Key events
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5.27pm EDT
17:27
Kenosha police officer who shot Jacob Blake is back on the job
2.16pm EDT
14:16
Brooklyn Center mayor calls for more community-based policing, names new acting chief
1.44pm EDT
13:44
Police chief and officer resign over fatal shooting of Daunte Wright
11.54am EDT
11:54
Floyd was ‘very’ startled when police pointed gun at him, witness tells Chauvin jury
10.39am EDT
10:39
The Chauvin prosecution rests
8.55am EDT
08:55
Proceedings to resume in Chauvin murder trial
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5.27pm EDT
17:27
Kenosha police officer who shot Jacob Blake is back on the job
Joanna Walters
Around three months after it was announced that the officer who shot Jacob Blake in the back last summer would not face criminal charges, the police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, announced that the officer is back on the job.
Without mentioning Blake’s name or details of the shooting last year, beyond referring to a “use of force incident” the Kenosha Police Department put out a statement via Twitter this afternoon.
Kenosha Police Dept.
(@KenoshaPolice)
Media Release pic.twitter.com/wdq5QaNNyk
April 13, 2021
Blake said in January of this year that he feared becoming the “next George Floyd” if he had allowed himself to fall down last August when he was shot multiple times in the back and side next to his car after a confrontation with police.T he shooting has left him paralyzed from the waist down.
The police statement today on behalf of the chief, Daniel Miskinis, said that the incident “was investigated by an outside agency, has been reviewed by an independent expert as well a the Kenosha county district attorney.”
Officer Rusten Sheskey returned to work with the Kenosha PD on March 31.
”Officer Sheskey was found to have been acting within policy and will not be subjected to discipline,” the statement said, adding: “Although this incident has been reviewed at multiple levels, I know that some will not be pleased with the outcome however, given the facts, the only lawful and appropriate decision was made.”
5.18pm EDT
17:18
Testimony from Barry Brodd, who took the stand for Derek Chauvin’s defense as a use-of-force expert, has come to an end.
Judge Peter Cahill has sent jurors home for the day, and lawyers on both sides are now discussing legal matters.
5.02pm EDT
17:02
The Guardian’s Oliver Laughland is reporting from Minnesota on the death of Daunte Wright, who was killed by police during a traffic stop Sunday in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center. Wright’s death comes as the trial for Derek Chauvin nears a conclusion, heightening tensions in a city that’s on edge about its outcome.
Laughland writes:
As court broke for lunchtime recess, members of George Floyd’s family held a joint press conference with members of Wright’s family.
It was bitterly cold, with snow pounding the assembled group. Both Wright’s mother, his aunt, cousin and girlfriend addressed reporters along with two of George Floyd’s brothers.
Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who is now representing both families, spoke about the Wright case just as news broke that the Brooklyn Center police chief Tim Gannon and officer Kim Potter who shot and killed the unarmed 20 year-old had resigned. He expressed disbelief that the Wright shooting had occurred while the Chauvin trial was going on.
“It is unbelievable, something I cannot fathom, that in Minneapolis, Minnesota, a suburb ten miles from where the Chauvin trial regarding George Floyd was taking place that a police officer would shoot and kill another unarmed black man,” Crump said.
He continued: “If ever there was a time where nobody in America should be killed by police, it was during this pinnacle trial of Derek Chauvin. What I believe is one of the most impactful civil rights police excessive use of force cases in the history of America.”
Wright’s mother, Katie, told the story of how she had been on the phone to her son as he was apprehended by law enforcement. She spoke through tears and watched as his aunt lead the crowd in a now familiar chant.
“Say his name!,” she shouted.
“Daunte Wright”. The group replied.
Oliver Laughland
(@oliverlaughland)
Daunte Wright’s mother Katie is talking about the phone-call she had with her son as he was pulled over by Brooklyn Center police. She’s speaking through tears as the snow continues to fall, flanked by members of the Floyd family. pic.twitter.com/pwE2KyXSLE
April 13, 2021
4.47pm EDT
16:47
The prosecution has pressed Barry Brodd, a defense expert witness on use-of-force, about whether the crowd surrounding George Floyd’s arrest constituted a threat to police officers.
Their line of questioning stems from the fact that Chauvin’s lawyer, Eric Nelson, has claimed the crowd was a distraction and potential threat to officers. Prosecutors are questioning Brodd about this because he has previously said a crowd could change the dynamics for officers, thus impacting what constitutes a “reasonable” use-of-force.
The prosecution is playing body camera video that shows a crowd gather, over time, as police subdue Floyd. In a video from the beginning of Floyd’s subdual, there are only a few people on the sidewalk.
Prosecutors, through their questioning, point out that there are a “handful of onlookers on the sidewalk”—not the street, not near police. They also point out that the initial crowd is comprised of an elderly man and two teenage girls.
“They don’t appear to be making any noise at all at this point,” the prosecution says.
“Not that I can hear, no,” Brodd says.
“And [they] certainly would not have distracted the defendant?”
