After two days of sometimes tense and emotional testimony, prosecutors are continuing 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.
On Wednesday morning, 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 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.
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.
A key point of dispute in opening statements on Monday was how Floyd died. Prosecutors played the video of Floyd being pinned down, saying Chauvin used lethal force against a “defenseless” and handcuffed Floyd for nine minutes and 29 seconds. Prosecutor Jerry Blackwell said Floyd died of oxygen deprivation beneath the pressure of Chauvin’s knee. But the defense argued Floyd died of a heart arrhythmia complicated by the fentanyl and methamphetamine he had ingested before his arrest.
