Minneapolis | The three agents should have intervened to save George Floyd, according to a lieutenant

(Saint Paul) Three former Minneapolis police officers on trial over George Floyd’s civil rights violation should have stepped in to stop co-worker Derek Chauvin when he had his knee on the black man’s neck, the chief testified Thursday. from the Minneapolis Police Homicide Unit.

“If you see another officer using excessive force or doing something illegal, you have to step in and stop them,” Lt. Richard Zimmerman, the police force’s highest-ranking officer, said at the federal trial. former agents J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao.

He added that duty can also mean stepping in to begin first aid if another police officer fails to do so, and it can mean pushing back a police officer if necessary.

Asked what Mr. Chauvin was doing that he thought was significant, Mr. Zimmerman replied: “Knee on his neck — the officers should have intervened at that time and arrested him. It can be deadly. »

MM. Kueng, Lane and Thao are accused of depriving George Floyd, then 46, of his civil rights by not giving him medical help while he was handcuffed, face down with police officer Chauvin’s knee pressed against his neck for 9.5 minutes on May 25, 2020. Mr. Kueng knelt on George Floyd’s back, Mr. Lane restrained his legs while Mr. Thao kept passersby at bay.

The defense pointed out that Mr. Chauvin was the most senior officer on the scene and argued that the others had been trained to obey him. MM. Lane and Kueng were rookies, while Mr. Thao had been with the police force for about eight years.

But rank and seniority don’t change the duty to intervene, Zimmerman said.

“We all wear the same badge,” he said.

During cross-examination by Mr. Kueng’s attorney, Thomas Plunkett, Mr. Zimmerman admitted to telling FBI investigators that he had a low opinion of Derek Chauvin and that “I think that’s about known throughout the department that he is a fool”.

Mr. Zimmerman agreed that a “fool” probably shouldn’t be a field training officer, as Mr. Chauvin had been for Mr. Kueng.