DAY 4 Trial Update: Check out today’s commentary on the George Floyd / Derek Chauvin trial. DAY 4. Today was a very strong day for the prosecution with very impactful witnesses. 4.01.2021 @715 pm NBC10 Philadelphia.

Video Transcript

now to the Derek Chauvin murder trial late this afternoon a former Minneapolis police sergeant testified about a phone call he had with Chauvin on the day George Floyd died he says Chauvin told him Floyd suffered a medical emergency he also testified that the officer’s restraint to Floyd should have ended after he was handcuffed on the ground and no longer resisting and this morning Floyd’s girlfriend took the stand giving emotional testimony Courtney Bate Ross recounted the first time she met Floyd when he was working as a security guard she talked about a kind gesture from Floyd when she was having a bad day he said what can i pray with you it was so sweet she also talked about how the death of Floyd’s mother affected him joining us now is NBC legal analyst Enrique L1 Latoison Enrique we just heard that emotional testimony from George Floyd’s girlfriend she also acknowledged she employed battled addiction let’s listen into that drug use was a part of that relationship yes and what kind of drug use was a part of that relationship Floyd and i uh both suffered with opioid addiction Enrique the defense made Floyd’s drug use and issue during their opening statement we heard that so why would the prosecution ask about it well the first thing i want to tell you is day four today a lot of things happen and i believe today was a really good day for the prosecution all around with all their witnesses and everything they presented today so you know the defense eventually is going to plant this as an issue that has drug use so what the prosecution’s doing is they’re getting out ahead of it they put his ex-girlfriend on the stand today a humanized George fluid it shows the kind of person he was it also established the fact that he was a functional user he was somebody that was using but he wasn’t someone that was struggling with breathing or having issues and i believe what they were doing was they were getting out ahead of it and they were setting the stage to preempt the defense down the road we know Derek Chauvin’s former police supervisor also took the stand today and was critical of Chauvin’s actions how crucial is that testimony to the prosecution’s case well this was huge testimony today for the prosecution the defense has already alleged in their opening statement that the officer was following his training and this supervisor who was in charge of training and things of that nature who was an expert on this testified too that it’s very important that an officer maintains his critical thinking and that they do over and over again reassess the situation and that was the important part reassessing the situation to say that even if George Floyd at some point was resisting at the point that he’s no longer resisting he’s no longer breathing he no longer has a pulse this is time to reassess the situation and to maybe not use that restraint at that point because the situation has changed and how important was the testimony of the paramedics and other medical personnel about their interaction with George Floyd when they responded to that call i believe the prosecution hit a home run with these testimony from these witnesses here because what they said was when they arrived they had already assessed the fact that he was dead the George Floyd had no pulse that no blood was pumping through his heart at that point and this is what they observed when they came upon it see the defense in this matter is basically saying that um you know mr Floyd was in some sort of like twilight uh state that he wasn’t dead but that he wasn’t exactly alive and these witnesses for the prosecution today were clear that when they came onto scene uh mr Chauvin’s knee was still on mr Floyd’s neck and that he was dead to a lay person and it was no pulse and i believe this was very strong testimony for the prosecution all right nbc legal analyst Enrique L1 Latoison and thanks as always for your insight we appreciate it see you soon