improvised position that is," said Blackwell, who ran the department's training programs. "It is not what we train."
Monday kicked off the second week of testimony in Chauvin's trial on murder and manslaughter charges. Floyd died on May 25, 2020, after Chauvin kneeled on his neck while he was prone and handcuffed for more than nine minutes.
Aside from police leadership, the jury also heard Monday from the emergency room doctor who tried to resuscitate Floyd.
Police chief says Chauvin's use of force violated policy
Arradondo testified Monday that Chauvin violated the department's use of force policy on the day of George Floyd's death.
Department policy allows for neck restraints under specific circumstances, the chief said.
A "conscious neck restraint" —one that doesn't leave someone unconscious — is only acceptable when someone is actively resisting arrest, Arradondo said, and the officer must use "light to moderate" pressure.
An "unconscious neck restraint," which results in someone passing out, is limited to situations when an officer is in fear of great bodily harm, the chief said.
Arradondo "vehemently" disagreed that Chauvin carried out an appropriate use of force under those guidelines.
"There is an initial reasonableness, trying to just get him under control in the first few seconds," he said, but the use of force should have stopped when Floyd was no longer resisting — especially when he was motionless.
"To continue to apply that level of force to a person proned out, handcuffed behind their back, that in no way, shape, or form is anything that is by policy," the police chief said. "It's not part of our training. It's not part of our ethics or our values."
Arredondo also spent significant time walking the jury through the training officers in his department receive and how they assess when use of force is necessary.
When deciding how much force to use, he said officers are trained to consider the severity of a crime, a suspect's threat to safety, and whether they're resisting or trying to flee police.
"While it is absolutely imperative that our officers go home at the end of our shift, we want to make sure and ensure that our community members go home too and so the sanctity of life is absolutely vital ... that is the pillar for our use of force," the chief said.
Calling in a counterfeit bill wouldn't normally lead to an arrest
Arradondo told the jury that a call to respond to a suspect using a counterfeit bill, like the call that kicked off the police interaction with Floyd, wouldn't "typically" result in an arrest.
Police work in conjunction with the courts and jails to try and limit the people taken into custody to those who've committed a violent felony, he said, and "we can always charge via complaint and other things."
Police 'absolutely have a duty to render' emergency care
Arradondo said officers are trained in basic medical care and have a duty to use it during emergencies.
Most employees in the department know how to initiate care for issues involving airway, breathing, and circulation, he said.
"I mentioned that we are oftentimes going to be the first ones to respond to someone who needs medical attention and so we absolutely have a duty to render that aid," he said.
When paramedics arrived on the scene on May 25, Floyd didn't have a pulse and no officer had started emergency care, medics previously testified.
"I agree that the defendant violated our policy in terms of rendering aid," Arradondo said.
Doctor who pronounced Floyd dead said he thought it was due to oxygen loss
Dr. Bradford Langenfeld, the emergency department doctor who treated George Floyd, testified that his leading theory for the cause of death was asphyxia, or loss of oxygen.
When Floyd came in, he was "pulseless" and Langenfeld and the medical team worked to resuscitate him without success.
Langenfeld said paramedics who brought Floyd to the hospital didn't mention they suspected possible drug overdose or a heart attack.
Floyd was in cardiac arrest when he arrived at the hospital, but Langenfeld said that simply means his heart stopped beating and it could have happened for a number of reasons.
Chauvin's attorney, Eric Nelson, asked the doctor if he ever tried to use Narcan, the drug overdose reversal medication, on Floyd. Langenfeld said he had not.
Narcan "would provide no benefit" once a person is in cardiac arrest, he said.