“That I cannot say,” Brodd replies.
“Well, they’re not doing anything and they’re not saying anything,” the prosecution prods.
“I think they could have been aware of their presence, and started to plan for it.”
The prosecution plays another video of the crowd, when more observers have gathered on the sidewalk, some of whom are making statements about the arrest.
“Was this crowd a threatening crowd?”
“No,” Brodd concedes.
Updated
at 4.49pm EDT
4.05pm EDT
16:05
Amudalat Ajasa
One of our correspondents in Minnesota, Amudalat Ajasa, has been on location today and yesterday in Brooklyn Center, the suburb of Minneapolis where Duante Wright, 20, was shot dead on Sunday by the police and where people outraged. She’s running around reporting for a forthcoming article, so for now your blogger brings you some of her reportage.
Amudalat Ajasa
(@AmudalatAjasa)
Despite frigid temperatures and snow, people have gathered to mourn the death of #DaunteWright at the new fist monument on 63rd and Kathrene in Brooklyn Center. pic.twitter.com/5uNiE5yLMa
April 13, 2021
There has been a particularly raw sense of solidarity-in-tragedy in the area, given that Brooklyn Center is only around 15 miles from the junction in south Minneapolis, now known as George Floyd Square, where Floyd, 46, was killed last May by the police.
Outside the Cup Foods corner store where Floyd was pinned to the street by now-ex officer Derek Chauvin, who’s standing trial for murder, statements of support have been written for Duante Wright.
And the original Black power fist sculpture, made out of wood, that graced the intersection until it was replaced recently with a metal one, was quickly transported to Brooklyn Center and appeared at a vigil for Wright yesterday.
Protest has been constant since Sunday.
Amudalat Ajasa
(@AmudalatAjasa)
Hundreds of protesters have gathered outside of the Brooklyn Center police department to protest the death of #DaunteWright for the second day in a row. pic.twitter.com/3HgmiazxYe
April 12, 2021
They’ve faced police in riot gear. Munitions were fired at protesters last night.
Amudalat Ajasa
(@AmudalatAjasa)
Officers in riot gear are trying to push the protesters into the street. #DaunteWright pic.twitter.com/OxqbLbh7A1
April 12, 2021
Protesters chant Wright’s name.
Amudalat Ajasa
(@AmudalatAjasa)
Protesters chant #DaunteWright’s name at the Brooklyn Center police department with a little over an hour before the 7 PM curfew. pic.twitter.com/jMFKe5amno
April 12, 2021
And here’s the moment yesterday when some activists outside the Brooklyn Center police and mayoral press conference heard the explanation that the officer Kim Potter, who has since resigned, had meant to draw her Taser to stun Wright but drew her gun by mistake and shot him dead.
Amudalat Ajasa
(@AmudalatAjasa)
Activists and reporters just watched as the body cam video of #DaunteWright is revealed inside the Brooklyn Center police department. The police chief claims the officer accidentally shot her gun instead of her taser. pic.twitter.com/3vOINE9gxj
April 12, 2021
Updated
at 4.09pm EDT
3.41pm EDT
15:41
The prosecution is now cross-examining Barry Brodd, a defense witness called to testify about use-of-force. One thing that Brodd has said earlier was that the prone restraint position isn’t inherently a use-of-force. Derek Chauvin kept his knee against George Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes when he was prone against the ground.
Danny Spewak
(@DannySpewak)
Defense witness Barry Brodd says that “maintaining of the prone control, to me, is not a use of force,” and that there were “valid reasons” to keep Floyd face-down because of “space limitations.”
April 13, 2021
The prosecution’s questioning of Brodd has made him seem a bit inconsistent. They ask Brodd whether his opinion would change—whether he would consider the prone position a use of force—if it caused an arrestee pain.
“If the pain was inflicted through the prone control, I would say that is a use of force,” he says.
Prosecutors ask Brodd whether he thinks it’s “unlikely that orienting yourself on top of a person on the pavement, with both legs, is unlikely to produce pain?”
“It could,” Brodd says.
By pressing Brodd on his statement that the prone position doesn’t necessarily cause pain—which does not make much sense—he doesn’t come across as the most reliable witness.
3.02pm EDT
15:02
It hasn’t taken long for Chauvin’s attorney to try casting George Floyd as unpredictable drug user whose behavior changed the playing field for appropriate use-of-force. Chauvin’s lawyer, Eric Nelson, has asked use-of-force expert Barry Brodd whether substance use can affect use-of-force requirements.
“It has quite a large impact, in my opinion,” Brodd replies. People on drugs might not “be hearing” what officers ask them to do.
“They may have erratic behavior. They don’t feel pain.”
“They may have superhuman strength,” he also says. “They may have an ability to go from compliant to extreme non-compliance in a heartbeat.”
Brodd also says that the prone position might be “safer” for an arrestee who’s handcuffed, because they can’t run off and injure themselves. It might also prevent an arrestee from choking on their own vomit, he claims. More
