Derek Chauvin “betrayed the badge” the day George Floyd died, prosecutors said Monday during closing arguments in the closely watched murder trial — as jurors saw never-before-seen photos of Floyd’s injuries.
“That day, his badge wasn’t in the right place,” prosecutor Steve Schleicher told jurors in Hennepin County District Court. “He knew better. He just didn’t do better. This was not an accident.”
“He betrayed the badge and everything it stood for,” Schleicher said. “It’s not how they’re trained. It’s not following the rules.
“This is not an anti-police prosecution. It’s a pro-police prosecution.”
New photos of Floyd’s injuries were displayed in court for the first time — showing bruises to the left side of his face, as well as his bloodied shoulder and knuckles from being pinned to the ground.
Schleicher told the panel that Floyd begged for his life “until he could speak no more” while Chauvin pressed a knee to his neck.
“George Floyd’s final words on May 25, 2020, were, ‘Please, I can’t breathe,’” he said. “Please, I can’t breathe.”
“Nine minutes and 29 seconds,” Schleicher said. “During this time, George Floyd struggled, desperate to breathe, to make enough room in his chest to breathe.”
“The force was too much,” he continued. “He was trapped. He was trapped with the unyielding pavement underneath, as unyielding as the men who held him down, pushing him.”
Schleicher also addressed claims by the defense that Floyd had to be restrained because he was larger and stronger than Chauvin.
“There was no superhuman strength that day,” he said. “There’s no superhuman strength because there’s no such thing as superman strength. Those exist in comic books.”
“Only humans,” he added. “Just a man. Just a man lying on the pavement, being pressed upon. Desperately crying out. A grown man crying out for his mother.”
Schleicher said Floyd was “so desperate to breathe, he pushed with his face — with his face — to lift himself, to open his chest, to give his lungs room to breathe.”
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