Derek Chauvin was “justified” when he put his knee on George Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes last May, a police trainer and use-of-force expert testified in Mr Chauvin’s murder trial on Tuesday.

“I felt that Officer Chauvin’s interactions with Mr Floyd were following his training, following current practices in policing, and were objectively reasonable,” said Barry Brodd, a witness for the defence.

He’s the first to offer this interpretation, after numerous senior Minneapolis police officers and outside experts have argued that the former officer went way overboard during Mr Floyd’s fatal arrest for a counterfeit $20 bill last May.

Contrary to these previous opinions, Mr Brodd testified that the “prone control” position, pressing someone against the ground to restrain them, was not inherently a use of force because it was unlikely to cause pain, though he conceded under questioning it was possible.

“It doesn’t hurt,” he said. “You’ve put the suspect where it’s safe for you, the officer, safe for the the suspect, and you’re using minimal effort to keep them on the ground.”

Throughout his arrest, Mr Floyd expressed over and over again that he was in pain and couldn’t breathe.

Minneapolis police department policy considers restraint a use of force.

Under questioning from state prosecutor Steve Schleicher, Mr Brodd conceded that restraining someone in the prone position could cause pain.“If someone is not resisting, and they’re compliant, the use of ‘control,’ as you put it, that could produce pain, is just not justified is it?” Mr Shleicher asked.

“No,” Mr Brodd responded.

Previously, senior Minneapolis police officers like Lieutenant Richard Zimmerman, the longest serving officer on the force, said kneeling on someone’s body is deadly force.

“Totally unnecessary,” lieutenant Richard Zimmerman said when asked whether that sort of move was justified in a situation like George Floyd’s arrest.

“First of all, pulling him down to the ground face-down and putting your knee on a neck for that amount of time is just uncalled for. I saw no reason why the officers felt they were in danger, if that’s what they felt, and that’s what they would have to have felt to use that kind of force.”

“That would be the top tier: the deadly force ... because of the fact that if your knee is on somebody’s neck, that could kill him,” he added.

Others have said the move didn’t follow Minneapolis policy use of force policy either, which formally makes protecting the public and honouring the “sanctity” of life.

Mr Chauvin received nearly 900 hours of paid training as part of his employment with the Minneapolis police force.

“There’s an initial reasonableness in trying to get him under control in the first few seconds,” Minneapolis police chief Medaria Arradondo testified last week. “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 by policy, is not part of our training, and is certainly not part of our ethics or values.”

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