In Early Testimony for Defense, Witness Says Chauvin’s Force Was ‘Justified’

The defense also presented body camera video from a previous arrest of George Floyd, part of its strategy to shift the jurors’ focus to his use of illicit drugs.

MINNEAPOLIS — A police officer approached a car with George Floyd in the front seat, and Mr. Floyd started to panic. While officers ordered him to spit out a pill he was trying to swallow, he repeatedly begged them not to shoot him. Within seconds, one of the officers had his gun drawn and Mr. Floyd was being pulled out of the car and handcuffed. The body-worn camera video of that scene was shown for the first time on Tuesday to jurors in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former police officer charged with murdering Mr. Floyd. The episode was strikingly similar to the day Mr. Floyd died. But it had been taken a year before.