ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) 鈥� Federal prosecutors rested their case Monday against setting the stage for two of the officers to soon take the stand as part of their defense.
The prosecution rested its case after nearly three weeks of testimony from doctors, police officers and bystanders, including the teenager who recorded widely seen video that showed Officer Derek Chauvin pressing his knee onto Floyd's neck for 9 1/2 minutes while the 46-year-old Black man was handcuffed, facedown and pleading for air.
J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao are broadly charged with violating Floyd鈥檚 constitutional rights while acting under government authority. Kueng knelt on Floyd鈥檚 back and Lane held down his legs while Thao kept bystanders back.
All three are accused of depriving Floyd of medical care. Kueng and Thao are also accused of failing to intervene to stop the May 25, 2020, killing, which triggered protests worldwide and a reexamination of racism and policing. The charges allege that the officers鈥� actions resulted in Floyd鈥檚 death.
Before court ended for the day Monday, Thao and Kueng told the judge that they plan to testify. Lane鈥檚 attorney, Earl Gray, told the jury earlier that Lane would also be taking the stand, but on Monday, Gray said he and Lane would like to talk it over more before making a decision.
The defense is expected to start presenting witnesses on Tuesday.
, who was 16 when Floyd was killed, was the last witness to testify for the prosecution. Frazier, who was given a special citation by the Pulitzer Prizes for her video of the killing, said she knew Floyd needed medical care when he became unresponsive.
鈥淥ver time, he kind of just became weaker and eventually just stopped making sounds overall,鈥� she said.
Moments after she took the stand, Frazier, who is now 18, began crying, saying: 鈥淚 can鈥檛 do it. I鈥檓 sorry.鈥� The judge, took a short break before resuming. When Frazier came back, she talked about witnessing Floyd on the ground with Chauvin's knee on his neck.
鈥淚t looked like he was very uncomfortable and he kept saying, `I can鈥檛 breathe,'" she said, adding that Thao looked like he was protecting and patrolling the area. When prosecutor LeeAnn Bell asked what it appeared to her that Thao might need to protect. She said Floyd 鈥渨as the only one who needed protection at that moment.鈥�
She added: 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 see George Floyd resist at all. The only thing I saw him do was really try to find comfort in his situation 鈥� try to breathe and get more oxygen.鈥�
Earlier Monday, a use-of-force expert testified that the officers should have intervened. The testimony from Tim Longo, the police chief at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, was peppered with emphatic objections, numerous warnings from the judge that the information was repetitive, and combative cross-examination.
Gray, Lane's attorney, challenged Longo on whether he was asserting that 鈥渕y client, a four-day veteran鈥� should have thrown Chauvin off Floyd. Both Kueng and Lane were just a few days into their jobs as full-fledged officers.
鈥淚 think someone should have done something, yes,鈥� Longo replied.
Gray continued, thundering, 鈥淲hat else should they have done besides that?鈥�
鈥淣o one asked Chauvin to get his knee off his neck,鈥� Longo said after a little more discussion.
Longo testified earlier that an officer has a duty to take 鈥渁ffirmative steps鈥� to stop another officer from using excessive force.
鈥淭he term 鈥榠ntervene鈥� is a verb, it鈥檚 an action word. And it requires an act. And what you do is, you stop the behavior,鈥� he said.
Chauvin, who is white, last year and
Lane, who is white; Kueng, who is Black; and Thao, who is Hmong American, also face a separate state trial in June on charges alleging that they aided and abetted murder and manslaughter.
___
Find AP鈥檚 full coverage of the killing of George Floyd at:
Amy Forliti And Steve Karnowski, The Associated Press
