Police officer ‘squeezed life out of’ George Floyd, prosecution claims

Defence lawyer Eric Nelson, left, and former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin listen in court (AP)

The former police officer charged with killing George Floyd went on trial in the US city of Minneapolis, with a prosecutor telling the jury that the figure to remember is nine minutes 29 seconds — the amount of time Derek Chauvin’s knee was on Mr Floyd’s neck as the black man pleaded for his life and went limp.

Prosecutor Jerry Blackwell told jurors that Chauvin “didn’t let up, he didn’t get up” even after Mr Floyd said 27 times that he could not breathe and went motionless.