George Floyd died of a lack of oxygen from the way he was held down by police, a retired forensic pathologist testified on Friday at former officer Derek Chauvin's murder trial. The testimony of Lindsey Thomas, who retired in 2017 from the Hennepin county medical examiner's office in Minneapolis, bolstered testimony by other experts on Thursday that rejected the defence theory that Floyd's drug use and underlying health problems killed him
Continue reading...Category Archives: US policing
Derek Chauvin trial: expert witness says George Floyd’s health deteriorated as officer continued using force – live
- Day eight of murder trial over George Floyd’s death continues
- Sgt Stiger gives damning testimony for the defense
- Police trainer: Knee on subdued suspect’s neck not allowed
- Medical trainer: ‘Just because they’re speaking doesn’t mean they’re breathing’
Prosecutors are asking Anderson about the initial 27 May processing of the Mercedes SUV, and the second search in December 2020.
Anderson, presented with photos of the Mercedes interior during the first processing, said was asked whether there was a pill there.
Prosecutors have now called McKenzie Anderson to testify, a forensic scientist with Minnesota’s criminal apprehension bureau.
Anderson has been a “crime scene team” leader with the bureau of criminal apprehension since 2016. Anderson headed the crime scene investigation in Floyd’s death. Anderson, a technician, and a photographer from her team, arrived at the scene around 1:15 am on 26 May, 2020.
SA Reyerson testimony is now complete. Onto the 2nd BCA witness in the case, McKenzie Anderson. She was the crime scene lead on death of #GeorgeFloyd investigation. Continued #DerekChauvinTrial coverage live right now on @FOX9. pic.twitter.com/s3NxFP8B23
Continue reading...Chauvin’s use of force on George Floyd was ‘in no way’ policy, says police chief
Medaria Arradondo says on sixth day of trial that ex-officer’s treatment of George Floyd breached regulations
The Minneapolis police chief, Medaria Arradondo, told the Derek Chauvin murder trial on Monday that he “vehemently disagrees” that there was any justification for the former police officer to keep his knee on George Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes.
Arradondo said on the sixth day of the trial that Chauvin’s treatment of the 46-year-old Black man breached regulations and showed a disregard “for the sanctity of life”.
Continue reading...Minneapolis ‘on edge’ over outcome of Derek Chauvin trial, Ilhan Omar says
- Omar: ‘We are all eagerly awaiting to see how trial shakes out’
- Chauvin trial, week one: vivid testimony and focus on force
As the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd headed into its second week, the Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar said residents remain “on edge” about the outcome.
Related: George Floyd's girlfriend shared his opioids pain – Derek Chauvin refused to see it
Continue reading...George Floyd’s girlfriend shared his opioids pain – Derek Chauvin refused to see it
Courteney Ross’s testimony showed how police departments fail in their duty to protect those who battle addiction
Of all the accounts of George Floyd’s life and death heard in a Minneapolis courtroom this week, perhaps the least expected was his girlfriend’s description of their shared struggle with opioid addiction.
Courteney Ross’s wrenching testimony gave a very human glimpse into the remorseless search for a fix and a mutual fight to shake off drug dependency.
Continue reading...Derek Chauvin’s supervisor says officers ‘could have ended restraint’ of George Floyd – video
Derek Chauvin’s police supervisor, Sgt David Pleoger, has said there was no justification for the officer keeping a knee on George Floyd’s neck for nine minutes. Ploeger arrived at the scene shortly after Floyd was taken away by ambulance, said that Chauvin and other officers holding down the 46-year-old Black man should have stopped using force once Floyd stopped resisting. 'When Mr Floyd was no longer offering up any resistance to the officers they could have ended their restraint,' he said
Continue reading...Chauvin’s supervisor says there was no justification to keep knee on George Floyd’s neck
Sgt David Pleoger tells trial that Chauvin and the other officers should have stopped using force once Floyd stopped resisting
Derek Chauvin’s police supervisor has told his murder trial that there was no justification for the officer to keep his knee on George Floyd’s neck for nine minutes.
Sgt David Pleoger, who arrived at the scene shortly after Floyd was taken away by ambulance, said that Chauvin and other officers holding down the 46-year-old Black man should have stopped using force once Floyd stopped resisting.
