Testimony by police brass ‘unprecedented’
MINNEAPOLIS » An unprecedented lineup of law enforcement officers — including the Minneapolis police chief — took the stand at the murder trial of former Officer Derek Chauvin, denouncing him for kneeling on the neck of George Floyd for more than nine minutes.
As rare as it is for policeinvolved deaths to lead to a criminal trial — let alone a conviction — the sight of the top cop and other brass testifying against a former subordinate is even rarer.
Chief Medaria Arradondo on Monday thoroughly rejected Chauvin’s actions and use of force during the arrest of Floyd last May as contrary to department policy.
“Once there was no longer any resistance and clearly, when Mr. Floyd was no longer responsive and even motionless, to continue to apply that level of force to a person proned out, handcuffed behind their back — that in no way shape or form is anything that is by policy,” the police chief told the jury. “It is not part of our training, and it is certainly not part of our ethics or our values.”
The piercing of the socalled blue wall of silence — an unwritten code that long has restrained cops from implicating fellow officers accused of misconduct — in one Minneapolis courtroom has been widely praised following a summer of protest, unrest and a social reckoning with American systemic racism.
“It is unprecedented,” Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby said. “You have police officers. You have training officers. You have the police chief who is willing to testify in direct opposition to Chauvin’s extensive use of force. That does not happen every day.”
Still, other experts caution that the potentially devastating testimony does not necessarily portend significant change in long-standing systemic problems in U.S. policing — particularly the way people of color are treated.
“It’s absolutely too soon to say whether we are really entering a new era where police chiefs and others not only refuse to cover up for officers’ conduct but actually ... come forward and speak very powerfully and very unequivocally about officer misconduct the way that we’re seeing in the Chauvin trial,” said Christy Lopez, a Georgetown Law professor and former Justice Department lawyer who investigated police departments.
“We’ve definitely got some momentum now and that could really build into something permanent but it could end up being a flash in the pan if we don’t take advantage of this moment.”