Contreras still is growing as a catcher, but he’s no longer the kind who needs a bat to make a difference.

Cubs manager David Ross believes Willson Contreras’ evolution from bat-first catcher to all-around player is nearly complete.

Catcher is arguably the most demanding position in baseball, and many backstops never find the right balance between what they do at the plate versus what they do behind it. When he came up for the Cubs in 2016, Contreras showed he could deliver with his bat right away. He has a career OPS of .819 and consistently has hit for power since his rookie season.

But the question was always whether he could grow into the complete package and hone his game-calling and pitch-framing skills, too. In 2018, he was well below league average in pitch framing, but by last year, he had climbed to slightly above, and he had a career-best fielding percentage last season.

For his part, Contreras isn’t focused on making improvements just for his own sake.

“I just don’t think about it, to be honest,” he said. “I’m just trying to be a guy that helps a team to win as many ballgames that I can.”

At times, that has meant carrying the offense with his bat, and at other times, that has meant playing good defense and handling his pitching staff. Lately, Contreras has offered both.

“It’s a really hard skill set to find,” Ross said. “We put so much importance on game-calling, pitch-framing, the defensive side and what you do for your pitchers — that in itself could be enough for a lot of teams — and yet he comes out, and he’s a two-time All-Star, can really hit, he’s got power, is a really tough at-bat for us. He really brings us energy on a nightly basis.”

For most catchers, it’s tough to do things like shake off a bad night at the plate when they’re still needed to guide a pitcher through a rocky inning; they carry a sense of responsibility for a pitcher’s performance in a way the rest of the roster doesn’t. Where an outfielder might be able to check out mentally for a moment, a catcher never can.

At 28, Contreras is still young, but he has amassed a lot of baseball experience, which has facilitated his growth. Ross said he sees similarities between Contreras’ trajectory as a catcher and his own.

“You learn more the older you get of how to study,” Ross said. “The more you know the league or hitters, it can kind of speed up the process. Then you find out what works for you, whether it’s rewriting the scouting report, watching video, going through it with your starting pitcher. You learn to be a little more efficient in how you work. A lot of that changes with your batting practice or your defensive drills, but also with the studying that catchers have to do — that evolves as well, and how you streamline those things.”

While the rest of the Cubs’ offense struggled the first two weeks, Contreras was the lone bright spot, leading the team in batting average and on-base percentage and tying Kris Bryant for home runs. He was the spark plug in a win over the Braves on Saturday with homers in the first and third innings.

There’s still room for improvement, but Contreras has long since won over the clubhouse.

“He’s as passionate and hardworking as anybody we have,” Ross said. “He’s got the nickname ‘Killer’ around here because he’s got that killer instinct. He wants to win and does everything he can to help his team win.”

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The Blackhawks felt they played well for the majority of the game Monday against the Predators.

But two disastrous stretches — one entirely self-inflicted, the other aided by unlucky breaks — nonetheless doomed the Hawks to a 5-2 loss.

“It sucks,” Alex DeBrincat said. “We have a few breakdowns, about two minutes of poor hockey, and they score four goals. We’ve got to be better.”

“For a lot of the game, we were very good,” coach Jeremy Colliton said. “Ultimately, the mistakes we made are tough to recover from. It’s just tough to come back when you put yourself in a hole.”

The Stars beat the Red Wings 3-2 in a shootout, leaving the Hawks now sixth in the Central Division in terms of both points percentage and actual points. Their backs are against the wall in the playoff race, and six losses in as many games against Nashville this season are easily the biggest reason why.

Offensively, the Hawks did generate more Monday than they typically have against the Predators’ stout system.

With an emphasis on dump-and-chase zone entries and behind-the-net plays, the Hawks actually produced 57 shot attempts to Nashville’s 46. Colliton said the Hawks “did a better job of sustaining zone time.”

Defensively, however, the Hawks crumbled at the worst times.

The Preds took a 3-1 lead with two goals 51 seconds apart in the second period, taking advantage of a blown assignment from Nikita Zadorov in front of his own net followed by a needless Duncan Keith turnover that turned into a semi-breakaway.

Two goals 18 seconds apart in the third period’s opening minute later turned the game into a rout.

Turnovers by Pius Suter and Calvin de Haan contributed to the goals, but so did two unfortunate moments. Murphy had his helmet knocked off by Tanner Jeannot and had to leave the play or incur a penalty, letting Jeannot score easily; Murphy later called the rule “crazy.” Keith slipped while turning during the following play, letting Luke Kunin score easily.