Continue reading...Chauvin trial: cashier tells of guilt over role in events that led to George Floyd’s death
Christopher Martin tells court ‘this could have been avoided’, on third day of testimony in former officer Derek Chauvin’s trial
The cashier who served George Floyd in a Minneapolis store immediately before his arrest and death last May told a court on Wednesday of the “disbelief and guilt” he felt for allowing Floyd to pay with a suspected fake $20 bill when he later saw the police kneeling on him.
Testimony on the third day of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin’s murder trial continued in an atmosphere of tense emotions and harrowing evidence about Floyd’s death.
Continue reading...Teen who filmed killing tells court George Floyd was ‘begging for his life’
Darnella Frazier said Derek Chauvin did not ease up as he pinned Floyd down and that she still loses sleep over the killing
The woman who recorded the shocking video of George Floyd’s death that prompted mass protests for racial justice around the world has told the Derek Chauvin murder trial of her feelings of guilt at being unable to intervene to save his life.
Darnella Frazier, who at times sobbed as she gave evidence on the second day of Chauvin’s trial in Minneapolis, said that she still loses sleep over the killing of the 46-year-old Black man.
Continue reading...Prosecutors accuse Derek Chauvin of killing George Floyd as trial starts
Jerry Blackwell told jury that ex-officer used excessive and unreasonable force ‘without regard for Floyd’s life’
Prosecutors accused former police officer Derek Chauvin of killing a defenceless George Floyd by “grinding and crushing him until the very breath, the very life, was squeezed out of him”, at the opening on Monday of a murder trial regarded by millions as a litmus test of US police accountability.
Related: ‘It’s for the people’: how George Floyd Square became a symbol of resistance – and healing
Continue reading...With world watching Derek Chauvin’s trial, focus will be on officer who ‘betrayed’ his badge
Analysis: the trial over the killing of George Floyd may be a bellwether for racial justice, but the prosecution will focus on one man’s actions
For all the many thousands of protests around the world, the global reckoning on racism and policing prompted by the killing of George Floyd last May, prosecutors were clear that their case in the murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin would be centered around a period of time lasting less than 10 minutes.
Nine minutes and 29 seconds. The total time that Chauvin held his knee to George Floyd’s neck, leaving him “pancaked”, in the words of prosecutor Jerry Blackwell, between the ground and Chauvin’s body, gradually asphyxiating him to death.
Continue reading...‘It’s for the people’: how George Floyd Square became a symbol of resistance – and healing
The semi-autonomous area in Minneapolis has become a service to the community, but the city wants to see it reopened
The sign on a barricade on a once-unassuming street in Minneapolis reads: “You’re now entering the free state of George Floyd.”
A small rectangle of city blocks features murals, flowers, candles and tributes in the place where Floyd, a Black man, died under the knee of a white police officer last May, sparking the biggest US civil rights uprising since the 1960s.
Continue reading...Maryland police video shows officers threatening, screaming at crying child
The 5-year-old boy was found a block from a Montgomery county school by officers who berated him and said, ‘I’d beat him so bad’
A police department in Maryland has released body camera video that captured two of its officers berating a 5-year-old boy who had walked away from his elementary school, calling him a “little beast” and threatening him with a beating.
The video released by the Montgomery county police department shows one of the officers repeatedly screaming at the crying child, with her face inches from his.
Continue reading...Miami Beach spring break chaos: more than 1,000 arrests as Covid curfew extended
- Large crowds trash restaurants and brawl in streets
- City manager recommends rules in place to 12 April
- Coronavirus – live coverage
Miami Beach officials have warned that the unruly spring break crowd gathering by the thousands, fighting in the streets, destroying restaurant property and refusing to wear masks has become a serious threat to public safety, after 1,000 arrests were made.
At a last-minute meeting, city officials voted to extend a highly unusual 8pm curfew for another week along famed South Beach, with the possibility of extending it well into April if needed, and stressed this wasn’t the typical spring break crowd. They said it’s not college students, but adults looking to let loose in one of the few states fully open during the pandemic.
