Keeping the knee on George Floyd's neck for nine minutes and 29 seconds was "totally unnecessary," said the most experienced officer in the Minneapolis Police Department, Lt. Richard Zimmerman, on Friday during the fifth day of the trial against him. Former police officer Derek Chauvin for the death of this black man during his arrest in May 2020.
Zimmerman, who has headed the homicide division for more than 12 years, testified that Chauvin's restraint maneuvers violated department policy, by pressing his weight onto Floyd's neck even when he was already handcuffed and face down, and complained of not being able to breathe.
Police are not trained to kneel on anyone's neck, the officer said of the actions of Chauvin, who faces three counts of murder, the most serious with a
sentence of up to 40 years in prison.
Chauvin was not a rookie officer.
He worked for the Minneapolis Police Department for 19 years before being fired in May 2020, the product of the fatal encounter with Floyd, which sparked international protests against police violence and systemic racism.
"Once the person is handcuffed, the threat level goes down completely," Zimmerman told the jury, "how can that person hurt you?" He asked.
And he stressed that keeping a person handcuffed and in a prone position "blocks their breathing."
In this video clip, Minneapolis Police Department chief homicide detective Richard Zimmerman testifies in Derek Chauvin's trial on April 2, 2021. AP
"So, in your opinion, should that maneuver have stopped once he was handcuffed and pushed to the ground?" Asked prosecutor Matthew Frank.
"Absolutely," responded Zimmerman, who said he receives training on the use of force annually, like all other officers, since he joined the city police force in 1985.
He also testified that officers have a duty to care for a person in distress, even if an ambulance has already been called.
However, officers continued to hold Floyd even after he stopped responding:
Chauvin remained kneeling on his neck, another policeman on his back, and a third held his feet until the ambulance arrived.
Earlier in the trial, paramedics who treated Floyd outside the Cup Foods store, where he tried to pay for a pack of cigarettes with a fake $ 20 bill, testified that they could never recover his pulse.
Chauvin's attorney, Eric Nelson, has maintained that Floyd's death was not caused by the knee in his neck, as prosecutors claim, but by a response to the drugs that were found in his body after the autopsy.
A paramedic who came after George Floyd's arrest says he was already dead when he arrived
April 1, 202100: 45
Also this Friday, a former Chauvin supervisor, Sergeant David Pleoger, who no longer works with the Minneapolis Police Department, testified.
Pleoger said the force must stop when the detainee is under police control.
His testimony focused on police protocols for the use of force.
Officers can use it in certain circumstances, he said, but that force must stop once the person is under control.
Pleoger testified that after seeing the images from Chauvin's body camera, he learned that his use of force must have ended sooner.
"When Floyd offered no more resistance to the officers, they could have finished the maneuver," he said, "it would be reasonable to put a knee on someone's neck until they are no longer resisting, but should stop when the person is no longer behaving combative ".
In previous days, a long list of witnesses and people close to Floyd has testified: from the teenager who recorded the viral video of the fatal incident with her cell phone, her ex-partner, the paramedics who came to the scene and several officers from the Police Department of Minneapolis.
With information from NBC News