“We don’t train leg-and-neck cuffs with agents on duty, and as far as I know, we never have,” said Lieutenant Johnny Mercil.
While neckcuffs are allowed for suspects who are actively resisting, they should not be done with the knee and are not allowed for a suspect who is handcuffed and under control, he said. Officers are taught to use only force proportionate to the threat.
“You want to use as little violence as possible to achieve your goals,” Mercil said. “If you can use less violence to achieve your goals, it’s safer and better for everyone involved.”
“That is in no way shape or form by policy. It is not part of our training, and it is certainly not part of our ethics or our values,” Arradondo said.
Chauvin, 45, pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and third-degree manslaughter. Defense attorney Eric Nelson has not stated whether Chauvin will testify in his own defense.
Testimony in the trial began last Monday and is expected to last about a month.
Program coordinator emphasizes de-escalation
The Minneapolis Police Department’s Crisis Intervention Program Training Coordinator testified Tuesday on the importance of recognizing when someone is in crisis and de-escalating the situation.
“Policy requires that when it is safe and feasible, we de-escalate,” said Sgt. Ker Yang, who has been with the department for 24 years.
Officers are trained in a critical decision-making model to address people in crisis that calls on them to constantly assess and reassess what is needed in the situation, he said. Chauvin took a 40-hour course on crisis intervention training in 2016 in which actors portrayed people in crisis and officers had to de-escalate the situation, Yang testified.
During a cross-examination, Yang said the crisis intervention model could potentially apply to both the suspect and nearby observers. The training advises agents to appear confident, stay calm, keep space, speak slowly and softly, and avoid staring or eye contact, he said.
Yang’s testimony comes after Arradondo and other officials criticized Chauvin’s actions. Arradondo said on Monday that the kneeling violates policies around de-escalation, fair use of force, and the requirement to provide assistance.
“That action is not a de-escalation, 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 against what we are talking about,” said Arradondo.
According to Police Inspector Katie Blackwell, who led the department’s training program last year, the training in the use of force in Minneapolis was the use of one-armed or two-armed neck braces.
“I don’t know what an impromptu attitude this is,” she testified of Chauvin’s kneeling. “That’s not what we train.”
The passenger in Floyd’s vehicle plans to plead fifth
Morries Hall, who was in the car with Floyd when police first confronted them last May, appeared in court via Zoom on Tuesday before the jury arrived to discuss his intention to plead the Fifth if he is called to testify in the process.
Both the prosecution and the defense have called Hall as a witness. Nelson said he intended to ask Hall about his interactions with Floyd that day, their suspected use of a false account, whether he was giving Floyd drugs, and his statements to police about Floyd’s behavior in the vehicle.
Hall’s attorney, Adrienne Cousins, argued that he intended to exercise the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, and she asked Judge Peter Cahill to withdraw his subpoena to testify. Cousins said she was concerned that Hall’s testimony could be used in charges such as drug or third-degree murder against him.
“This allows Mr. Hall to potentially impeach himself into a future prosecution for third-degree murder,” Cousins told Cahill, noting that the murder statute allows the prosecution of someone who has administered drugs that lead to an overdose.
Judge Cahill said any questions about possible misconduct would not be allowed, but he said he would be open to allowing specific questions about Floyd’s behavior in the vehicle that day. He asked Nelson to draft specific questions on that point, which will be passed on to Hall and his attorneys and discussed in a future hearing.
Hall’s testimony could be key to the defense, which has argued that Floyd’s cause of death was a mix of drug use and pre-existing health problems.
Hall is currently in custody on unrelated charges of domestic violence, domestic violence by strangulation and the violation of a protection order.