'Resisting suffocation is not resisting arrest': Ex-prosecutor explains why police defense in George Floyd killing won't fly

On CNN Thursday, former federal prosecutor Laura Coates explained why police cannot use the defense the George Floyd was "resisting arrest" to excuse his death.

"If these officers can prove there was some kind of resistance at some point, might that complicate the task of the Hennepin County attorney, were he to bring charges?" asked anchor Jake Tapper.

"It's a consideration, but it would not be a full explanation or defense of behavior," said Coates. "Resisting suffocation is not resisting arrest. Let me be clear with that. The code and the policy of the police officers is that they have to use only the amount of force necessary to repel a force against them. This is a man on his stomach, handcuffed behind his back, gasping for air, calling out for help and saying he cannot breathe."

"And following the shooting death of Jamar Clark just a few years ago in Minneapolis, the actual policy manual of the PD department in Minneapolis changed to then require a duty to intervene. Fellow officers who were looking at their colleagues viewing the use of force, and if the amount of force being used was either excessive or no longer necessary to restrain someone, then they had a duty to intervene. Hence, the probably rapid firing of the other officers who were on the scene."

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