“[In the] third period, [we were] probably not ready to go,” DeBrincat said. “We needed to have a good first shift and second shift, as well. We just can’t let that happen.”

Colliton pulled Kevin Lankinen after he allowed five goals on 22 shots, marking the first time he has made a goalie switch all season.

The Hawks’ three-game series against the Preds continues Wednesday and Friday in Chicago. Colliton said the team figured entering the day they’d “probably need two of these three.” Now, the math is even easier — and the climb is even steeper.

“The margin of error is small,” Connor Murphy said. “If you’re going to play for a playoff spot, you have to be sharp for longer periods of the game. We weren’t sharp for long enough tonight.”

Gaudette debuts

Trade deadline acquisition Adam Gaudette, who’d been practicing since last Wednesday, made his Hawks debut Monday.

The 24-year-old forward took the place of Brandon Hagel, who had yet another false positive COVID-19 test — his second in the past few weeks — and couldn’t get multiple negative results back before warmups, Colliton said.

Gaudette played only 7:39 but earned an assist on David Kampf’s second-period goal — Kampf’s first in 46 games this year.

“We felt [Gaudette] was close to ready, but with [Hagel] not being available, he got the chance,” Colliton said. “He got better as the game went on. Definitely the last two periods, he had some good shifts.”

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MINNEAPOLIS — Former Vice President Walter F. Mondale, a liberal icon who lost the most lopsided presidential election after bluntly telling voters to expect a tax increase if he won, died Monday. He was 93.

The death of the former senator, ambassador and Minnesota attorney general was announced in a statement from his family. No cause was cited.

Mondale followed the trail blazed by his political mentor, Hubert H. Humphrey, from Minnesota politics to the U.S. Senate and the vice presidency, serving under Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1981.

His own try for the White House, in 1984, came at the zenith of Ronald Reagan’s popularity. Mondale’s selection of Rep. Geraldine Ferraro of New York as his running mate made him the first major-party presidential nominee to put a woman on the ticket, but his declaration that he would raise taxes helped define the race.

On Election Day, he carried only his home state and the District of Columbia. The electoral vote was 525-13 for Reagan — the biggest landslide in the Electoral College since Franklin Roosevelt defeated Alf Landon in 1936. (Sen. George McGovern got 17 electoral votes in his 1972 defeat, winning Massachusetts and Washington, D.C.)

“I did my best,” Mondale said the day after the election, and blamed no one but himself.

“I think you know I’ve never really warmed up to television,” he said. “In fairness to television, it never really warmed up to me.”

Years later, Mondale said his campaign message had proven to be the right one.

“History has vindicated me that we would have to raise taxes,” he said. “It was very unpopular, but it was undeniably correct.”

In 2002, state and national Democrats looked to Mondale when Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn., was killed in a plane crash less than two weeks before Election Day. Mondale agreed to stand in for Wellstone, and early polls showed him with a lead over the Republican candidate, Norm Coleman.

But the 53-year-old Coleman, emphasizing his youth and vigor, out-hustled the then-74-year-old Mondale in an intense six-day campaign. Mondale was also hurt by a partisan memorial service for Wellstone, in which thousands of Democrats booed Republican politicians in attendance. One speaker pleaded: “We are begging you to help us win this election for Paul Wellstone.”

Polls showed the service put off independents and cost Mondale votes. Coleman won by 3 percentage points.

“The eulogizers were the ones hurt the most,” Mondale said after the election. “It doesn’t justify it, but we all make mistakes. Can’t we now find it in our hearts to forgive them and go on?”

It was a particularly bitter defeat for Mondale, who even after his loss to Reagan had taken solace in his perfect record in Minnesota.

“One of the things I’m most proud of,” he said in 1987, “is that not once in my public career did I ever lose an election in Minnesota.”

Years after the 2002 defeat, Mondale returned to the Senate to stand beside Democrat Al Franken in 2009 when he was sworn in to replace Coleman after a drawn-out recount and court battle.

Mondale started his career in Washington in 1964, when he was appointed to the Senate to replace Humphrey, who had resigned to become vice president. Mondale was elected to a full six-year term with about 54% of the vote in 1966, although Democrats lost the governorship and suffered other election setbacks. In 1972, Mondale won another Senate term with nearly 57% of the vote.

His Senate career was marked by advocacy of social issues such as education, housing, migrant workers and child nutrition. Like Humphrey, he was an outspoken supporter of civil rights.

