Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo, testifying for the state in the Derek Chauvin murder trial in the death of George Floyd, said Chauvin’s restraint violated MPD policy.
In a lengthy testimony spanning most of Monday, Arradondo said the use of force was “not reasonable” and that once Floyd “stopped resisting” and was “in distress,” the restraint should have stopped.
“To continue to apply that level of force to a person proned out, handcuffed behind their back, that in no way, shape or form is anything that is policy, it’s not part of our training, and it is certainly not part of our ethics or our values.”
Arradondo followed the first two MPD witnesses in Sgt. David Pleoger, Chauvin’s direct superior at the Third Precinct, and homicide unit head Lt. Richard Zimmerman on Friday. Both testified that the use of force was unnecessary.
Monday was an opportunity for the state to take a deep dive into MPD policy regarding use of force, deescalation, providing care to people in custody and a requirement that officers are familiar with written policies. Monday, MPD Inspector Katie Blackwell, then the former training division commander, said that is “not what we train” when shown a still photo of Chauvin pinning Floyd to the pavement.
“I don’t know what kind of improvised position that is,” Blackwell said.
Arradondo was a “commanding presence” a pool reporter inside the pandemic-adjusted courtroom noted, as he testified with his official cap by his side and facing out. He spoke frequently to jurors with an even tone and temperament.
Prosecutors started with how officers are trained in an academic and scenario-based education at the training academy to annual training updates. Blackwell testified that Chauvin had training on defensive tactics at least two times in 2018. Arradondo himself said he receives yearly POST training. Then the state showed the jury portions of the extensive MPD policy, something Arradondo called “vitally essential.”
Some portions of what the state showed include officers ensuring “the length of detention is no longer than necessary,” and that there are some reasons why people may not be able to comply such as mental or physical health, the influence of drugs and alcohol, and “behavioral crises,” which means understanding, he explained, that someone police respond to could have lost a job, had the “worst diagnosis of their life,” or lost a loved one.
Arrandondo testified that officers are equipped with tourniquets if they are the first to respond to medical incidents and are capable of beginning chest compressions before paramedics arrive. MPD policy also stipulates that officers “shall provide necessary first aid consistent with MPD training.”
“We have a duty of care,” Arradondo said. “When someone is in our custody, regardless if they’re a suspect, we have an obligation to make sure that we provide for their care.”
MPD use of force policy includes the term “objectionably reasonable.” Arradondo added that, based on the call of a counterfeit bill, Floyd would not be arrested as the department shifted to mostly violent crimes leading to custodial arrests.
Neck restraints and chokeholds were once permissible under MPD policy, including on May 25, 2020, but Arradondo testified that based on the bystander video of Floyd, Chauvin was not using “light to moderate” pressure, as outlined in the policy.
On cross examination, Chauvin’s attorney Eric Nelson asked Arradondo about officers using the environment around them to make decisions. He also asked about “camera perspective bias,” showing a side-by-side of bystander video and J. Alexander Kueng’s body camera video. Arradondo said it appeared Chauvin’s knee was on Floyd’s shoulder as he was being taken away on the gurney, but on his neck leading up to that.
On redirect, Arrandondo agreed, saying “absolutely” when asked by prosecutor Steve Schleicher if “a way to deescalate a crowd that’s watching something shocking, is to stop doing the thing that is shocking them.”
The first witness to take the stand on Monday morning was Dr. Bradford Langenfeld, the physician who pronounced Floyd dead at Hennepin County Medical Center.
Langenfeld said that “any amount of time” a patient spends in cardiac arrest without immediate CPR decreases the chance of a good outcome. He said there is an approximately 10% to 15% decrease in survival for every minute that CPR is not administered.
Dr. Langenfeld, who was a senior resident at the time, said he didn't have any indication when Floyd was first brought in that an overdose or drug use was related to him going into cardiac arrest.
“I’ve seen a lot of cases of mental health crisis or drug use leading to severe agitated states and that is almost always reported by paramedics, and so the absence of that information was telling in that I didn’t have any reason to believe that was the case here,” he said.
Dr. Langenfeld said he believed that low oxygen or asphyxia was the most likely cause of Floyd’s death.
“I felt that at the time, based on the information that I had that it was more likely than the other possibilities,” Dr. Langenfeld said.
Nelson argued that oxygen deficiency could be the result of ingesting the opioid fentanyl which was found in Floyd’s body.
“And that’s one of the reasons that fentanyl is so dangerous because it suppresses the respiratory system. Agreed?” Nelson said.
“The primary reason it is so dangerous,” answered Langenfeld.
Langenfeld also disputed the notion Floyd experienced “excited delirium” calling it a “controversial” diagnosis and not one accepted by most major medical boards. He said Floyd did not appear “extremely agitated” or “very sweaty.”