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On Monday, the trial of killer-cop Derek Chauvin continued with Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo as the star witness of the day in the prosecution of the murderer of George Floyd.
It was yet another bad day for Chauvin, who is one of the only officers to ever have his police chief testify against him and condemn his actions.
It is extremely ironic a Black police chief took the stand to testify on the criminality of a white cop who killed a Black man.
Arradondo testified that there is no justification for an officer to force and hold hold his knee in a man’s neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds–especially, when the person is in a prone position, handcuffed behind the back, while two other officers are also holding that person down.
Chief Medaria Arradondo stated Chauvin’s use of force was indeed excessive given the situation. He said this force should’ve ended “Once Mr Floyd had stopped resisting and certainly once he was in distress and trying to verbalize that, that should have stopped” and “once there was no longer any resistance and clearly after Mr Floyd was no longer responsive – and even motionless.”
Since the start of the trial, Chauvin’s defense attorney, Eric Nelson, has argued that Chauvin use of force against Floyd was consistent with police policy and training. But Chief Arradondo made it clear Chauvin violated policy and refuted Nelson’s claim saying, “That is, in no way, shape or form, by policy, is not part of our training, and is certainly not part of our ethics and our values.”
Arradondo, at one point, read from the Minneapolis Police manual, and said the “Sanctity of life and the protection of the public shall be the cornerstone of the MPD’s use of force policy.” He admitted that this wasn’t MPD policy before 2016.
Arradondo became the city’s first police chief in 2017 and has been an officer since 1989.
Chief Arradondo, after firing Derek Chauvin last year, said [George Floyd’s] “tragic death was not due to a lack of training – the training was there.” Arradondo characterized George Floyd’s death as “murder.”
