Chauvin’s trial day 5: Testimony of another Minneapolis police officer

Today, the trial continued with the testimony of another Minneapolis police officer, Lt. Richard Zimmerman.

Officer Lt. Richard Zimmerman said in court that kneeling on the neck of a suspect is potentially lethal and there is ‘absolutely’ an obligation to provide medical intervention as soon as necessary.

Zimmerman called Chauvin’s use of force on Floyd was totally unnecessary and holding him down to the ground face down and putting your knee on the neck for that amount of time.

“Once a person is handcuffed, you need to get them out of the prone position as soon as possible because it restricts their breathing,” said Zimmerman.

On Thursday, Sergeant Edwards was sent to Cup Foods to secure the crime scene and he secured the crime scene after George Floyd’s death.

A police supervisor told jurors that the officers who subdued George Floyd could have stopped restraining tactics once Floyd stopped resisting.

“When Floyd was no longer offering up any resistance to the officers, they could have ended their restraint,” he said.

Chauvin is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter.

Floyd died in police custody on May 25, 2020, after Chauvin pinned his knee against Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes.