Chauvin defence

The defence for a former police officer charged in George Floyd’s death challenged the heart of the case against the officer, calling a use-offorce expert who testified that Derek Chauvin was justified in pinning Floyd and said it might have gone easier if the black man had been “resting comfortably” on the pavement. Taking the stand yesterday at Chauvin’s murder trial, Barry Brodd, a former Santa Rosa, California, officer, said he doesn’t believe Chauvin and the other officers used deadly force when they held Floyd down on his stomach, his hands cuffed behind his back and Chauvin’s knee on his neck or neck area for what prosecutors say was 9

1⁄ minutes. Brodd likened it instead

2

to a situation in which officers use a Taser and the suspect falls, hits his head and dies: “That’s an incident of an accidental death.” Several top Minneapolis police officials, including the police chief, have testified that Chauvin used excessive force and violated his training. And medical experts called by prosecutors have said Floyd died from a lack of oxygen because of the way he was restrained.