In what feels like an intrusion into a deeply personal family matter, a juror from the federal trial of three ex-cops accused in George Floyd’s death had to inform the court he would no longer be able to serve on the jury. The maintenance manager who’s also a U.S. Army veteran said in trial proceedings ABC News covered that his son is dealing with mental health issues, so U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson dismissed the juror and seated in his stead one of six alternates: a father of two who works at a data company.
The trial otherwise continued as planned on Wednesday. Dr. Vik Bebarta, an emergency physician and toxicologist, testified that Floyd “died from a lack of oxygen to his brain,” the Associated Press reported. Countering implications raised in the state trial against former cop Derek Chauvin, Bebarta testified that Floyd didn’t die from drug use, alleged “excited delirium,” or heart disease. He was suffocated.
While responding to allegations Floyd had a fake $20, Chauvin kneeled on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes on May 25, 2020 outside of the Cup Foods store in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng held the Black father down, and Tou Thao blocked bystanders from providing him aid.
Kueng, Thao, and Lane are accused of violating Floyd’s civil rights. Thao and Kueng pleaded not guilty to failing to intervene in Chauvin’s use of unreasonable force, and Lane, Thao, and Kueng pleaded not guilty to willfully failing to aid Floyd. Chauvin was convicted of murder and sentenced to 22.5 years in prison in the state case against him. He pleaded guilty to federal charges against him in a plea deal that caps any additional time in prison at two and a half years.
Bebarta said in testimony the AP covered that he believes CPR could have revived Floyd if compressions were started the moment officers noticed they couldn’t find a pulse. “Every minute that lifesaving measures are not given, like CPR or chest compressions, they have a 10% lower chance of survival,” he said, citing the American Heart Association.
Bebarta’s account seemed to coincide with what Minneapolis Police Officer Nicole Mackenzie, a medical support coordinator with the department, said officers were trained to do in her testimony on Tuesday. She testified that when Floyd repeatedly said he couldn't breathe, Kueng and Lane should have sat him up or rolled him on his side. She said Thao offered no aid from what she could see.
“If you can’t detect a pulse after about 10 seconds, then you should begin CPR,” Mackenzie testified.
The defense has not yet started to present its witnesses, but in opening statements, defense attorneys for Lane, Kueng, and Thao blamed their clients' actions on a lack of training, allegations that Floyd resisted arrest, and Chauvin's presence on the scene as the most senior officer.
It seems they will be repeating a defense refrain from Chauvin’s state trial and trying their best to make the jury believe drug use contributed to Floyd’s death.
McKenzie Anderson, a crime lab scientist with the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, oversaw the processing of evidence from Lane and Kueng’s squad car and a Mercedes SUV Floyd rode in before his death. Anderson was called to the stand to testify on Wednesday and questioning continued on Thursday.
When prosecutor LeeAnn Bell asked how long Earl Gray, Lane's attorney, would spend cross-examining Anderson, Gray responded half an hour, journalist Lou Raguse tweeted on Thursday.
“Earl Gray is focusing his cross-examination on the pills on the floor in the squad car that Anderson failed to collect in the first search warrant,” Raguse said in another tweet.
The prosecution already established that pills and pill fragments found in the SUV Floyd rode in contained methamphetamine and that Floyd tested positive for the substance.
The prosecution also began questioning Lt. Richard Zimmerman. He testified that what he was told and what he saw in video "were just totally different," Raguse reported. He noted greater force used than was described and a lack of first aid provided.
"By policy, we have to intervene,” Zimmerman said. “Another officer might not allow it, but you stop to intervene. By that you mean you have to take an action to push the officer off if that’s the case, but you have to take an action."
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