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Thursday marked the fourth day of the trial of former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, who faces second-degree unintentional felony murder, third-degree “depraved mind” murder, and second-degree manslaughter charges in connection with the death of George Floyd. Testimony from witnesses who were at the scene has been presented throughout this week. Today Courtney Ross, his ex-girlfriend had to testify.
In the face of witness testimony presented by the prosecution, Chauvin’s lawyer said, according to The New York Times, that the officers were intimidated by what was happening in front of a growing crowd. And that this distracted them from paying attention to George Floyd.
However, Thursday’s hearing was marked by Ross’s statements, who said that she and Floyd allegedly had addictions during their relationship. This was reported by EFE news agency.
Trial’s fourth day
“We both suffered from chronic pain. Mine was in my neck and his was in his back, we both had prescriptions, but once they ran out, we became addicted, and we really tried hard to end that addiction many times,” Ross said.
Meanwhile, last Wednesday, lawyers for George Floyd’s family insisted that although the presence of substances was found in his body, the cause of death, in their opinion, was police abuse.
George Floyd died in May of last year. The incident occurred when four officers attempted to arrest him for using a counterfeit bill to pay at a store. During his arrest, Chauvin pinned him to the ground with a knee to his neck. Minutes later Floyd died.
