Defense expert witness Barry Brodd was asked by attorney Eric Nelson if Chauvin’s actions was a use of deadly force. “It was not,” he responded.
He was asked to explain that opinion and gave an example that he teaches:
“I’ll give you an example that I used to teach my academy classes, so officers respond to a domestic violence situation, and the suspect is still there, and he fights with the suspect, he fights with the officers and the officers are justified and using a taser to overcome this person’s noncompliance. They tase the individual and the individual falls to the ground, strikes their head and ice. That is not an incident of deadly force, that’s an incident of an accidental death, and in my review, I would like to see whether the suspect resisted and was objectively reasonable.”
Brodd is being retained by defense attorney Eric Nelson. He has been paid for his work on the case, he testified.
The prosecution’s use-of-force expert testified Monday that Chauvin’s actions represented deadly force and were unreasonable.
“Both the knee across Mr. Floyd’s neck and prone restraint were unreasonable, excessive and contrary to acceptable police practices,” said Seth Stoughton, a former police officer and associate professor of law at University of South Carolina.
“No reasonable officer would have believed that was an appropriate or acceptable use of force,” he added.