The first week of hearings for Derek Chauvin’s trial ended as it began: on a damning note for the Minneapolis (Minnesota) police officer accused of the murder of George Floyd in May 2020.
Last witness called to the bar, Friday April 2, the police lieutenant who had supervised the beginnings of the internal investigation opened after the tragedy was direct and unambiguous. The “Deadly force” used to keep the handcuffed victim to the ground for more than nine minutes was “Totally unnecessary and unjustified”, ruled Richard Zimmerman, burdened with his thirty-year experience in the police force.
Already the day before, when the first questions on the use of force – one of the key elements of this trial – were discussed, Mr. Chauvin’s direct superior, now retired, had estimated that the physical coercion exerted on Mr. Floyd should have ceased as soon as he was “Handcuffed and no longer offered any resistance”, what the images of his agony clearly demonstrate. A sign that this case is unlike any other police trial, the Minneapolis police chief himself will be called to testify in the coming days.
For the time being, the statements from the police ranks undermine the repeated attempts by Derek Chauvin’s lawyer, Eric Nelson, to justify his client’s attitude by “Fighting spirit” of the victim and the presence of “Hostile crowd”. For Richard Zimmerman, ” the crowd “ present that day – about ten people who were kept at a distance – was not “Threatening”.
The horror of the scene
These devastating conclusions for the defense corroborate the emotional accounts of witnesses heard earlier this week. At the heart of this “Bouquet of humanity”, promised by the prosecution as a prelude to their hearings, the passers-by who witnessed Mr. Floyd’s last moments, all testified to their “Distress” and their ” powerlessness “ facing the horror of the scene.
In a calm voice, interspersed with sobs, the young girl whose video filmed on her phone went around the world, confided her regrets for not having done more “To save life” of the victim. “Some nights, I stay awake and I apologize to George Floyd for not having intervened physically”, testified Darnella Frazier. “But it was not for me to do otherwise, it was for him”, she added for Mr. Chauvin.
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