Mondale tested the waters for a presidential bid in 1974 but ultimately decided against it. “Basically I found I did not have the overwhelming desire to be president, which is essential for the kind of campaign that is required,” he said in November 1974.

In 1976, Carter chose Mondale as No. 2 on his ticket and went on to unseat Gerald Ford.

As vice president, Mondale had a close relationship with Carter. He was the first vice president to occupy an office in the White House, rather than in a building across the street. Mondale traveled extensively on Carter’s behalf, and advised him on domestic and foreign affairs.

While he lacked Humphrey’s charisma, Mondale had a droll sense of humor.

When he dropped out of the 1976 presidential sweepstakes, he said, “I don’t want to spend the next two years in Holiday Inns.”

Reminded of that shortly before he was picked as Carter’s running mate, Mondale said, “I’ve checked and found that they’re all redecorated, and they’re marvelous places to stay.”

Mondale never backed away from his liberal principles.

“I think that the country more than ever needs progressive values,” Mondale said in 1989.

That year, Democrats tried to persuade him to challenge Minnesota GOP Sen. Rudy Boschwitz, but he decided against making the race, saying it was time to make way for a new generation.

“One of the requirements of a healthy party is that it renews itself,” he said at the time. “You can’t keep running Walter Mondale for everything.”

That paved the way for Wellstone to win the Democratic nomination, and go on to upset Boschwitz. Wellstone had been preparing to take on Mondale in a primary but would have been a heavy underdog.

The son of a Methodist minister and a music teacher, Walter Frederick Mondale was born Jan. 5, 1928, in tiny Ceylon, Minnesota, and grew up in several small southern Minnesota towns.

He was only 20 when he served as a congressional district manager for Humphrey’s successful Senate campaign in 1948. His education, interrupted by a two-year stint in the Army, culminated with a law degree from the University of Minnesota in 1956.

Mondale began a law practice in Minneapolis and ran the successful 1958 gubernatorial campaign of Democrat Orville Freeman, who appointed Mondale state attorney general in 1960. Mondale was elected attorney general in the fall of 1960 and was reelected in 1962.

As attorney general, Mondale moved quickly into civil rights, antitrust and consumer protection cases. He was the first Minnesota attorney general to make consumer protection a campaign issue.

After his White House years, Mondale served from 1993-96 as President Bill Clinton’s ambassador to Japan, fighting for U.S. access to markets ranging from cars to cellular phones.

He helped avert a trade war in June 1995 over autos and auto parts, persuading Japanese officials to give American automakers more access to Japanese dealers and pushing Japanese carmakers to buy U.S. parts.

Mondale kept his ties to the Clintons. In 2008, he endorsed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton for president, switching his allegiance only after Barack Obama sealed the nomination.

When Democrats came to him after Wellstone’s death, Mondale was working at the Minneapolis law firm of Dorsey & Whitney and serving on corporate and nonprofit boards. He returned to the firm after the brief campaign.

Mondale and his wife, Joan Adams Mondale, were married in 1955. During his vice presidency, she pushed for more government support of the arts and gained the nickname “Joan of Art.” She had minored in art in college and worked at museums in Boston and Minneapolis.

The couple had two sons, Ted and William, and a daughter, Eleanor. Eleanor Mondale became a broadcast journalist and TV host, with credits including “CBS This Morning” and programs with E! Entertainment Television. Ted Mondale served six years in the Minnesota Senate and made an unsuccessful bid for the Democratic nomination for governor in 1998. William Mondale served for a time as an assistant attorney general.

Joan Mondale died in 2014 at age 83 after an extended illness.

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David Santiago, 39, pleaded guilty last year to two counts of illegal possession of firearms, the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Northern District of Illinois said in a statement. 

A man convicted of selling guns out of his bedroom to Chicago gang members was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison last week.

David Santiago, 39, pleaded guilty last year to two counts of illegal possession of firearms, the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Northern District of Illinois said in a statement. The sentence was handed down April 15.

Santiago had previously been convicted of multiple felonies and was not legally allowed to possess a firearm, the attorney’s office said.

Prosecutors said Santiago sold guns out of his home in Chicago Lawn, many of which went to people whom he knew were gang members.

He boasted to buyers that the guns were “clean” and “brand new,” prosecutors said, and were purportedly obtained in Kansas.

During one sale, the buyer discussed how he intended to give a gun to a younger member of a gang, to which Santiago replied that he was going to provide one to the “guys” as well, prosecutors said. The buyer was cooperating with law enforcement and recorded the interaction.

