George Floyd case: Jurors shown video footage at ex-police officer's trial

Prosecutor Jerry Blackwell showed the jurors video footage of George Floyd gasping for breath during the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin who pressed his knee on the deceased's neck.

The video of George Floyd gasping for breath was essentially Exhibit A as the former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin who pressed his knee on the deceased’s neck went on trial on Monday on charges of murder and manslaughter. Prosecutor Jerry Blackwell showed the jurors the footage at the earliest opportunity, during opening statements, after telling them that the number to remember was 9 minutes, 29 seconds — the amount of time officer Derek Chauvin had George Floyd pinned to the pavement in last May. The white officer “didn’t let up” even after a handcuffed George Floyd said 27 times that he couldn’t breathe and went limp, Blackwell said in the case that triggered worldwide protests, scattered violence, and national soul-searching over racial justice.