The chief of the Minneapolis Police Department testified on Monday that Derek Chauvin had “absolutely” violated department policies when he knelt on George Floyd for more than nine minutes in May, saying Mr. Chauvin “should have stopped” when Mr. Floyd was calling out for help. Chief Medaria Arradondo said in court that Mr. Chauvin, who has been charged with murder, had failed to follow department policies on use-of-force, de-escalation, and the duty to render aid to people who need it. “I absolutely agree that violates our policy,” Chief Arradondo said in response to a prosecutor’s question about Mr. Chauvin’s actions. “That is not part of our policy; that is not what we teach.”Chief Arradondo, who became the city’s first Black police chief when he took over in 2017, fired Mr. Chauvin and three other officers who were involved in the arrest within a day of Mr. Floyd’s death in May. The next month, he publicly called Mr. Floyd’s death a “murder.”

Source: New York Times April 05, 2021 19:41 UTC