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On Friday, the trial of killer-cop Derek Chauvin was suspended early—but it was another devastating day for defense lawyers, and their client the killer of George Floyd.
The day’s main witness Minneapolis Police Lt. Richard Zimmerman condemned Chauvin’s actions of putting his knee in the neck of George Floyd–who was killed while he was handcuffed, with his hands behind his back.
On May 25th, 2020, then Officer Chauvin was on Floyd’s neck (as Floyd was being held down by Officer J. Alexander Kueng and Officer Thomas Lane) for 9 minutes and 29 seconds. This is longer than the originally believed 8 minutes and 46 seconds.
Lt. Zimmerman stated that “Putting your knee on a neck for that amount of time is just uncalled for.” He point out the obvious: that when someone is handcuffed behind the back “the threat level goes down all the way.”
On cross-examination, defense lawyer Eric Nelson tried to mitigate the damage of Lt. Zimmerman’s testimony by engaging in conjecture that there was a possible scenario where an officer could be justified in keeping his knee on someone’s neck who was handcuffed, behind the back.
But that supposition was obliterated when prosecutor Matthew Frank asked Zimmerman “Did you see any need for Officer Chauvin to improvise by putting his knee on Mr. Floyd for 9 minutes and 29 seconds?”
To that Zimmerman answered “No. I did not.”
Lt. Zimmerman, who is a 36-year veteran, runs the department’s homicide unit. The trial resumes next week.