‘Should Have Stopped’: Minneapolis Police Chief Testifies That Chauvin’s Restraint ‘Absolutely’ Violated Policy

Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo testified in the trial of former MPD officer Derek Chauvin on Monday, saying that Chauvin’s actions restraining George Floyd “absolutely” violated department policy, and was “not part of our training and is certainly not part of our ethics or values.”

Prosecutors questioned Arradondo at length about MPD department policy and training procedures for taking a person into custody or restraint. The chief repeatedly emphasized the “responsibility” and “humanity” of the policing profession, and how people in custody still have rights and there was “an obligation to make sure we provide for their care.”

Arradondo described the policies regarding chokeholds, which he called a deadly force option, and neck restraints, making a distinction between conscious and unconscious neck restraints, noting that a conscious neck restraint was meant to control but not render a subject unconscious, and should involve only “light to moderate pressure.”

An “unconscious neck restraint,” Arradondo said, was authorized only when “the officer was in fear of great bodily harm or death,” and neither type of neck restraint was to be used by someone who was only passively resisting.

“Once Mr. Floyd had stopped resisting, and certainly once he was in distress and trying to verbalize that, that should have stopped,” he testified.

“There is an initial reasonableness in trying to get him under control in the first few seconds,” Arradondo continued. “But once there was no longer any resistance and clearly when Mr. Floyd was no longer responsive and even motionless, 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 by policy. It is not part of our training, and it is certainly not part of our ethics or our values.”

The prosecutor asked Arradondo if he believed that Chauvin had properly followed department policy regarding de-escalation, and he answered, “I absolutely don’t agree with that.”

“That action is not de-escalation,” Arradondo added when asked for clarification. “And when we talk about the framework of our sanctity of life and when we talk about the principles and values we have, that action goes contrary to what we’re taught.”

He also agreed with the prosecutor that the bystander video of Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck was “absolutely” a violation of policy. “The conscious neck restraint by policy mentions light to moderate pressure,” said Arradondo. “When I look at Exhibit 17 [showing Chauvin kneeling on Floyd] and when I look at the facial expression of Mr. Floyd, that does not appear in any way, shape or form that that is light to moderate pressure.”

Watch the video above, via CBS.