Derek Chauvin’s Defense Begins Case By Highlighting George Floyd’s Prior Arrest To Justify His Death

As the prosecution rests its case in the George Floyd murder trial, the defense team has already begun to call witnesses to the stand, and is primarily focusing on George Floyd’s previous arrests in order to justify Derek Chauvin‘s actions on that fateful day.

On Tuesday, Derek Chauvin’s defense team brought up George Floyd’s arrest and drug use in May 2019. The first witness was former Minneapolis Police officer Scott Creighton, who testified that he pulled him over and approached Floyd on the passenger side of a vehicle back in 2019. Floyd reportedly did not show his hands and was unresponsive to the officer’s demands.

In body-camera footage of the incident, Creighton shouts and curses at Floyd, who seems distressed and tells the officer he doesn’t want to get shot. Eventually he is led away in cuffs.

“He keeps moving his hands around. He won’t listen to what I have to say,” Creighton said in the video.

“This evidence is being admitted solely for the limited purpose of showing what effects the ingestion of opioids may or may not have had on the physical well-being of George Floyd,” Judge Cahill told the jury on Tuesday. “This evidence is not to be used as evidence of the character of George Floyd.”