Chauvin used 'totally unnecessary' force on Floyd -officer

Reuters Videos
Updated

MINNESOTA ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL MATTHEW FRANK: "What is your view of that use of force during that time period?"

LT. RICHARD ZIMMERMAN, WHO LEADS THE MINNEAPOLIS POLICE DEPARTMENT'S HOMICIDE UNIT: "Totally unnecessary."

Lieutenant Richard Zimmerman, a Minneapolis homicide investigator, testified on Friday at former policeman Derek Chauvin’s murder trial… saying that Chauvin used "totally unnecessary" deadly forcewhen kneeling on George Floyd's neck during an arrest last May.

ZIMMERMAN: “Um, well, first of all, pulling him down to the ground face down and putting your knee on a neck for that amount of time, is just uncalled for. I saw no reason why the officers felt they were in danger if that is what they felt. Um, and that is what they would have to feel to use that type of force."

FRANK: So, in your opinion, should that restraint have stopped once he was handcuffed and prone on the ground?

ZIMMERMAN: "Absolutely."

Prosecutors called on Zimmerman - who is now the most senior officer in the Minneapolis police department - to testify in part to undermine a central argument in the defense case.. that Chauvin was correctly following his police training.

Jurors on Day 5 of the trial heard that Chauvin - who has pleaded not guilty to murder and manslaughter charges - did not follow protocol.

FRANK: "Have you ever in all the years you've been working for the Minneapolis police department, been trained to kneel on the neck of someone who is handcuffed behind their back in a permanent position?"

ZIMMERMAN: "No, I haven't."

FRANK: "Is that, if that were done, would that be considered force?"

ZIMMERMAN: "Absolutely."

FRANK: "What level of force might that be?"

ZIMMERMAN: "That would be the top tier, the deadly force."

In cross-examination, Zimmerman agreed when Eric Nelson, Chauvin’s lead lawyer, said the lieutenant, as an investigator, uses force less often than a patrolling officer.

But Zimmerman said officers are responsible for the care of anyone they arrest.