Investigators seized 16 guns including rifles and semi-automatic handguns, prosecutors said. More than 100 grams of heroin were also recovered as Santiago also sold drugs out of his home.

“Santiago was running an illegal gun store from his bedroom,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy J. Storino argued in the government’s sentencing memorandum. “The over-proliferation of firearms in this city and the easy access of firearms in the hands of persons who should not have them has a direct correlation to the cyclical gun violence epidemic in Chicago.”

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WASHINGTON — Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who was injured while confronting rioters during the Jan. 6 insurrection, suffered a stroke and died from natural causes, the Washington, D.C., medical examiner’s office ruled Monday, a finding that lessens the chances that anyone will be charged in his death.

Investigators initially believed the officer was hit in the head with a fire extinguisher, based on statements collected early in the investigation, according to two people familiar with the case. And they later thought the 42-year-old Sicknick may have ingested a chemical substance — possibly bear spray — that may have contributed to his death.

But the determination of a natural cause of death means the medical examiner found that a medical condition alone caused his death — it was not brought on by an injury. The determination is likely to significantly inhibit the ability of federal prosecutors to bring homicide charges in Sicknick’s death.

U.S. Capitol Police said that the agency accepted the medical examiner’s findings but that the ruling didn’t change the fact that Sicknick had died in the line of duty, “courageously defending Congress and the Capitol.”

“The attack on our officers, including Brian, was an attack on our democracy,” police officials said in a statement. “The United States Capitol Police will never forget Officer Sicknick’s bravery, nor the bravery of any officer on January 6, who risked their lives to defend our democracy.”

Federal prosecutors have charged two men with using bear spray on Sicknick during the Jan. 6 riot. The arrests of George Tanios, 39, of Morgantown, West Virginia, and Julian Khater, 32, of Pennsylvania, were the closest federal prosecutors have come to identifying and charging anyone associated with the five deaths that happened during and after the riot.

Lawyers for the two men had no immediate comment Monday.

Sicknick died after defending the Capitol against the mob that stormed the building as Congress was voting to certify Joe Biden’s electoral win over Donald Trump. It came after Trump urged his supporters to “fight like hell” to overturn his defeat.

Sicknick was standing guard with other officers behind metal bicycle racks as the mob descended on the Capitol.

“Give me that bear shit,” Khater said before he reached into Tanios’ backpack, according to court papers. Tanios told Khater “not yet” because it was “still early,” but Khater responded that “they just f—ing sprayed me.” Khater was then seen holding a can of chemical spray, prosecutors say.

As the rioters began pulling on one of the racks, Khater was seen with his arm in the air and the canister in his hand while standing just 5 to 8 feet from the officers, authorities said.

In February, Sicknick became only the fifth person in history to lie in honor in the Capitol Rotunda, a designation for those who are not elected officials, judges or military leaders. He was interred at Arlington National Cemetery.

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Balsamo reported from New York. Associated Press writer Alanna Durkin Richer contributed to this report from Boston.

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Chicago Bears: Draft plans hinge on third overall pick by Usayd Koshul

With the 2021 NFL Draft just days away, the Chicago Bears‘ plan must start coming into focus.

Right now, it feels as though the Bears’ chances at making something big happen are slim to none. For some reason, there has been a bit of a lull in the rumor mill after it was alive and well in Chicago for weeks on end.

There was no move for Russell Wilson. The Deshaun Watson interest appears to have simmered down due to the situation at hand. At the moment, it looks as though the Bears will probably be picking at no. 20 overall.

The Bears may have to wait another year to solidify their need for a franchise quarterback.

Or will they?

The Chicago Bears’ ideal trade partner for the 2021 NFL Draft may have just surfaced.

According NFL insider Ian Rapoport, the Miami Dolphins could be looking at making yet another move.

The #Dolphins have already made two moves in the NFL Draft and they may not be done yet: Sources say they’ve received calls from teams looking to trade up to No. 6 and it is something they’re considering. Lot of things in play, but Miami could be at it again.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) April 19, 2021

This offseason has been an eventful one for the Dolphins. First, they made an enormous splash in the pre-draft process when they traded back with the San Francisco 49ers.

The 49ers gave up the no. 12 overall pick, a third rounder in 2022 and first-round picks in both 2022 and 2023 to move all the way up to number three. Now, the fate of the first round may truly depend on what John Lynch and San Francisco decide to do.

But, the Dolphins weren’t done there. Almost immediately after making that trade with San Francisco, they were on the move again. Miami moved up to no. 6 overall via the Philadelphia Eagles, dealing the no. 12 pick, a fourth rounder in 2022 and their first-round pick in 2022 to move up six spots. The Dolphins also acquired a fifth rounder in the deal, too.

