Derek Chauvin trial: George Floyd’s girlfriend sobs as she reveals he called her ‘mama’ as well

The girlfriend of George Floyd cried as she told the court of how they first met in 2017.

The couple’s first meeting was at a Salvation Army shelter where Mr Floyd was a security guard.

Courteney Ross also recounted how they both struggled with opioid addiction on day four of former officer Derek Chauvin's murder trial.

She said: "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.”

Ms Ross added that they "tried really hard to break that addiction many times".

Why was George Floyd arrested? Circumstances of Minneapolis man's...

‘Mr Floyd was no longer offering up any resistance’

In other testimony, David Pleoger, a now-retired Minneapolis police sergeant who was on duty the night Mr Floyd died, said that based on his review of the body camera video, officers should have ended their restraint after Mr Floyd stopped resisting.

He also said officers are trained to roll people on their side to help with their breathing after they have been restrained in the prone position.

"When Mr Floyd was no longer offering up any resistance to the officers, they could have ended the restraint," Mr Pleoger said.

"And that was when he was handcuffed and on the ground and no longer resistant?" prosecutor Steve Schleicher asked.

"Yes," Mr Ploeger replied.

Who is on trial?

Chauvin, 45, is charged with murder and manslaughter, accused of killing Mr Floyd by kneeling on the 46-year-old's neck for nine minutes, 29 seconds as he lay face down in handcuffs last May in Minneapolis.

The most serious charge against the now-fired white officer carries up to 40 years in prison.

The defence has argued that Chauvin did what he was trained to do and that Mr Floyd's death was not caused by the officer's knee but by Mr Floyd's illegal drug use, underlying health conditions and the adrenaline flowing through his body.

A post-mortem examination found fentanyl and methamphetamine in his system.

Mr Floyd's pet name for girlfriend was ‘Mama’

Under cross-examination by Chauvin lawyer Eric Nelson, Ms Ross said Mr Floyd's pet name for her in his phone was "Mama" - evidence that called into question the widely reported account that Mr Floyd was crying out for his mother as he lay pinned to the pavement.

In some of the video, Mr Floyd can be heard calling out "Mama!" repeatedly and saying, "Mama, I love you! ... Tell my kids I love them."

In her evidence, Ms Ross described how both she and Mr Floyd struggled with their addiction to painkillers throughout their relationship.

She said they both had prescriptions, and when those ran out, they took the prescriptions of others and also used illegal drugs.

"Addiction, in my opinion, is a lifelong struggle. ... It's not something that just kind of comes and goes. It's something I'll deal with forever," she said.