April 6 (UPI) — Minneapolis Police Lt. Johnny Mercil, a use-of-force instructor with the department’s training unit, testified Tuesday that former officer Derek Chauvin did not follow proper police training when he placed his knee on George Floyd’s neck to restrain him last May during the arrest that led to his death.
Mercil, a department veteran since 1996, testified for prosecutors on Tuesday in Chauvin’s murder trial over Floyd’s death.
During the proceedings, prosecutor Steve Schleicher showed Mercil an image of Chauvin with his knee on Floyd’s neck during the arrest and asked if doing so was an authorized use-of-force.
“I would say no,” Mercil answered.
Defense attorneys have argued that drug use and a pre-existing health condition were the causes of Floyd’s death. Prosecutors contend that Floyd died because Chauvin kept his knee pressed to the back of his neck for almost 10 minutes during the arrest outside a Minneapolis convenience store on May 25, 2020.
Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo, who testified Monday, also said that Chauvin violated department policy by kneeling on Floyd’s neck while he was handcuffed.
Mercil, who trained Chauvin on defensive tactics, added that “restraint is a form of force” and that applying both force or restraint must be proportional.
“You want to use the least amount of force necessary to meet your objectives, to control,” he said. “And if those lower uses of force do not work, would not work or are too unsafe to try, then you increase the level of force against that person.”
Mercil told prosecutors that police trainers tell officers to stay away from the neck area when restraining a suspect, and instead teach them to place a knee on the shoulder blades. A neck restraint, he said, is defined as “constricting the sides of a person’s neck.”
“We tell officers to stay away from the neck when possible and if you’re going to use body weight to pin, to put it on their shoulder and be mindful of position,” Mercil said.
He added that it often takes less than 10 seconds to render someone unconscious with a neck restraint.
Prosecutors produced documents that showed Chauvin had attended Mercil’s training sessions.
The court had expected it might hear Tuesday from Morries Lester Hall, an acquaintance of Floyd’s who’d accompanied him to the market when the arrest occurred. An attorney for Hall, however, said he doesn’t want to testify.
The attorney added that, if called, Hall would invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. The judge in the case decided not to rule Tuesday whether Hall will be forced to testify. Hall, who’s being held in jail on charges unrelated to Floyd’s death, appeared via video.
Floyd’s girlfriend Courteney Ross testified last week that she and Floyd had obtained drugs from Hall in the past.
