Floyd crowd no ‘threat’
Expert discounts Chauvin fear
The crowd of people who watched in disbelief as Derek Chauvin pressed his knee on George Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes didn’t appear to pose a threat to officers at the scene, a use-of-force expert testified Wednesday during the excop’s Minneapolis murder trial.
Jody Stiger, a Los Angeles Police Department sergeant who has analyzed numerous records on the case, contradicted a defense argument that a hostile group of bystanders distracted police and prevented them from assessing Floyd’s condition last spring.
“There was some name-calling, yes, and some foul language, but that was the most of it,” Stiger said, adding he “did not perceive them as being a threat.”
Under cross-examination, defense lawyer Eric Nelson argued “a reasonable officer” dealing with a suspect in public could feel threatened if confronted by people pacing around the scene, yelling expletives and “watching you and watching you” — something several bystanders did while begging Chauvin to take his knee off Floyd’s neck last spring.
Stiger acknowledged that scenario could be perceived as a “potential threat,” but he doesn’t not believe that was the case on May 25.
“They were merely filming, and most of it was their concern for Mr. Floyd,” he told the jury.
The exchange came during the eighth day of witness testimony in the high-profile trial underway in the heavily fortified Hennepin County Courthouse.
Chauvin, the first of four ex-cops to face trial in Floyd’s death, is charged with murder and manslaughter in the Memorial Day incident that shocked the nation.
Nelson, who’s also trying to prove that Floyd’s illegal drug use contributed to his death, played a short clip from a police body-cam video for the jury, and suggested Floyd could be heard saying, “I ate too many drugs.”
Stiger said he could not make out what Floyd was saying in the short clip.
Another witness, Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension special agent James Reyerson, was shown the same video and initially agreed that Floyd seemed to be admitting he ate drugs.
Reyerson, the lead state investigator on the case, then watched a longer version of the video and said he actually heard Floyd say, “I ain’t do no drugs.”
An autopsy last year found that Floyd had methamphetamine and fentanyl in his system, but his cause of death was listed as “cardiopulmonary arrest” complicated by “restraint, and neck compression.”
Stiger, whose testimony began Tuesday, was hired by prosecutors to review thousands of documents and videos on the case.
Based on his analysis, he found Chauvin’s actions “excessive” and believes police “should have slowed down or stopped their force” once a handcuffed Floyd was placed facedown on the ground and stopped resisting.
“My opinion was that no force should’ve been used once he was in that position,” he told the court shortly after returning to the stand Wednesday morning.
Nelson also questioned whether Chauvin’s knee was actually on Floyd’s neck the entire nine minutes and 29 seconds. The attorney argued several images from police body-worn cameras appear to show his client’s knee resting on Floyd’s shoulder blade area, a position he said complies with department policy and training.
Stiger disagreed, telling Nelson that Chauvin’s knee in those images appeared to be “above” Floyd’s shoulder blades.
Pointing to a different piece of video during another part of his testimony, Stiger said the images showed Chauvin appearing to use a so-called “pain compliance” technique.
Chauvin did so by squeezing Floyd’s fingers and pulling his hand into the handcuffs — but did not appear to let up even after Floyd stopped resisting, the sergeant said.
“Then at that point it’s just pain,” Stiger told the jury.
The trial is expected to last about four weeks. If convicted on the top murder charge, Chauvin could be sentenced to up to 40 years in prison.