Minnesota prosecutors concluded their case against former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin on Tuesday, allowing the defense team to call its first witness to the stand after 11 days of testimony.
Eric Nelson, Chauvin’s attorney, brought Scott Creighton, a retired Minneapolis police officer, to the stand to discuss a past arrest involving George Floyd around a year prior to his fatal encounter in May 2020. Creighton was seen on video footage pointing his sidearm at Floyd after he failed to comply with directives to put his hands on the dashboard and appeared to be anxious and nervous.
Nelson has posited that Floyd did not die from the pressure of Chauvin’s knee on his back and neck, but rather from underlying heart problems and drugs he ingested prior to the police confrontation. Creighton did not see Floyd take narcotics in the 2019 stop, but retired paramedic Michelle Moseng, who was summoned by the prosecution in earlier trial segments, said Floyd told her that he was taking opioids approximately every 20 minutes.
JUDGE IN CHAUVIN CASE REJECTS JURY SEQUESTRATION AFTER DAUNTE WRIGHT SHOOTING
Judge Peter Cahill told the jury that the purpose of showing the 2019 stop was to show “what ingestion of opioids may or may not have had on the physical well-being of George Floyd,” rather than to influence “the character of George Floyd.”
The prosecution maintained that Chauvin’s conduct, which was contrary to department policy, killed Floyd, and the attorneys brought forth a multitude of medical experts to corroborate their claims. On Thursday, Dr. Martin Tobin, a physician specializing in critical care of the lungs, posited that Floyd’s prone position in the street and pressure on his neck and back led to a pulseless electrical activity arrhythmia “that caused his heart to stop.”
“Mr. Floyd died from a low level of oxygen,” he said. “The cause of the low level of oxygen was shallow breathing, small breaths, small, tidal volumes, shallow breaths that weren’t able to carry the air through his lungs down to the essential areas of the lungs that get oxygen into the blood and get rid of the carbon dioxide.”
Minneapolis law enforcement authorities have anticipated the possibility of violence in the city following the jury’s eventual verdict on whether to imprison Chauvin on murder charges. Authorities in the area face a new challenge following the death of 20-year-old Daunte Wright, who was shot on Sunday by officer Kimberly Potter in an accidental incident, where the veteran policewoman pulled her handgun instead of a Taser.
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Riots gripped the city as 40 people were arrested on Monday after widespread looting and clashes with law enforcement.
