"When Mr. Floyd was no longer offering up any resistance to the officers, they could have ended the restraint," retired Sgt. David Ploeger told the court on Thursday.
Paramedics who treated George Floyd as he lay motionless in the street, testified at then-officer Derek Chauvin's trial on Thursday. They said Floyd was in cardiac arrest and "limp" when they arrived.
In emotional testimony, Courteney Ross described to the jury the man she knew, adding detail to a life that ended when George Floyd died in police custody last Memorial Day.
"Even I said to the officer, I said, 'man, he said he can't breathe.' They said, 'if he keep talking, well, he can breathe,'" said Charles McMillian, who testified that he pulled over to observe.
Video footage played in court on Tuesday shows Genevieve Hansen pleading with officers on top of George Floyd for a chance to help him. She asked them to check his pulse.
"My instincts were telling me that something was wrong," said Jena Scurry, who had a view of the interior of the squad car from which George Floyd was dragged. "It was an extended period of time."
The 17-year-old described then-Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin as "kind of angry," adding that "he was digging his knee into George Floyd's neck" and he threatened bystanders with a can of Mace.
"I felt the need to call the police on the police," Donald Williams said of the 911 call he made after an ambulance took George Floyd away. He said Derek Chauvin used a "blood choke" on Floyd.
The young woman, who was 17 when she filmed former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin holding his knee on George Floyd's neck, says the only violence she saw was "from the cops."
Two key questions are at play in Derek Chauvin's murder trial: What killed George Floyd, and did Chauvin use excessive force? Civil rights lawyer Charles Coleman Jr. discusses the early takeaways.
Members of George Floyd's family and legal team, kneeled for 8 minutes and 46 seconds outside the Hennepin County Courthouse just moments before the start of Derek Chauvin's murder trial.
Opening arguments and witness testimony on the killing of George Floyd began 10 months after videos of his death sparked outrage and protests against racial inequality.
"The evidence will show that Mr. Floyd died of a cardiac arrhythmia," defense attorney Eric Nelson told the jury in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.
This is the first time a Minnesota trial has been broadcast. Unlike Iowa, Wisconsin and other states, courts here have long opposed electronic media coverage.
