Most senior Officer in Minnedishu PD says that it is lethal force to put your knee on someone's neck. They have never been trained to do this with someone handcuffed behind their back while in the prone position.
He further states that simply being handcuffed with your hands behind your back makes it hard to breathe, and being in the prone position would make it even harder to breathe. For this reason once someone is handcuffed with their hands behind their back you get their chest off the ground. (GF's chest was on the ground the whole time) He said you usually get them on their side or sitting.
This came before the break at 10:45 local time, probably after 10:15.
He further states that of the 5 levels of force, once you have someone handcuffed behind their back you immediately drop to the lowest level of force and threat, the perp can't really hurt you, while they can still kick you can get out of the way.
Cross-examination should be interesting!
He also establishes that the Officer who handcuffs a perp immediately becomes responsible for their well being. I point out that if Chauvin didn't handcuff GF, this adds a wrinkle to the case.
People experiencing overdoses can regain consciousness and become violent. It's so common that it is something to watch out for when administering Narcan. Based on Floyd's prior behavior it makes the most sense to keep him immobilized.
And they will.
"Keeping him still" is Police training for EXD. That and calling the ambulance is all they can do. If Chauvin himself can testify to that it may be the strongest part of the defense.
LT said having called the ambulance doesn't relieve the responsibility to start CPR. If others testify that's also true, this may become a key part of the prosecution.
If any medical expert can testify that the toxicology report itself would definitely result in death regardless, that would make this easy.