Excop said Floyd was big, ‘probably on something’

MINNEAPOLIS — After the ambulance took George Floyd away, the Minneapolis officer who had pinned his knee on the Black man’s neck defended himself to a bystander by saying Floyd was “a sizable guy” and “probably on something,” according to police video played in court Wednesday.

The video was part of a mountain of footage — both official and amateur — and witness testimony at Officer Derek Chauvin‘s murder trial that all together showed how Floyd’s alleged attempt to pass a phony $20 bill at a neighborhood market last May escalated into tragedy one videodocumented step at a time.

A securitycamera scene of people joking around inside the store soon gave way to the sight of officers pulling Floyd from his SUV at gunpoint, struggling to push him into a squad car as he writhed and complained of being claustrophobic, and then putting him on the pavement.

When Floyd was finally taken away by paramedics, Charles McMillian, a 61yearold bystander who recognized Chauvin from the neighborhood, told the officer he didn’t respect what Chauvin had done.

“That’s one person’s opinion,” Chauvin could be heard responding. “We gotta control this guy ‘cause he’s a sizable guy … and it looks like he’s probably on something.”

Floyd was 6foot4 and 223 pounds, according to the autopsy, which also found fentanyl and methamphetamine in his system. Chauvin’s lawyer said the officer is 5foot9 and 140 pounds.

Chauvin, 45, is charged with murder and manslaughter, accused of killing the 46yearold Floyd by kneeling on Floyd’s neck for 9 minutes, 29 seconds, as he lay facedown in handcuffs. The most serious charge against the nowfired white officer carries up to 40 years in prison.

Floyd’s death, along with the harrowing bystander video of him gasping for breath as onlookers yelled at Chauvin to get off him, triggered sometimes violent protests around the world and a reckoning over racism and police brutality across the U.S.

Jurors were shown police bodycam video of the more than 20 minutes between the time Floyd was arrested and loaded into the ambulance.

Officers were clearly exasperated and could be heard cursing as Floyd braced himself against the squad car and arched his body while the police tried to get him inside. He resisted going in, saying over and over that he was claustrophobic.

Once in the backseat, he twisted and writhed, and officers eventually pulled him out and brought him to the ground. Floyd thanked officers as they took him out of the squad car.

Once Floyd was on the ground — with Chauvin’s knee on his neck, another officer’s knee on his back and a third holding his legs — the officers talked calmly about whether he might be on a drugs.