BIDEN TO WATCH CLOSELY OFFICER CHAUVIN’S TRIAL IN CASE OF GEORGE FLOYD DEATH

Tue 30 March 2021:

US President Joe Biden will follow closely the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in the case of the death of George Floyd, White House spokesperson Jen Psaki told reporters on Monday.

“He certainly will be watching closely as Americans across the country will be watching,” Psaki said during a press briefing.

The trial started in Minneapolis, Minnesota, earlier on Monday.

Chauvin, who is white, is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter in connection with the death of George Floyd, who was Black, during an arrest last May. For 8 minutes and 46 seconds, Floyd – handcuffed and face down on the pavement – said repeatedly that he could not breathe, while other officers looked on.

On Monday morning, Floyd’s family members and several attorneys knelt for 8 minutes and 46 seconds outside the courthouse to commemorate the time Chauvin was originally reported to have stayed on Floyd’s head and neck.

“Today starts a landmark trial that will be a referendum on how far America has come in its quest for equality and justice for all,” said Floyd civil attorney Benjamin Crump.

The trial is being held at a heavily fortified Hennepin County courthouse in downtown Minneapolis, surrounded by fencing and law enforcement. Due to Covid-19 precautions, plexiglass barriers have been set up inside the courtroom and witnesses and attorneys are required to wear masks when not speaking.

The jury was shown video of the killing of #GeorgeFloyd on the first day of Derek Chauvin’s murder trial.

It shows Chauvin holding his knee on Floyd’s neck for minutes as onlookers plead for him to stop. Family say: “The video is the proof.”

1 juror says they had never seen it. pic.twitter.com/3rosF4EDHG

— AJ+ (@ajplus) March 29, 2021

In an article on police violence written after George Floyd’s killing, criminal justice scholar Jill McCorkel noted that Derek Chauvin was “the subject of at least 18 separate misconduct complaints and was involved in two additional shooting incidents.”

A video of Floyd’s agonizing death soon went viral, triggering last summer’s unprecedented wave of mass protests against police violence and racism. Chauvin’s murder trial is expected to last up to four weeks.

Psaki declined to say whether Biden plans to talk with the Floyd family but noted that he did so last spring.

Biden conveyed his condolences then and was impressed by the Floyd family’s courage, Psaki said.

Biden supports the George Floyd legislation introduced in Congress and hopes to receive it on his desk to sign, Psaki added.

Since 2000, U.S. police have killed between 1,000 and 1,200 people per year, according to Fatal Encounters, an up-to-date archive of police killings. The victims are disproportionately likely to be Black, male and young, according to a study by Frank Edwards at the Rutgers School of Criminal Justice, in Newark.

Photo: Floyd family lawyer Ben Crump, Rev. Al Sharpton, and George Floyd‘s brother kneel outside the Hennepin County Government Center ahead of the start of the trial of Derek Chauvin.