Derek Chauvin trial: expert witness says police should’ve stopped force once George

We’re still on recess at the moment, but the first pool report from court has dropped into my inbox.

Remember, due to Covid restriction, only two reporters are being allowed into the trial room each day, so everyone covering the event – including the Guardian – is relying on eyewitness reports sent from reporters in the room.

The reports are often really useful to get an understanding of how the jury is responding to certain evidence, and based on this morning’s session the pool report says jurors were paying close attention to Stiger’s evidence to prosecutors.

In particular, seven jurors were taking notes as Stiger discussed the use of pain compliance by Derek Chauvin on George Floyd. The pool report documents “much less note taking” as defense attorney Eric Nelson begins asking Stiger about the Graham vs Connor supreme court decision.

Court has gone into a 20 minute break as Stiger’s cross examination continues.

During that last exchange Nelson began asking the witness about the crowd of onlookers who filmed the George Floyd arrest, and, perhaps inadvertently, pointed out that cellphone video technology has fundamentally changed the way in which citizens have been able to document interactions with law enforcement.

In particular, Nelson referenced Darnella Frazier, the teenager who filmed that now infamous video of Floyd’s death. Now 18, she gave powerful testimony to the jury at the beginning of last week.

For some more context on how witnessing extreme acts of police affect those who film them, I thought I’d reshare a magazine piece I wrote with a former colleague back in 2015. It focuses on Feidin Santana, the man who filmed the lethal police shooting of Walter Scott in North Charleston back in 2015.

The piece is five years old, but I’ve been thinking a lot about the Walter Scott case recently and some of what Feidin told me feels very relevant now: