Chauvin trial: Jurors shown extended, intense officer bodycam video
Wednesday's court proceedings have ended for the day
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MPR News is streaming live coverage of the trial. Some images or material discussed during the trial will be disturbing to many viewers. Watch the morning proceedings here. Watch the afternoon testimony here.
3 things to know:
Jurors watch extended police body cam video of fatal encounter
Store clerk testifies he’s haunted by decision to call police, after Floyd used a phony $20
Case expected to hinge on who or what is responsible for Floyd’s death
Updated 5:55 p.m.
Jurors in the murder trial of ex-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin viewed extended, intense police body camera footage on Wednesday capturing multiple views of the May 25 incident that ended in Floyd's killing in police custody.
Viewed in succession, the videos offered a brutal, up-close look at officers struggling to push a handcuffed Floyd into the squad car, then pinning him to the pavement to subdue him as he pleads that he can’t breathe, while bystanders on the curb yell that Floyd is dying.
While similar to bystander videos widely shared on social media, these views were intimate and harrowing, covering time periods before and after police confronted Floyd.
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They detail the initial contact with Floyd, the officers' increasing frustration with him as they struggle to get him to obey orders and get in the squad, and Floyd's growing fatalism as he lay pinned on the street.
It was the first time the jurors viewed extended video in court from the body cameras of Chauvin and three other officers on the scene, J. Alexander Kueng, Tou Thao and Thomas Lane.
Chauvin, on trial for murder and manslaughter in Floyd's death, kept his knee pressed against Floyd's neck for about 9 minutes as the man pleaded that he couldn't breathe. The three other officers face aiding and abetting charges. They’re expected to be tried later this year.
Prosecutors played the videos in what began as a relatively low-key, late afternoon process Wednesday to introduce more evidence into the trial. The images were anything but low-key.
Rodney Floyd, George’s brother, sat in the courtroom, shaking his head from side to side occasionally, appearing stoic and sad at times as the videos played, and at one point glaring briefly at Chauvin, according to the pool reporter's notes.
Chauvin watched the footage intensely, the pool reporter noted.
Court resumes again Thursday morning.
‘This could have been avoided’
The fatal encounter started with a counterfeit $20 and a phone call.
Floyd had gone into Cup Foods at Chicago Avenue and 38th Street in south Minneapolis to buy cigarettes.
The 19-year-old store clerk who suspected Floyd had handed him a fake $20 for the purchase testified Wednesday that he first thought about just eating the cost himself but changed his mind and called over his supervisor.
The decision would lead to Floyd’s spiraling arrest outside Cup Foods.
Christopher Martin said that he was haunted by how his own actions played into Floyd’s killing. In security video footage shown to jurors, Martin could be seen outside the store watching with his hands on his head as the police restrain Floyd.
He told prosecutor Matthew Frank he was in disbelief and felt a sense of guilt — and that if he had not taken the bill, "this could have been avoided."
Martin said that he had chatted briefly with Floyd when he walked into the store, asking the big man if he played baseball. “He said he played football.” Martin described him as friendly, as if he seemed to be enjoying his Memorial Day, although he did “seem high.”
After selling Floyd the cigarettes, Martin said he noticed a blue tint on the $20 bill he got from Floyd and assumed it was fake. Under store policy, he said, clerks who took counterfeit money had to pay the cost. He wrestled with whether to tell his boss.
He said he kept looking at the bill and finally thought to talk to his manager. When he did, the manager told him to find Floyd outside and ask him to make it right.
On the first try, Martin said Floyd, seated in the car, didn't say anything. He just shook his head. After another unsuccessful attempt, the manager instructed another employee to call the police.
Jurors viewed the store camera video of Floyd buying cigarettes and seemed riveted by the sight of him as a customer, like anyone else.
Chauvin’s attorney is arguing that drugs contributed to Floyd’s death.
While watching the scene unfold, Martin started talking to another Black man outside the store. “At this point I was kind of emotional," Martin told the court. He remembers telling the man: “They're not going to help him — this is what we have to deal with."
Martin said he called his mother — his family lived in the building upstairs from the store — and told her not to come down.
He told the court that he didn’t stay working at Cup Foods for much longer because he didn’t feel safe.
‘You can’t win’
A bystander who pleaded with Floyd to get in the squad car as police worked to arrest him testified that he was trying to deescalate the increasingly tense situation between Floyd and the officers that led to Floyd's killing.
Charles McMillian, 61, can be heard on video recorded by other bystanders telling Floyd to get in the car and that he "can't win." Floyd plaintively asks the officers not to put him in the back of the squad because he’s claustrophobic.
On the stand Wednesday, McMillian said he was trying to get Floyd to understand "once they get you in handcuffs, you're going to go with them."
He also pleaded with officers to "let him breathe" as Floyd lay handcuffed and pinned to the ground with Chauvin's knee pressed against his neck for about nine minutes.
The prosecution played short clips of police body camera video during McMillian's testimony. McMillian sobbed as he watched.
Later in the testimony, prosecutors played video from Chauvin’s body camera where McMillian approaches Chauvin after Floyd has been taken away. He tells the officer the way he restrained Floyd wasn’t right.
“That's one person's opinion,” Chauvin responds. “We gotta put force, gotta control this guy because he's a sizable guy. Looks like he's probably on something.”
Chauvin’s defense attorney did not question McMillian.
Trial basics
Who’s who: A look at the key players in the trial.
Need to know: Key questions about the trial, answered.
What we know about the jurors: The 12 jurors and two alternates picked to review the case include a chemist, a youth volunteer, a cardiac nurse and an IT professional.
Chauvin's lawyer is outnumbered, but has help: No fewer than four attorneys have appeared for the prosecution so far, compared to a single attorney to defend Derek Chauvin.
MPR News on its coverage: Nancy Lebens, the newsroom’s deputy managing editor, answered audience questions about our reporting plans.
George Floyd and his legacy
Remembering George Floyd, the man: Before he became a symbol in the fight for racial justice, friends say Floyd was a “gentle giant” who sought a fresh start.
Making George Floyd Square: Here’s how the site of Floyd’s killing — 38th Street and Chicago Avenue in Minneapolis — is being reshaped.
Rescuing the plywood — and memorializing a movement: Two Black women are leading the effort to preserve the murals painted on storefront boards in the Twin Cities.
Calls for change: Here’s what some Floyd activists tell MPR News about their experiences with race in Minnesota, why they march and what they hope for the future.
Read more
What we learned from Day 1 of testimony in the Chauvin trial: Civil rights lawyer Charles Coleman Jr. discusses the early takeaways.
Minneapolis considered hiring DJ, soccer coach in 'influencer' plan: The city had planned to pay six "trusted messengers” up to $2,000 apiece to share city updates and dispel misinformation during the trial. The plan was scrapped after news coverage and backlash online. (Axios)
Jurors will consider Floyd's death — not the issue of race — in Chauvin trial: The proceedings set to begin with opening statements Monday are unlikely to address those themes directly, even as the case has become a flashpoint for racial justice in America. (Star Tribune)
Televised Chauvin trial due to pandemic yields wide access — and concern: For the first time, the world will be able to see every twist and turn of the case from a Minnesota courtroom, thanks to an unprecedented decision by Judge Peter Cahill.
NPR’s live blog: The latest from the murder trial of Derek Chauvin.
