One of the paramedics who provided medical attention to George Floyd testified during the fourth day of Derek Chauvin's murder trial.
Seth Zachary Bravinder said the original call was a Code 2 because of a "mouth injury with police on scene." Ambulance drivers do not need to put on their lights or sirens and can drive normally when responding to Code 2 calls. While paramedics were on their way to the scene, the call was upgraded to Code 3, allowing the driver to rush to the scene with lights and sirens blaring.
Bravinder told the jury that when he arrived, Floyd appeared to be unresponsive.
"From what I could see where I was at, I didn't, I didn't see any breathing or movement or anything like that," Bravinder said.
He then helped the other paramedics put Floyd onto a stretcher and loaded him into the ambulance. Bravinder said Floyd was limp at the time and that he had to use his hands to prevent Floyd's head "from slamming down on the pavement."
"I guess limp would be the best description. He wasn't — he was unresponsive and wasn't holding his head up or anything like that," Bravinder said.
Bravinder then described their efforts to revive Floyd in the ambulance after he flatlined while on the way to the hospital. They used a mechanical chest compression device to try to jumpstart his heart, but that was unsuccessful, and Floyd was pronounced dead.
Earlier in the day, Courteney Ross, Floyd's girlfriend, testified and described their battle with opioid addiction.
"Both Floyd and I, our story — it's a classic story of how many people get addicted to opioids. We both suffered from chronic pain. Mine was in my neck, and his was in his back. We both have prescriptions. But after prescriptions that were filled, and we got addicted, and tried really hard to break that addiction many times."
She said that she took him to the hospital for what she later learned was a drug overdose in March 2020.
"I thought I was taking him to work. He wasn't feeling good. His stomach really hurt. He was doubled over in pain. Just wasn't feeling well, and he said he had to go to the hospital, so I took him straight to the hospital. We went to the ER, and they were checking him out in the ER, and it was getting late. And I had to go to work myself that Friday night," she said.
"You later learned that that was due to an overdose?" defense attorney Eric Nelson asked.
"Yes," Ross responded.
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