First witness in Chauvin trial testifies she thought police camera froze because of how long he kneeled on George Floyd's neck
The first witness in the murder trial of former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin testified on Monday that while watching live police camera footage of George Floyd's arrest last May, she actually thought the video had frozen because of how long Chauvin was kneeling on his neck, The New York Times reports.
Jena Scurry, a 911 dispatcher, took the stand as the prosecution played the video. In her testimony, Scurry recalled she couldn't tell precisely what was happening on the ground, but she said she grew concerned about how long the officers remained in the same position and eventually made the rare decision to call her supervisor and report the use of force. "My instincts were telling me that something's wrong," Scurry said Monday.
Per the Times, the prosecution is "leaning heavily" on the argument that Chauvin kept his knee on Floyd's neck for nine minutes and 29 seconds, rather than the eight minutes, 46 seconds that the police originally claimed. Time-stamped police body-camera video has reportedly since shown the updated number.
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