As the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for the death of George Floyd was moving into its second week, Democratic Congressman Ilhan Omar said residents remained “nervous” about the outcome.
On Sunday, at CNN’s State of the Union, Omar was reminded that few trials involving police officers resulted in conviction and asked, “Are you and your city prepared for the possibility of a suspended jury or an innocent verdict?”
“The community is concerned about this,” said Omar. “We haven’t seen justice done in our community for many years. I think there is a lot of confidence in [state] Attorney General Keith Ellison and prosecutors in this case, but we are all looking forward to seeing how this trial unfolds.
“It has been really awful to see the defense put George Floyd on trial instead of the ex-policeman accused of his murder.”
Floyd, 46, died last May when Chauvin knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes during an arrest. The murder sparked international protests against police brutality and racial injustice. The vast majority of protests were peaceful, but in Minneapolis and other cities some have become violent.
Chauvin faces charges of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and wrongful death. He pleaded not guilty. Three other officers will face separate trials.
On Monday, prosecutors are expected to call the head of the police department, Medaria Arradondo, as a witness. It is rare, if not unprecedented, for a police chief to testify against a former police officer. Experts said Arradondo’s testimony could open the door for more bosses to be called in the future.
“He will say that Chauvin’s conduct was not consistent with the training of the Minneapolis police department,” prosecutor Jerry Blackwell told jurors in his opening statement. “He will not measure words. He’s very clear. It will be very decisive: that it was excessive force ”.
Arradondo’s testimony is expected to be a powerful tool for prosecutors as they seek to refute the defense’s claim that Chauvin’s decision to kneel on Floyd’s neck was in line with the guidance on the use of force.
Dr. Cedric Alexander, a former police chief and director of public security in DeKalb County, Georgia, told the Guardian this week that calling Arradondo was a “quite remarkable move by the prosecution.”
“It is very rare for you to see a chief appear for the defense or the prosecution,” he said. “But each of these types of events brings its own set of circumstances. And in this particular case, where you have a knee in your neck and are being asked, ‘Was that a trained technique?’ Having the chief of police … to testify under oath is clearly important. “
Laurie Robinson, a former US assistant attorney general who co-chaired the Barack Obama Task Force on 21st Century Policing, which was launched after Michael Brown’s death in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014, said: “The chief is under tremendous pressure.
“This may be the most difficult job of the police chief in the country right now, between the tensions surrounding this trial, pressure from the community dealing with the consequences of George Floyd’s death, calls for changes in the department and protection of the community that is dealing with the increase in armed violence and crime ”.
Arradondo will not be the only Minneapolis official to testify that Chauvin’s actions have deviated from the department’s policy. Lieutenant Richard Zimmerman, who heads the homicide department, testified on Friday that in four decades in the police, he was never trained to contain an inmate with a knee in the neck.
“If your knee is on a person’s neck, it can kill you,” he said. “After a person is handcuffed, the threat level drops completely. They are handcuffed, how can they really hurt you? “
Floyd was handcuffed before the police threw him on the floor.
“I saw no reason for the police to think they were in danger, if that’s what they felt,” said Zimmerman. “And that is what they need to feel to use that level of strength.”
Zimmerman was among 14 police officers who released a letter to Minneapolis residents a month after Floyd’s death, saying they “wholeheartedly condemned” Chauvin’s behavior.
Many in the city found the first week of the trial traumatic, as witnesses spoke and a video of Floyd’s death was shown.
“It has been very difficult,” Omar told CNN. “I think the only part that stayed with me was the fact that everyone who testified said that they felt helpless. This is a feeling that we know very well here in Minneapolis when it comes to police abuse.
“…[The trial] has just unearthed so many traumas for many of us. But we have each other. And we will get over it. “