As the prosecution in the murder trial of former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, charged in George Floyd’s death, rested its case, the defense began calling its witnesses on Day 12. One expert called to the stand, ex-police officer and use-of-force expert Barry Brodd, testified that Chauvin was “justified” in his use of force against Floyd.

“Police officers don’t have to fight fair,” Brodd said. “They’re allowed to overcome your resistance by going up a level.”

“I felt that Officer Chauvin’s interactions with Mr. Floyd were following his training, following current practices in policing, and objectively reasonable,” He continued. Brodd is the first expert called during the trial to claim that Chauvin’s use of force was by the book. This goes counter to what a number of law enforcement officers, including the Minneapolis police chief, have previously said in testimony during the trial. Brodd’s almost-casual dismissal of questions about Chauvin’s use of force led to one notable moment under cross-examination, when a prosecutor questioned the witnesses observation of Floyd’s distress.

A number of legal experts found Brodd to be less than impressive during his testimony.

Brodd would later acknowledge, under cross-examination, that the method Chauvin used to restrain Floyd qualified as a “use of force” under the policies of the Minneapolis P.D.

The jury also heard from two witnesses who shared new insight before Floyd was arrested and pinned on the ground. One was a woman who was with Floyd just before the officers approached his car. They also viewed body camera footage from Peter Chang of the Park Police, who had responded to the scene to provide backup. At one point, he described the crowd that had gathered around the scene as “becoming more loud and aggressive.”

But Chang’s appearance on the stand seemed to be contradictory at times and raised even more questions about the defense strategy. His body cam footage, for instance, shows Floyd  handcuffed and sitting on the street as a police officer asked him for his name and birthday. He answered the officer in a coherent manner and did not try to run away.

The defense has argued Floyd’s hypertensive heart disease and ingestion of meth and fentanyl, together with struggling with the officers, led to his death, and not Chauvin’s use of force.