If the Dolphins were entertaining yet another deal, it could simply be to stockpile even more picks. Originally, folks thought the Dolphins were going after either Penei Sewell or one of the top playmakers in the draft by moving up to the sixth pick — think Ja’Marr Chase or Kyle Pitts.

Now, the hype around this year’s quarterback crop is growing even stronger, which could allow Miami to move back and still end up with an excellent playmaker or two in this year’s first round — plus additional picks later on.

The fact that we could see three quarterbacks go in the first three picks helps Miami here. It puts pressure on other quarterback-needy teams to move up, thus allowing offensive playmakers to fall further back.

The Bears don’t have as good of a package to offer as, say, a team inside the top 12 picks. However, general manager Ryan Pace could be on his last leg in Chicago and should pull out all of the stops with this one.

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Bears: 3 trades involving recent Justin Fields skepticism

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The Bears should absolutely be in talks with Miami, here, as landing a franchise quarterback is the one piece of the puzzle this roster has been missing for a few years now.

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Ruben Roman has been charged with reckless discharge of a firearm, unlawful use of a weapon, child endangerment and violating probation.

The man who allegedly fired a gun before a Chicago police officer shot and killed the 13-year-old Adam Toledo posted bond and was released from Cook County jail over the weekend.

Ruben Roman, 21, was placed on electronic monitoring after he posted $15,000 bond Saturday for charges tied to Toledo’s shooting along with a $25,000 bond for a separate weapons case, the Cook County Sheriff’s Department said Monday.

Surveillance video captured Roman shooting at a passing vehicle on the morning of March 29, while Adam stood next to him at 24th Street and Sawyer Avenue, according to prosecutors.

After firing the shots, Roman ran north with Adam on Sawyer Avenue and ducked into an alley near 23rd Street, where officers spotted them about a minute later, prosecutors said.

One officer tackled Roman and knocked loose a pair of red gloves that were later found to have gunshot residue on them, prosecutors said. Police body-camera footage showed the other officer continuing to chase Adam down the alley.

Adam, at one point, is seen standing sideways in a large gap of a wooden fence with what appears to be a gun in one of his hands. The officer is on the other side of the alley and yells, “Drop it!”

In less than a second, Adam drops the gun and raises his empty hands as the officer fires, striking the boy in the chest.

After the shooting, Roman was initially charged with resisting arrest — a misdemeanor. An arrest warrant was later issued after Roman skipped a court date.

Roman was then charged with reckless discharge of a firearm, unlawful use of a weapon, child endangerment and violating probation.

When detectives questioned Roman about Adam’s identity, Roman allegedly gave them a fake name. He denied knowing Adam or firing any shots and claimed he was in the alley “waiting for a train,” prosecutors said.

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The jury of six white members and six Black or multiracial ones was sent off to begin deliberating after nearly a full day of closing arguments in which prosecutors argued that Derek Chauvin squeezed the life out Floyd last May in a way that even a child knew was wrong.

MINNEAPOLIS — The murder case against former Officer Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd went to the jury Monday in a city on edge against another round of unrest like the one that erupted last year over the harrowing video of Chauvin with his knee on the Black man’s neck.

The jury of six white people and six people who are Black or multiracial began deliberating after nearly a full day of closing arguments in which prosecutors argued that Chauvin squeezed the life out of Floyd last May in a way that even a child knew was wrong.

The defense contended that the now-fired white officer acted reasonably and that the 46-year-old Floyd died of a heart condition and illegal drug use.

After closing arguments were done, Judge Peter Cahill rejected a defense request for a mistrial based in part on comments from California Rep. Maxine Waters that protesters could get more confrontational if there is no guilty verdict.

The judge told Chauvin’s attorney: “Congresswoman Waters may have given you something on appeal that may result in this whole trial being overturned.” He added: “I wish elected officials would stop talking about this case, especially in a manner that is disrespectful to the rule of law and to the judicial branch.”

Chauvin, 45, is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, all of which require the jury to conclude that Chauvin’s actions were a “substantial causal factor” in Floyd’s death and that his use of force was unreasonable.

The most serious charge carries up to 40 years in prison.

“Use your common sense. Believe your eyes. What you saw, you saw,” prosecutor Steve Schleicher said in closing arguments, referring to the excruciating bystander video of Floyd pinned down on the pavement with Chauvin’s knee on or close to his neck for up to 9 minutes, 29 seconds, as bystanders yelled at the officer to get off.