Continue reading...Surge in gun violence is stress test for Oakland’s defund the police campaign
Homicides in the city have risen 314% and while some back shifting resources to prevention and healing, others want alternatives in place to keep Black and brown people safe
Since the visceral video of George Floyd pinned beneath a police officer’s knee sparked massive uprisings in US cities last summer, movements to defund police departments have grown from siloed local campaigns into a national movement. But in multiple cities, this work is being done amid a disturbing rise in gun violence that is affecting the same Black and Latino communities most affected by police misconduct.
While some crime survivors support shifting resources from police and into prevention and healing services, others who have lost loved ones to shootings and live in high-crime areas worry that depleting police budgets without proven alternatives to fill any gaps will make Black and brown communities less safe.
Continue reading...Atlanta shootings: Democrats warn violence against Asian Americans at ‘crisis point’ – live
- Representative Judy Chu: ‘We know these crimes were coming’
- What we know so far about the shootings
- FBI under pressure to tackle anti-Asian hate crime
- Atlanta shootings fuel fears over anti-sex-work ideology
- US politics – follow the latest live updates
The Georgia sheriff’s captain who said Robert Aaron Long was “having a really bad day” when he allegedly killed eight people has been removed as a spokesperson on the case, according to the WSB-TV news channel.
Nicole Carr, a journalist at WSB-TV, reported that Capt Jay Baker “will no longer be spokesperson” on the shootings case. According to Carr, the Cherokee County Sheriff department is also “evaluating what [Baker’s] future at the Sheriff’s Office looks like”.
NEW:Confirmed w Cherokee Sheriff that Cpt.Baker will no longer be spokesperson on spa shootings case,they’re evaluating what his future at the Sheriff’s Office looks like and consulting the D.A.’s office to see if they should hand their portion of case to GBI See you at 6 @wsbtv https://t.co/cI1sQHcrRV
Charles Hampton, deputy chief of Atlanta police, said officers are “working diligently to ascertain all the facts” in the spa shootings.
“We had four Asian females that were killed, and so we are looking at everything to make sure we discover and determine what the motive of our homicides were,” Hampton said during a press conference.
Continue reading...Georgia officer says Atlanta shooter was ‘having a bad day’ – video
A Georgia sheriff’s captain was criticised for appearing to characterise the actions of the suspect in a mass shooting in Atlanta as him having had 'a really bad day'.
Robert Aaron Long, 21, was charged with killing eight people in Atlanta, six of them women of Asian descent, on Wednesday.
Atlanta police said Long had declared Tuesday’s attack was not racially motivated. He claimed to have a 'sex addiction' and authorities have said he apparently lashed out at what he saw as sources of 'temptation'
Continue reading...Atlanta spa shootings: suspect charged with eight counts of murder
- Eight killed, including six women of Asian descent
- Police say suspect may have planned more attacks
The suspect behind shooting attacks that killed eight people in Atlanta was charged with eight counts of murder on Wednesday, with officials saying he may have planned further attacks.
Police and city leaders also indicated they believe Robert Aaron Long, 21, who did not resist arrest when he was apprehended, was on his way to Florida after Tuesday evening’s attack, where they suspect he may have planned to “carry out additional shootings”.
Continue reading...Georgia officer condemned for saying Atlanta shooter was ‘having a bad day’
Capt Jay Baker also reportedly posted images on Facebook of T-shirts with racist slogan on China and coronavirus
A Georgia sheriff’s captain has faced widespread criticism for appearing to characterise the actions of Robert Aaron Long, the 21-year-old charged with killing eight people in Atlanta, six of them women of Asian descent, as “having a really bad day”.
Speaking at a news conference on Wednesday, Capt Jay Baker of the Cherokee county sheriff’s office said investigators had interviewed Long that morning.
Continue reading...Andrea Jenkins: the first Black openly transgender woman to hold US public office
As the George Floyd murder trial opens in Minneapolis, the city councillor talks about coming out as trans, the prejudices she has had to overcome – and how policing must change
Andrea Jenkins lives just a few blocks away from 38th and Chicago, the crossroads in Minneapolis where George Floyd was killed on 25 May last year. She spent two decades of her life working to revitalise the community there, and kicked off her 2017 campaign for the city council’s Eighth ward in an arts centre a few yards away.
After Floyd’s death, when the crossroads became a space for collective mourning, Jenkins visited every day. But in the midst of a bitter Minneapolis winter and with the neighbourhood reeling from the long-term effects of Floyd’s death, Jenkins hasn’t been in months.
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