Ex-Minneapolis police officer Chauvin was trained twice in past 4 years to diffuse tense situations: testimony

Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin had been trained twice over the past four years on how to defuse tense situations with people in crisis and how police must use the least amount of force necessary to get someone to comply, police personnel testified Tuesday during the seventh day of his trial.

Police were responding at the time to reports that Floyd had tried to use a counterfeit $20 bill to buy a pack of cigarettes at a neighborhood convenience store. In this image from video, Minneapolis Police Crisis Intervention Coordinator Ker Yang testifies as Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill presides Tuesday, April 6, 2021, in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin at the Hennepin County Courthouse in Minneapolis, Minn. (Court TV via AP, Pool) In this image from video, Minneapolis Police Lt. Johnny Mercil, a use-of-force trainer, testifies as Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill presides Tuesday, April 6, 2021, in the trial of former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin at the Hennepin County Courthouse in Minneapolis. (Court TV via AP, Pool) The former cop’s attorney, Eric Nelson, has largely argued that Chauvin was following his training and that it was Floyd’s use of illegal drugs and his underlying health conditions – not the officer’s knee – that killed him. He has also recently questioned at trial whether Chauvin’s knee was on Floyd’s neck, or if it was actually on his shoulder. On Tuesday, Sgt. Ker Yang, the Minneapolis police official in charge of crisis-intervention training, and use-of-force instructor Lt. Johnny Mercil became the latest department members to testify as part of an effort by prosecutors to discredit Nelson’s argument that Chauvin was doing what he was trained to do when he put his knee on Floyd's neck.