Three former Minneapolis police officers charged with violating George Floyd’s civil rights “chose to do nothing” as Officer Derek Chauvin squeezed the life out of Mr Floyd, a prosecutor said in her closing argument on Tuesday.
Defence lawyers countered that the officers were too inexperienced, weren’t trained properly and did not wilfully violate Mr Floyd’s rights.
J Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao are charged with depriving Floyd of his right to medical care when Chauvin pressed his knee into Mr Floyd’s neck for nine-and-a-half minutes as the 46-year-old Black man pleaded for air before going silent.
Kueng and Thao are also charged with failing to intervene to stop Chauvin during the May 25 2020 killing captured on a bystander video that triggered protests worldwide and a re-examination of racism and policing.
Prosecutors sought to show during the month-long trial that the officers violated their training, including when they failed to roll Mr Floyd onto his side or give him CPR.
Prosecutors have argued that Mr Floyd’s condition was so serious that even bystanders without basic medical training could see he needed help. But the defence said the Minneapolis Police Department’s training was inadequate and that the officers deferred to Chauvin as the senior officer at the scene.
Thao watched bystanders and traffic as the other officers held down Mr Floyd. Kueng knelt on Mr Floyd’s back and Lane held his legs. All three officers testified.
During her closing argument, prosecutor Manda Sertich singled out each former officer.
Thao stared directly at Chauvin and ignored bystanders’ pleas to help a man who was dying “right before their eyes,” Ms Sertich said.
Kueng casually picked gravel from a police SUV’s tire as Chauvin “mocked George Floyd’s pleas by saying it took a heck of a lot of oxygen to keep talking,” she said.
And Lane voiced concerns that showed he knew Mr Floyd was in distress but “did nothing to give Mr Floyd the medical aid he knew Mr Floyd so desperately needed,” the prosecutor said.
But lawyers for rookies Lane and Kueng urged jurors to question why their clients were charged at all.
Lane’s lawyer, Earl Gray, said his client was “very concerned” about Mr Floyd and suggested rolling the man on his side so he could breathe, but was rebuffed twice by Chauvin. He noted that Lane tried to help revive Mr Floyd after the ambulance arrived, telling jurors that “any reasonable person should just be disgusted, should be infuriated” that Lane was charged.
Kueng’s lawyer, Thomas Plunkett, said police weren’t adequately trained on the duty to intervene and that Chauvin was in charge. He also said Kueng looked up to Chauvin, his former field training officer, and “relied on this person’s experience”.
Thao’s lawyer, Robert Paule, said his client thought the officers were doing what they believed was best for Mr Floyd — holding him until paramedics arrived.
He noted that Thao increased the urgency of an ambulance call for Mr Floyd, something he said was clearly “not for a bad purpose.” He also said that Thao reasonably believed Mr Floyd was on drugs and needed to be restrained until medical assistance arrived.
Jurors were expected to begin deliberations on Wednesday, after the judge gives them instructions.
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