Minneapolis Police Chief indicates that Derek Chauvin violated department policy

Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo testified on Monday that he believes that former officer Derek Chauvin's act of placing his knee on George Floyd's neck and leaving it there did not reflect department policy, training, values and ethics.

"The conscious neck restraint by policy, mentions light to moderate pressure. When I look at exhibit 17 and when I look at the facial expression of Mr. Floyd, that does not appear in any way, shape or form that that is light to moderate pressure," Arradondo said. "I absolutely agree that violates our policy," he said.

"Once Mr. Floyd had stopped resisting and certainly once he was in distress and trying to verbalize that, that should have stopped. There's an initial reasonableness in trying to just get him under control ... in the first few seconds. But once there was no longer any resistance, and clearly when Mr. Floyd was no longer responsive and even motionless, to continue to apply that level of force to a person, proned out, handcuffed behind their back, that in no way, shape or form is anything that is by policy," nor is it "part of our training and it is certainly not part of our ethics or our values," he said.

The testimony in the high-profile trial comes after protests and civil unrest erupted last year in the wake of Floyd's death.