A Minneapolis firefighter testifying at the federal trial of three former Minneapolis police officers says they ignored her pleas to help administer medical aid to George Floyd as the unresponsive Black man was pinned to the ground
Kueng, Lane and Thao are charged broadly with depriving Floyd of his civil rights while acting under government authority in the killing that triggered worldwide protests and a reexamination of racism and policing. Chauvin was convicted of state murder and manslaughter charges last year and pleaded guilty to a federal civil rights charge.
Whether the officers deprived Floyd of medical aid is a key element to the charges, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Manda Sertich sought to show jurors that responding paramedics were not given important information, and that Floyd should have been given medical attention immediately. Sertich got Smith to agree that CPR should have been started as soon as possible — something the officers were trained to do. Paramedics put Floyd in the ambulance and took him to another location to be treated.
Smith also acknowledged that he was concerned that Floyd might have been in a state of “excited delirium”— a disputed condition in which someone is described as having extraordinary strength.