George Floyd death: Chauvin 'trained to stay away from neck'

A police trainer has testified that ex-officer Derek Chauvin was not trained to use his knee in a neck restraint as he did during George Floyd's arrest.

Minneapolis use-of-force expert Lt Johnny Mercil said Mr Chauvin should also have later moved the prone Mr Floyd to a different position.

Mr Chauvin, 45, was filmed kneeling on Mr Floyd for over nine minutes during Mr Floyd's arrest last May.

Mr Chauvin is on trial for murder and has denied the charges against him.

With the trial in its second week, jurors have now heard from more than 20 witnesses, including two police training experts on Tuesday. The trial is expected to last for at least one month.

As police officers are rarely convicted or charged at all for deaths that occur in custody, the verdict in this trial is being seen as an indication of how the US legal system will treat such cases in future.

Prosecutors are seeking to prove that Mr Chauvin's actions violated his training and have focused their questions on police guidelines and strategies taught to help officers de-escalate situations.

Mr Chauvin's defence attorneys have argued that Mr Floyd's efforts to resist arrest necessitated the restraint, and that the "hostile" crowd surrounding Mr Chauvin required "unique situational awareness".

Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) training coordinator Mr Mercil told the court that officers are taught to use force in proportion to a suspect's level of resistance and it was "very important to be careful with the person".

"We tell officers to stay away from the neck when possible," he said, adding that officers are told to place body weight on a suspect's shoulders when reasonable.

Mr Mercil testified that based on the training that officers receive, Mr Chauvin should only have used that manner of neck restraint if there was "active aggression" involved.

He said that Mr Floyd had no ability to resist or show aggression once he was face down on the ground.

Mr Mercil told the court that Mr Chauvin should have recognised that it was "time to de-escalate the [level of] force" once Mr Floyd fell unconscious, and that Mr Floyd should have been moved into a different position to avoid asphyxiation.

Earlier in the day, Sgt Ker Yang, a crisis intervention training coordinator, confirmed that Mr Chauvin had completed the department's 40-hour practical training course and his "ultimate goal" should have been to assess Mr Floyd's medical condition during his arrest.

Prosecutors have suggested that asphyxiation was the cause of Mr Floyd's death - contrasting with the ruling of the medical examiner who said Mr Floyd died of "cardiopulmonary arrest", which means a person's heart and lungs have stopped.

Mr Chauvin's defence team has contended that alleged drug use and an underlying heart condition contributed to Mr Floyd's death.

Both Mr Mercil and Mr Yang agreed with the defence that police tactics need to be "dynamic" independent of training and "may be lawful even if they look bad", as Mr Chauvin's lawyer said, in certain unique situations.

Analysis by Tara McKelvey, BBC News, Minneapolis

When prosecutors questioned Johnny Mercil, one of several officers who have been called to the stand, on Tuesday, they asked about the way that officers are taught to use force on suspects during an arrest, and the practice of "neck restraints".

The use of force, as it is known, lies at the heart of the prosecutors' strategy. They are trying to show that Mr Chauvin broke rules, and was a rogue officer.

One of their key witnesses, police chief Medaria Arradondo, testified on Monday that Mr Chauvin violated policies regarding the use of force.

Mr Chauvin's lawyer Eric Nelson has fought against that notion by emphasising that officers have to consider different factors while using force, such as potential threats from a nearby crowd.

Mr Nelson granted that, occasionally, an officer might "look bad" while restraining a suspect, but the officer could still be following the law, and the policies, on the use of force.

Mr Nelson's main argument - that Mr Floyd died largely because of alleged drug usage and a weak heart, not because of the way Mr Chauvin treated him - will be ramped up in the coming days, as medical evidence about his death is presented.