Facts About The George Floyd Arrest

“Holding him down to the ground face down and putting your knee on the neck for that amount of time, is just uncalled for," he said.

Lt. Richard Zimmerman, the Minneapolis Police Department's most senior officer in years served, testified Friday about the training officers receive. He said he’d been trained on having suspects in the prone position, meaning face down, since 1985. He has never been trained to kneel on the neck of a suspect who is prone – as Floyd was while Chauvin subdued him from above.

"That would be the top level of force," said Zimmerman, who also characterized it as potentially lethal danger.

"Once a person is in handcuffed, you need to get them out of the prone position as soon as possible because it restricts their breathing," said Zimmerman. "If you're laying on your chest, that's constricting them (breathing muscles) even more."

He noted that Minneapolis police officers are trained to abide by their department’s use of force continuum, which involves constantly revaluating and adjusting the level of force used on a person, depending on the threat that’s posed. After a person is in handcuffs, "the threat level goes down all the way," Zimmerman said.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/derek-chauvin-trial-live-veteran-officer-testifies-about-use-of-force-training-says-knee-on-a-person-s-neck-can-kill/ar-BB1feMN3