Follow the latest trial updates here. Earlier coverage is below.
In a third day of sometimes tense and emotional testimony, prosecutors continued to lay out their case Wednesday against Derek Chauvin, the fired Minneapolis officer charged in the death of George Floyd.
Chauvin, who was seen in a disturbing video kneeling on the neck of the unarmed Black man, is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. He has pleaded not guilty.
Court adjourned for the day after jurors watched body camera videos of the fatal encounter. Earlier Wednesday, a bystander witness broke down in tears on the stand as prosecutors played police body camera video showing officers attempting to force Floyd inside a squad car. Charles McMillian, who was on the sidewalk during the struggle, sobbed and said he felt “helpless.” McMillian testified he yelled to Floyd that he “can’t win” to encourage him to comply with officers.
Court TV/pool via WCCO
Earlier Wednesday, Christopher Martin, a Cup Foods clerk who interacted with Floyd before his fatal arrest, began his testimony. Martin described taking a counterfeit $20 bill from Floyd despite knowing it was a fake, as prosecutors played surveillance video from inside the store which hasn’t previously been seen. Martin said he took the bill because he recognized Floyd’s friend as the same person who tried to pass him another counterfeit bill earlier in the day. He believed the bill Floyd passed him may have been the same one, and that Floyd may not have known it was a fake.
Martin described twice approaching the car where Floyd was sitting with two friends to ask him to come back inside, but Floyd did not.
Later, Martin described watching Floyd’s fatal arrest and feeling “disbelief and guilt.”
“If I would have just not taken the bill, this could have been avoided,” Martin testified.
Court TV/pool via WCCO
Earlier, Minneapolis firefighter and emergency medical technician Genevieve Hansen, who was heard on video repeatedly asking the officers to take Floyd’s pulse, returned to the stand briefly Wednesday morning to conclude her testimony. On Tuesday, Hansen testified she was “desperate” to help the man, but she said officers wouldn’t allow her to provide medical assistance, leaving her feeling frustrated, helpless and “totally distressed.”
“There’s a man being killed, and had I had access to a call similar to that, I would have been able to provide medical attention to the best of my ability, and this human was denied that right,” said Hansen.
Floyd‘s killing last May drew outrage and a worldwide reckoning on police reform and racial justice. Three other officers involved in the fatal arrest are charged with aiding and abetting, and will be tried jointly in August.
