Chauvin's knee on Floyd's neck 'totally unnecessary' use of 'deadly force', says detective
Minneapolis homicide detective has described Derek Chauvin’s decision to press his knee into George Floyd’s neck for more than 9 minutes as totally unnecessary
- World News
- 2 min read
Marking the latest development in the murder trial of George Floyd, a Minneapolis homicide detective has described Derek Chauvin’s decision to press his knee into George Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes as a totally unnecessary use of "deadly force". On May 25 2020, African American Floyd was pinned down by Chauvin and died after uttering the words “I can’t breathe” more than 20 times. His killing triggered a massive outrage across the world against police brutality and racism.
Floyd’s murder trial began March 29 and is expected to stretch for at least a month, BBC reported. Chauvin has been charged with second-degree murder and if convicted he could be sentenced to a minimum of 40 years in prison. Recently, a charge of third-degree murder was also added.
'totally unnecessary'
Testifying in the court on April 1, head of Minneapolis Homicide Department Lt Richard Zimmerman, said in four decades as a police officer he had never been trained to place a knee on someone’s neck as a means of restraining them during an arrest. Furthermore, he asserted that an officer's knee on anybody's neck “could kill them.” While Chauvin had said that he was acting out of concern for his own safety, Zimmerman asserted that the level of force used by the homicide cops, even after Floyd was handcuffed, was “totally unnecessary”.
“Once a person is cuffed, the threat level goes down all the way. They’re cuffed, how can they really hurt you?” he said. “I saw no reason why the officers felt they were in danger if that’s what they felt. And that is what they have to feel to use that level of force,” Zimmerman added.
The defence has argued that Chauvin did what he was trained to do and that Floyd’s death was not caused by the officer’s knee, but his illegal drug use, heart disease. High blood pressure and the adrenaline flowing through his body. The 45-yeard-old officer is accused of killing the 46-year-old Floyd by kneeling on his neck for 9 minutes, 29 seconds, as he lay face-down in handcuffs.