The first witness in the murder trial of former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin testified on Monday that while watching live police camera footage of George Floyd's arrest last May, she actually thought the video had frozen because of how long Chauvin was kneeling on his neck, The New York Times reports.
Jena Scurry, a 911 dispatcher, took the stand as the prosecution played the video. In her testimony, Scurry recalled she couldn't tell precisely what was happening on the ground, but she said she grew concerned about how long the officers remained in the same position and eventually made the rare decision to call her supervisor and report the use of force. "My instincts were telling me that something's wrong," Scurry said Monday.
Per the Times, the prosecution is "leaning heavily" on the argument that Chauvin kept his knee on Floyd's neck for nine minutes and 29 seconds, rather than the eight minutes, 46 seconds that the police originally claimed. Time-stamped police body-camera video has reportedly since shown the updated number.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
The 5 best political thriller series of the 21st centuryThe Week Recommends Viewers can binge on most anything, including espionage and the formation of parliamentary coalitions
-
Sudan stands on the brink of another national schismThe Explainer With tens of thousands dead and millions displaced, one of Africa’s most severe outbreaks of sectarian violence is poised to take a dramatic turn for the worse
-
‘Not every social scourge is an act of war’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
France makes first arrests in Louvre jewels heistSpeed Read Two suspects were arrested in connection with the daytime theft of royal jewels from the museum
-
Trump pardons crypto titan who enriched familySpeed Read Binance founder Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty in 2023 to enabling money laundering while CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange
-
Thieves nab French crown jewels from LouvreSpeed Read A gang of thieves stole 19th century royal jewels from the Paris museum’s Galerie d’Apollon
-
Arsonist who attacked Shapiro gets 25-50 yearsSpeed Read Cody Balmer broke into the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion and tried to burn it down
-
Man charged over LA’s deadly Palisades Firespeed read 29-year-old Jonathan Rinderknecht has been arrested in connection with the fire that killed 12 people
-
4 dead in shooting, arson attack in Michigan churchSpeed Read A gunman drove a pickup truck into a Mormon church where he shot at congregants and then set the building on fire
-
2 kids killed in shooting at Catholic school massSpeed Read 17 others were wounded during a morning mass at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis
-
Australian woman found guilty of mushroom murdersspeed read Erin Patterson murdered three of her ex-husband's relatives by serving them toxic death cap mushrooms
