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Lieutenant: Officers should have intervened in Floyd killing

Published:Friday | February 11, 2022 | 12:12 AM
In this image taken from video, witness Lt. Richard Zimmerman, of the Minneapolis Police Department, testifies on April 2, 2021, in the trial of former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
AP
In this image taken from video, witness Lt. Richard Zimmerman, of the Minneapolis Police Department, testifies on April 2, 2021, in the trial of former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

ST PAUL, Minnesota (AP)

Three former Minneapolis police officers on trial for violating George Floyd’s civil rights should have intervened to stop fellow Officer Derek Chauvin when he had his knee on the black man’s neck, the head of the Minneapolis Police Department’s homicide unit testified Thursday.

“If you see another officer using too much force or doing something illegal, you need to intervene and stop it,” Lt Richard Zimmerman, the most senior officer in the department, said at the federal trial for former Officers J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane, and Tou Thao.

He added that the duty can also mean intervening to begin first aid if another officer fails to give it and that it can mean moving an officer out of the way if necessary.

Asked what Chauvin was doing that was significant to him, Zimmerman replied: “The knee on the neck - the officers should have intervened at that point and stopped it. ... It can be deadly.”

Kueng, Lane, and Thao are accused of depriving Floyd, 46, of his civil rights by failing to give him medical aid while he was handcuffed, facedown, with Chauvin’s knee pressed on to his neck for nine and a half minutes on May 25, 2020. Kueng knelt on Floyd’s back and Lane held down his legs while Thao kept bystanders back.