Speaking Thursday on Boston Public Radio, former Suffolk County Sheriff Andrea Cabral said she does not expect officer testimony against former Minneapolis police officer Chauvin will become the norm, adding wryly that she lives “to dash all of your hopes and optimism.”
More than a week into Chauvin's, a handful of his former colleagues in the force, including Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo, have testified that Chauvin’s violent method of subduing George Floyd fell outside the department’s standards.
Read More: CNN Anchor Don Lemon: Officers Charged With Floyd's Killing 'Didn't See His Humanity'
Chauvin currently faces three murder charges related to Floyd's death back in May. Video of the former office kneeling on Floyd's neck as he pleaded for his life triggered wide-scale protests against police brutality and institutional racism.
The atypical role MPD officers are playing in the high-profile, televised trial has prompted conversation about whether their testimony signals an end to a long-standing approach of refusing to speak out against the actions of other police officers — the so-called "blue wall of silence."
“I personally don’t think that this opens the floodgates,” Cabral said, “in part because I think the Chauvin trial and facts are unique ... in terms of the kind of evidence that can be put forth before the public.”
Watch: Rahsaan Hall On Derek Chauvin’s Murder Trial
And while she said she believes that the officers have been honest and transparent in their interpretation of the incident, she noted that they don’t have much of a choice.
“The facts of this case make it easy for people to be unequivocal in their testimony, because who wants to be the person who looked in the face of that video and said, ‘No, we kind of say this is okay'?”
Cabral is the former sheriff of Suffolk County and the former Massachusetts secretary of public safety. She is currently CEO of the cannabis company Ascend.
