Testifying in court Monday, Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo explained that former Officer Derek Chauvin didn’t follow police procedure when he knelt on George Floyd’s neck for over nine minutes.
“Once Mr. Floyd had stopped resisting — and certainly once he was in distress and trying to verbalize that — that should have stopped,” the chief said after explaining police department policy on the use of force compared to de-escalation tactics.
“There’s an initial reasonableness of trying to just get him under control in the first few seconds,” the chief went on, “but once there was no longer any resistance, and clearly when Mr. Floyd was no longer responsive and even 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, part of our training and is certainly not part of our ethics or values.”
There was a claim that Chauvin was using “moderate pressure” but the chief disputed that from his observation. “When I look at [the video] and when I look at the facial expression of Mr. Floyd, that does not appear in any way shape or form [to be] moderate pressure.”
“It is my firm belief that the one singular incident we will be judged forever on will be our use of force. While it is absolutely imperative that our officers go home at the end of their shift, we want to make sure our community members do too,” he also said.
See the testimony below: