Police pinned down George Floyd for so long ‘it looked like camera feed had frozen’

‘They were still on the ground. That whole situation was still the same,’ 911 dispatcher says

A 911 dispatcher has told a court she believed video capturing George Floyd’s death had frozen because officers had remained on top of him for so long. 

Jena Scurry testified on Monday in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the police officer who has been charged with the murder of Floyd in Minneapolis in May last year.

Ms Scurry told jurors she watched Mr Floyd’s arrest unfold on a video feed from city security cameras last year, however, what she saw made her so concerned that she called her supervisor, a police sergeant, to show him the footage.

Ms Scurry also said that at first, she believed the video had frozen because officers remained on top of Mr Floyd for minutes as she checked in and out of the video while handling other calls.

“They were still on the ground. That whole situation was still the same,” she testified in court. “I first asked if the screens had frozen because it hadn’t changed,” she added.

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“My instincts were telling me something is wrong, something is not right. I don’t know what, but something was not right,” she said. “It was an extended period of time.” 

Mr Chauvin kneeled on Mr Floyd’s neck for 9 minutes and 30 seconds.

Ms Scurry’s call to the police sergeant was also released by the City of Minneapolis in June, where she can be heard beginning the call by saying, “You can call me a snitch if you want to...”

Ms Scurry said it was unusual and “out of the scope” of her duty to report a use-of-force issue, but she had felt compelled to make the call. She also told the court that was the first time she made such a report.

The trial of Mr Chauvin, who is one of the four police officers to be tried over the case, began on Monday. After being held at a maximum-security prison in Minnesota since May 2020, Mr Chauvin was provided conditional bail for $1m (£730,000) in October and was asked to surrender his firearms, forbidden to work in law enforcement till his trial was finished.

Mr Chauvin is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter and his trial is expected to last for several weeks.

The death unleashed months of protests against racial justice across the US last year. Mr Floyd, 46, was arrested after he was accused of trying to use a counterfeit $20 bill at a convenience store.