Minneapolis Police Chief Testifies in Chauvin Case

The trial of former police officer, Derek Chauvin continues this week and yesterday a key witness took the stand. Minneapolis police chief Medaria Arradondo fired Chauvin and three other officers the day after George Floyd’s death in May of last year. During his testimony yesterday, Arradondo said a Minneapolis police department policy dictates that officers must use tactics to de-escalate a situation whenever reasonable, in an effort to avoid or minimize the use of force. He said that Chauvin should have let Floyd up sooner and that the pressure on Floyd’s neck did not appear to be light to moderate, which is what’s called for under the department’s neck-restraint policy.
Arradondo also stated that Chauvin failed in his duty to render first aid before the ambulance arrived. He said quote “the officers knew what was happening, one intentionally caused it and the others failed to prevent it. This was murder. It wasn’t a lack of training.” The defense has argued that Chauvin did what he was trained to do and that Floyd’s use of illegal drugs and his underlying health conditions caused his death. The emergency room doctor who pronounced Floyd dead after trying to resuscitate him also testified yesterday and theorized at the time that Floyd’s heart most likely stopped because he didn’t get enough oxygen.