Duty sergeant: Officers could have ended Floyd restraint

A Minneapolis police supervisory sergeant who was on duty the night George Floyd died testified that he believes the officers who restrained Floyd could have ended it after he stopped resisting.

David Pleoger testified on April 1 at the trial of since-fired officer Derek Chauvin, who is charged with murder and manslaughter in Floyd's death. He noted that officers are trained to roll people on their side to help with their breathing after they have been restrained in the prone position.

"When Mr. Floyd was no longer offering up any resistance to the officers, they could have ended the restraint," Pleoger said.

"And that was after he was handcuffed and on the ground and no longer resistant?" prosecutor Steve Schleicher asked.

"Correct," replied Ploeger, now retired.

Chauvin, 45 and white, is accused of killing Floyd by pinning his knee on the 46-year-old Black man's neck for 9 minutes, 29 seconds, as he lay face-down in handcuffs. Floyd had been accused of passing a counterfeit $20 bill at a neighborhood market.

His death triggered large protests around the U.S., scattered violence and widespread soul-searching over racism and police brutality. The most serious charge against Chauvin carries up to 40 years in prison.

April 1's testimony began with Floyd's girlfriend tearfully telling the jury how they met in 2017, at a Salvation Army shelter where he was a security guard with "this great, deep Southern voice, raspy", and how they both struggled with an addiction to painkillers.

"Our story, it's a classic story of how many people get addicted to opioids. We both suffered from chronic pain. Mine was in my neck and his was in his back," 45-year-old Courteney Ross said.

She said they "tried really hard to...