An ‘accidental death’ expert said police were justified in pinning George Floyd to the ground, going against other authorities in the trial.
In the ongoing trial over the murder of George Floyd, Barry Brodd, said on Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT) that disgraced former officer, Derek Chauvin was justified in pinning George Floyd to the ground due to his ‘frantic resistance’.
Despite contradicting numerous other authorities both inside and outside the Minneapolis Police Department, Brodd, a former officer in Santa Rosa, California, said that officers don’t have to wait for events to turn bad, but instead only need reasonable suspicion to adjust their actions accordingly.
“It’s easy to sit and judge… an officer’s conduct,” Brodd said.
“It’s more of a challenge to, again, put yourself in the officer’s shoes to try to make an evaluation through what they’re feeling, what they’re sensing, the fear they have, and then make a determination.”
Brodd also said he didn’t believe that Chauvin and other officers at the scene had used lethal force when they pinned Floyd down on his stomach with his hands behind his back. Let’s also not forget that Chauvin had his knee resting on Floyd’s neck for almost 10 minutes.
Derek Chauvin’s use of force “expert” Barry Brodd claims George Floyd was “not compliant” because he was not “resting comfortably” on the asphalt with three police officers on top of him. pic.twitter.com/nr2OZL0tMx
— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) April 13, 2021
Brodd compared Chauvin’s actions to another situation, where officers used a taser on a suspect who was fighting police. That suspect then fell, hit his head, and died.
“That isn’t an incident of deadly force. That’s an incident of an accidental death.”
At one point in the courtroom, prosecutors could only react mockingly when Brodd said that Floyd kept moving instead of “resting comfortably” on the pavement.
Brodd’s defence goes not only against a parade of eye-witness testimonies, video evidence and the expertise of other Minneapolis Police officials, but also comes as Minneapolis reels from the death of 20-year-old Daunte Wright, who was fatally shot during a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center.
The defense witness in the Derek Chauvin trial, Barry Brodd, said he believed more force should have been used on George Floyd and that no force was used while he was on the ground.
Stupid racist motherfucker must think the entire jury is blind.
— Kyla In The Burgh 🏳️🌈🏴☠️ (@KylaInTheBurgh) April 13, 2021
The officer who killed wright, Kim Potter, mistakenly drew her gun instead of her taser.
Potter, as well as Police Chief Tim Gannon, both resigned on Tuesday, two days after the death of wright which triggered two nights of protests.
So George Floyd’s girlfriend was Daunte Wright’s high school teacher…and George Floyd and Derek Chauvin both worked security together at a nightclub that was burned down in the protests after George Floyd’s death…?
— Grace 🔎 (@reallygraceful) April 14, 2021
