Police lieutenant says kneeling on Floyd’s neck was excessive
MINNEAPOLIS — Kneeling on George Floyd’s neck while he was handcuffed and lying on his stomach was top-tier, deadly force and “totally unnecessary,” the head of the Minneapolis Police Department’s homicide division testified Friday.
“If your knee is on a person’s neck, that can kill him,” said Lt. Richard Zimmerman, adding that when a person is handcuffed behind their back, “your muscles are pulling back. … And if you’re laying on your chest, that’s constricting your breathing even more.”
Zimmerman, who said he is the most senior person on the police force, also testified at Derek Chauvin’s murder trial that once Floyd was handcuffed, he saw “no reason for why the officers felt they were in danger — if that’s what they felt — and that’s what they would have to feel to be able to use that kind of force.”
“So in your opinion, should that restraint have stopped once he was handcuffed and thrown on the ground?” prosecutor Matthew Frank asked.
“Absolutely,” replied Zimmerman, who said he has received use-of-force training annually — as all officers do — since joining the city force in 1985.
He also testified that officers have a duty to provide care for a person in distress, even if an ambulance has been called.
Officers kept restraining Floyd — with Chauvin kneeling on his neck, another kneeling on his back and a third holding his feet — until the ambulance arrived, even after he became unresponsive.
Under cross-examination, Chauvin attorney Eric Nelson peppered Zimmerman with questions about the use of force.
The defense has argued that Chauvin did what he was trained to do when he encountered Floyd last May and that Floyd’s death was caused not by the knee on his neck — as prosecutors contend — but by drugs, his underlying health conditions and adrenaline. An autopsy found fentanyl and methamphetamine in his system.
Chauvin is also heard on body camera footage defending his decision to an onlooker after Floyd was taken away by paramedics, saying: “We gotta control this guy ’cause he’s a sizable guy. … And it looks like he’s probably on something.”
Chauvin, 45 and white, is charged with killing Floyd by pinning his knee on the 46-year-old Black man’s neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds as he lay facedown in handcuffs. Floyd had been accused of passing a counterfeit $20 bill at a neighborhood market.
Zimmerman agreed with Nelson that a person who is handcuffed still can pose a threat and can continue to thrash around. And he agreed when Nelson asked if officers who believe they’re in a fight for their lives could use “whatever force is reasonable and necessary,” including by improvising.
“Did you see any need for Officer Chauvin to improvise by putting his knee on Mr. Floyd for 9 minutes and 29 seconds?” Frank later asked Zimmerman.
“No, I did not,” said Zimmerman.
Chauvin, who was fired, is charged with murder and manslaughter. The most serious charge against him carries up to 40 years in prison.