George Floyd death trial: jury analyzed shocking images of arrest recorded by police

Shocking body camera images of officers accused of killing George Floyd were shown to the jury on Wednesday, a 46-year-old African American whose death sparked protests against racism around the world.

Camera footage of the four police officers involved in Floyd’s May 25, 2020 arrest were released by prosecutors on the third day of the trial of former Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin.

The 45-year-old former agent is charged with murder and manslaughter for his role in Floyd’s death., May 25, 2020.

Videos show Floyd being arrested for allegedly using a fake $ 20 bill at a grocery store. Also his desperate calls of “I can’t breathe” as he is pinned face down in the street by the officers.

The three other police officers involved, Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao will be tried in August for “complicity in murder“.

Lane’s body camera video shows Floyd saying “please don’t shoot me” as he is pulled from his car in front of the store where he paid for a pack of cigarettes.

Floyd is handcuffed and taken to a police car where he becomes increasingly distraught and struggles with officers attempting to get him into the back of the vehicle.

“I’m claustrophobic, man,” Floyd repeats over and over. “Why do you do this to me? Do not do this to me“.

After Floyd falls from the car in the street, he is immobilized by three officers and Chauvin kneels on his neck.

Chauvin’s body camera breaks off in the fight and falls under the vehicle, but the cameras of the other agents are still working.

Floyd repeatedly says he can’t breathe. “Mom, I love you,” he said. “My stomach hurts, my neck hurts.”

At one point, one of the agents says “I think he’s passed out” and asks if they should “put him aside“.

Body camera footage continues until an ambulance arrives and takes an unconscious Floyd to hospital, where he has been pronounced dead.

In addition to video from body cameras, The court case presented the moving testimony of a young store cashier on Wednesday who said he regretted accepting Floyd’s forged $ 20 bill..

“If he had simply not accepted the ticket, it could have been avoided,” said Christopher Martin.

Martin, 19, said at the trial he knew right away it wasn’t a legal bill, but accepted it anyway. “I thought George didn’t really know it was a counterfeit note,” he said. “I thought I was doing him a favor.”

“I took it anyway and thought I would put it in my account,” he said, referring to the amount that would have been subtracted from his salary. “I offered to pay for it.” But the cashier also told the store manager what had happened and called the police.

Martin, on the other hand, described that Floyd appeared to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol when he entered the store, but that he was “very friendly, close and talkative”.

“It seemed to be spending a Memorial Day [día feriado en Estados Unidos] normal, live your life, ”he said. “But he looked drugged.”

Eric Nelson, Chauvin’s defense attorney, said in oral argument that Floyd’s death was caused by drugs and his previous medical conditions, not suffocation.

Martin said he left the store when he heard “screaming and screaming” outside. “We [a Chauvin] with his knee on George’s neck on the floorHe explained, “George was still, limp.”

On the images of a surveillance camera presented to the jury, the young employee is seen, shocked, putting his hands on his head. To the prosecutor, who asked him how he felt at the time, He replied in a voice filled with emotion: “disbelief and guilt”.

Charles McMillian, 61, also testified on Wednesday that he said he was passing by that day and stopped to see what had happened.

Be the first spectator on the stage, he can be heard on video saying to the already handcuffed Floyd, “you can’t win” and urging him to get into the back of the police car.

McMillian began to sob as the video played, removing his glasses and wiping his eyes with tissues until Judge Peter Cahill called for a short break.

“I felt helplessSaid McMillian, who also clashed with Chauvin after the incident.

The morning trial session was briefly interrupted when a juror, made up of nine women and five men, appeared ill.

Prosecutors are trying to prove to the jury that Chauvin had no justification for using the dangerous neck maneuver on Floyd.

The former officer, who spent 19 years with the Minneapolis Police Department, has been released on bail and appears free in the trial in which he pleads not guilty.. He faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted of the most serious charge, second degree murder.

The jury is due to render its verdict in late April or early May.

With information from AFP

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