Chauvin attorney Eric Nelson countered by arguing that Chauvin did what any reasonable police officer would have done after finding himself in a “dynamic” and “fluid” situation involving a large man struggling with three officers.

As Nelson began speaking, the now-fired Chauvin removed his COVID-19 mask in front of the jury for one of the very few times during the trial.

The dueling arguments got underway with some stores boarded up in Minneapolis, the courthouse ringed with concrete barriers and razor wire, and National Guard members on patrol. Floyd’s death last spring set off protests in the city and across the U.S. that sometimes turned violent.

The city has also been on edge in recent days over the the police killing of a 20-year-old Black man in a nearby suburb on April 11.

Prosecutor Jerry Blackwell had the final word, offering the state’s rebuttal argument. The prosecutor, who is Black, said the questions about the use of force and cause of death are “so simple that a child can understand it.”

“In fact, a child did understand it, when the 9-year-old girl said, ‘Get off of him,’” Blackwell said, referring to a young witness who objected to what she saw. “That’s how simple it was. `Get off of him.’ Common sense.”

Under the law, police have certain latitude to use force, and their actions are supposed to be judged according to what a “reasonable officer” in the same situation would have done.

Nelson noted that officers who first went to the corner store where Floyd allegedly tried to pass a counterfeit $20 bill were struggling with Floyd when Chauvin arrived as backup. The attorney also noted that the first two officers on the scene were rookies and that police had been told that Floyd might be on drugs.

“A reasonable police officer understands the intensity of the struggle,” Nelson said, saying that Chauvin’s body-worn camera and his police badge were knocked off his chest.

Nelson also showed the jury pictures of pills found in Floyd’s SUV and pill remnants discovered in the squad car. Fentanyl and methamphetamine were found in Floyd’s system.

The defense attorney said the failure of the prosecution to acknowledge that medical problems or drugs played a role “defies medical science and it defies common sense and reason.”

During the prosecution’s argument, Schleicher replayed portions of the bystander video and other footage as he dismissed certain defense theories about Floyd’s death as “nonsense.” He said Chauvin killed Floyd by constricting his breathing.

Schleicher rejected the drug overdose argument, as well as the contention that police were distracted by hostile onlookers, that Floyd had “superhuman” strength from a state of agitation known as excited delirium, and that he suffered possible carbon monoxide poisoning from auto exhaust.

The prosecutor sarcastically referred to the idea that it was heart disease that killed Floyd as an “amazing coincidence.”

“Is that common sense or is that nonsense?” Schleicher asked the jury.

Blackwell, his fellow prosecutor, likewise rejected the defense theory that Floyd died because of an enlarged heart: “The truth of the matter is that the reason George Floyd is dead is because Mr. Chauvin’s heart was too small.”

Earlier, Schleicher described how Chauvin ignored Floyd’s cries and continued to kneel on him well after he stopped breathing and had no pulse. Chauvin was “on top of him for 9 minutes and 29 seconds and he had to know,” Schleicher said. “He had to know.”

He said Chauvin heard Floyd “but he just didn’t listen.”

The prosecutor said Floyd was “not a threat to anyone” and was not trying to escape when he struggled with officers but instead was terrified of being put into the tiny backseat of the squad car.

He said a reasonable officer with Chauvin’s training and experience — he was a 19-year Minneapolis police veteran — should have sized up the situation accurately.

Chauvin, wearing a light gray suit with a blue shirt and blue tie, showed little expression as he watched himself and the other officers pinning Floyd to the ground on bodycam video played by his attorney. He cocked his head to the side and occasionally leaned forward to write on a notepad.

An unidentified woman occupied the single seat set aside in the pandemic-spaced courtroom for a Chauvin supporter.

Floyd’s brother Philonise represented the family in court, as he often has during the trial.

Schleicher also noted that Chauvin was required to use his training to provide medical care to Floyd but ignored bystanders, rebuffed help from an off-duty paramedic and rejected a suggestion from another officer to roll Floyd onto his side.

“He could have listened to the bystanders. He could have listened to fellow officers. He could have listened to his own training. He knew better. He just didn’t do better,” Schleicher said.

“Conscious indifference. Indifference. Do you want to know what indifference is and sounds like?” Schleicher asked before playing a video of Chauvin replying, “Uh-huh” several times as Floyd cried out.

___

Webber reported from Fenton, Michigan. Associated Press video journalist Angie Wang in Atlanta and writer Mohamed Ibrahim contributed.

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