A paramedic who testified at the trial of Derek Chauvin on Thursday criticized Minneapolis police officers for not doing chest compressions on George Floyd at the scene, saying “any layperson can do chest compressions.”

The criticism came during defense attorney Eric Nelson's cross examination of Derek Smith, the paramedic.

“Any layperson can do chest compressions. There’s no reason Minneapolis couldn’t have started chest compressions,” Smith told Nelson as the defense attorney questioned him over treatment offered to Floyd in the back of an ambulance after paramedics arrived on the scene.

Smith testified on the fourth day in the trial of Chauvin, who is being charged with three criminal counts in connection to Floyd’s death: second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

Floyd died during an arrest outside a Minneapolis convenience store after Chauvin pinned him to the street, kneeling on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

Video captured the incident and led to demonstrations and protests across the country over the summer calling for police reform and racial equality.

Nelson noted that a Minneapolis police officer rode in the back of the ambulance and began chest compressions on Floyd at Smith’s direction.

Nelson then asked if the ambulance drove to a second location so that the paramedic driving the vehicle could join him in the rig of the truck and “take over for the officer.”

Smith disagreed with that description, telling Nelson it was “not to take over, we needed everybody we could at that time.”

Nelson went on to ask why Smith did not have the officer in the ambulance continue to help him, that way the vehicle could go straight to the hospital, to which Smith responded “that’s not what we do.”

“Is it because he’s not an EMT?” Nelson asked.

After a short pause, Smith responded that any one could give chest compressions. 

Nelson, after asserting “that’s not my question,” restated his original EMT question, to which Smith responded that he did not know the level of certification of the officer in the ambulance.

When asked if Smith wanted a "partner" who could help him, Smith responded, "I wanted as many people that were willing to help me at that time to work this cardiac arrest."