MINNEAPOLIS – Video of George Floyd gasping for breath, more detailed and gruesome than any released before, was shown at the first day of the trial of a Minneapolis police officer accused of killing Floyd. In his opening statement to the jury, Jerry Blackwell, a special prosecutor, played the video that showed Derek Chauvin kneeling on George Floyd’s neck for 9 minutes, 29 seconds as the Black man pleaded for his life. Chauvin kept his knee in place even after Floyd went limp in unconsciousness A core issue in the trial is excessive use of force. Blackwell told jurors that Chauvin “didn’t let up, he didn’t get up.” In the video Floyd said 27 times that he couldn’t breathe and went motionless.
Blackwell. Emphasizes that police officer Derek Chauvin’s knee was into Floyd’s neck for 9:29 minutes, more than the usually cited 8:46.