After the murder of George Floyd, Minneapolis leaders pledged to dismantle the city's police department. Residents disagree on what that should look like.
Last June, a veto-proof majority of the Minneapolis City Council pledged to defund and dismantle the police department. They have since softened their tone.
"No reasonable officer would have believed that that was an appropriate, acceptable or reasonable use of force," Seth Stoughton, a former police officer and use of force expert, told jurors.
"He's breathing. He's talking. He's not snoring. He's saying, 'Please, please get off of me, I can't breathe.' That is not a fentanyl overdose. That's someone begging to breathe," an expert testified.
Forensics specialists testified that a handful of pills recovered from the SUV that Floyd was in and the police squad car had very low levels of the controlled substances.
"When Mr. Floyd was no longer offering up any resistance to the officers, they could have ended the restraint," retired Sgt. David Ploeger told the court on Thursday.
Video footage played in court on Tuesday shows Genevieve Hansen pleading with officers on top of George Floyd for a chance to help him. She asked them to check his pulse.
The 17-year-old described then-Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin as "kind of angry," adding that "he was digging his knee into George Floyd's neck" and he threatened bystanders with a can of Mace.
A Minnesota judge cited the ongoing coronavirus pandemic as reason to have Derek Chauvin's trial start on March 8, while the other officers involved in Floyd's death will have their trial in August.
In the police video, Officer Tou Thao seems to get increasingly agitated as the crowd becomes more vocal, with onlookers repeatedly asking him why Floyd's vital signs aren't being checked.
