Parts of officer’s record shielded

Some complaints about force barred from trial

Seventeen complaints filed with Minneapolis police about Derek Chauvin. Six times in which prosecutors say Chauvin used force against arrestees. George Floyd’s arrest for aggravated robbery in 2007.

The jury considering murder and manslaughter charges against Chauvin won’t hear about any of those incidents.

Chauvin, a former police officer, is accused of killing Floyd, 46, by pressing his knee into Floyd’s neck as he lay handcuffed on the ground.

Both sides sought to introduce evidence about Chauvin and Floyd’s past actions. Prosecutors wanted to introduce eight incidents involving Chauvin. Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill allowed two of them.

The defense wanted to bring up two arrests of Floyd, including one in Harris County, Texas, in 2007 that resulted in a conviction for aggravated robbery. Cahill allowed only a portion of Floyd’s drug- related arrest in 2019 in Minneapolis.

The court wants to ensure the jury doesn’t punish a defendant for prior “bad acts,” as they’re called. Jurors must evaluate whether Chauvin is guilty of what he is charged with: third- and second- degree murder and second- degree manslaughter.

Though police department records show 18 complaints filed against Chauvin over the course of his 19- year career with Minneapolis police, just one will be introduced at trial.

The judge is “letting in the most

similar incidents for both sides, but overall, he’s limiting the inquiry – trying to keep the parties and the jury focused on the charged incident,” said Ted Sampsell- Jones, a professor at Mitchell Hamline School of Law.

“This isn’t supposed to devolve into a free- ranging inquisition of Floyd’s past, or Chauvin’s,” he said.

Prosecutors wanted to introduce eight incidents in which Chauvin used force while on duty or was involved in an incident in which another officer did.

Cahill deemed six inadmissible, writing in a court filing that they weren’t similar enough to the Floyd incident.

• In 2014, Chauvin placed his weight on the upper body and head of a man to handcuff him, according to prosecutors.

• In February 2015, Chauvin tried to restrain a man by putting pressure on his lingual artery, which is below the chin bone, prosecutors wrote.

• In April 2016, Chauvin restrained a man who would not follow instructions, placing his hands around the man’s neck and applying pressure to both sides, according to prosecutors.

Eric Nelson, Chauvin’s attorney, objected to allowing these acts, saying they “were noncriminal incidents of Mr. Chauvin acting in his duties as a Minneapolis Police officer.” All the incidents involved “resistance from or a struggle with a suspect; some involved Mr. Chauvin using his body weight to control an arrestee; some involved a neck restraint,” Nelson argued.

• In September 2017, Chauvin responded to a domestic assault call and tried to arrest a 14- year- old boy. When the boy resisted, Chauvin applied a neck restraint and rolled him onto his stomach, pinning the boy to the floor, “beyond the point when such force was needed,” prosecutors wrote.

• In March 2019, Chauvin told a man to move away from a person reporting a stolen vehicle. When the man refused, Chauvin grabbed him. The man pulled away, “flailing his arms,” prosecutors wrote. Chauvin sprayed Mace at the man’s face, applied a neck restraint, forced him to the ground and sat on the man’s back, so he could be handcuffed.

The defense said Minneapolis Police Department supervisors “found Mr. Chauvin’s application of force to be in conformity with his MPD training, authorized by law and MPD policy, and reasonable.”

• In July 2019, Chauvin responded to a domestic assault. When the male suspect dropped his arms to his side, Chauvin grew concerned about his access to knives, prosecutors wrote. Chauvin grabbed one of the man’s arms and kicked his lower midsection to back the man away. Chauvin applied a neck restraint. The man made a brief snoring noise that indicated he had gone unconscious, and Chauvin handcuffed him.

A supervisor responded to the scene and deemed Chauvin’s force “reasonable, authorized, and appropriate under the circumstances,” the defense wrote.

“The real purpose for which the State seeks to introduce evidence of eight prior incidents ... is simply to depict Chauvin to the jury as a ‘ thumper,’ an officer who knowingly and willingly relishes ‘ mixing it up’ with suspects and routinely escalates situations and engages in the use of unreasonable force,” Judge Cahill wrote.

He allowed incidents in August 2015 and June 2017 to be introduced at trial.

• In 2015, Chauvin joined other officers helping a “suicidal, intoxicated and mentally disturbed” man, prosecutors wrote. The officers struggled with him and used a stun gun. They got handcuffs on the man and put him in the side- recovery position, according to their training. They called an ambulance, and Chauvin rode with the man to the hospital. Medical professionals told the officers that if they had waited any longer to get him help, the man could have died. The officers involved, including Chauvin, were recommended for an award.

• In 2017, Chauvin arrested a woman at her home for allegedly trying to strangle her mother with an extension cord, prosecutors wrote. As she tried to twist away, he pulled her face- down to the floor, kneeled on her body to pin her and handcuffed her. When she refused to stand up, Chauvin and another officer dragged her outside, and Chauvin kneeled on her while another officer moved a squad car closer.

“Chauvin’s conduct in kneeling on the woman during this entire time was more force than was reasonably necessary under the circumstances,” the state argued.

Nelson argued in court filings that this use of force was “cleared” by the police department.

Jurors will learn about an incident in May 2019, captured on a body- worn camera, in which Floyd allegedly swallowed a pill when officers approached him. An officer pulled a gun on Floyd, who begged police not to shoot him, then cried as he was handcuffed. Officers found oxycodone pills on him. Floyd was admitted to a hospital for accidental drug ingestion.

The defense argued Floyd’s behavior is part of a pattern. “When approached by police, he ( Floyd) placed drugs in his mouth in an attempt to avoid arrest, and swallowed them,” Nelson wrote. “When interacting with police he engaged in diversionary behavior such as crying and acted irrationally.”

The defense argued Floyd’s physical condition during that incident may support its contention that Floyd died not from Chauvin’s knee on his neck but a combination of the struggle, medical problems and drugs.

Cahill agreed to allow some evidence from the arrest.

“The whole point here is we have medical evidence on what happens when Mr. Floyd is faced with virtually the same situation: confrontation by police at gunpoint, followed by a rapid ingestion of some drugs,” Cahill said.

Floyd had fentanyl and methamphetamine in his system when he died, according to a toxicology report.

Cahill did not grant the defense’s attempt to present evidence of an arrest in August 2007 in Harris County, Texas. According to the defense’s description of the incident, Floyd “forcibly entered a home to steal drugs and money.” Floyd put a gun on a woman’s abdomen, “allowed her to be pistol- whipped by an accomplice and demanded drugs and money,” the defense wrote.

AP A judge restricted the prosecution’s introduction of use- of- force incidents as evidence against Derek Chauvin.