“Mr. George Floyd’s tragic death was not due to lack of training: the training was there. Chauvin knew what he was doing,” Arradondo said in a statement.
“The officers knew what was happening, one intentionally caused it and the others could not prevent it. This was murder, it was not lack of training,” said Arradondo.
Arradondo released the statement Tuesday night in response to questions about training records and a Star Tribune request for data on whether the Minneapolis Police Department followed through on a promise in a 2013 settlement to require all sworn officers to submit. Training on the dangers of positional asphyxiation.
Chief Arradondo said in the statement that the Minneapolis Police Department “went beyond the requirements” of the agreement.
Not only did it provide the training, but it changed its policies in June 2014 to “explicitly require the transfer of an arrested person from a prone position to a recovery position when the maximum restraint technique is used and requires continuous monitoring of the condition of an arrested “.
CNN has reached out to attorneys for former officers Derek Chauvin, Tou Thao and Thomas Lane for comment. Former officer J. Alexander Kueng’s attorney declined to comment Wednesday morning.
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