Witness in Derek Chauvin trial: ‘I watched George Floyd fade away as officer knelt on his neck’

An eyewitness saw George Floyd “slowly fade away” as his neck was knelt on by a Minneapolispolice officer for more than nine minutes, he told the murder trial.

Donald Williams III was among a crowd who saw Mr Floyd being pinned down by Derek Chauvin while he desperately pleaded with the officer to let him go.

A shocking video of Mr Floyd’s death, telling Chauvin 27 times “I can’t breathe”, sparked Black Lives Matter marches around the world as well as months of protests against US police brutality.

The former officer, 45, is now on trial, facing charges of second and third degree murder and manslaughter — which he denies.

Mr Williams, who has mixed martial arts training including in choke holds, gave evidence on the first day of the trial, saying he saw Chauvin appear to repeatedly increase pressure on Mr Floyd’s neck with a series of “shimmying” motions.

“The more that the knee was on his neck, and the shimmying going on, the more you see him slowly fade away”, he told the jury. “His eyes rolled to the back of his head.” Mr Williams, 33, said he pleaded with Chauvin to let go, telling the officer he was cutting off the blood supply and Mr Floyd’s breathing was becoming laboured.

Murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin
Derek Chauvin listens as opening arguments commence in his trial
via REUTERS

The 46-year-old’s voice became thicker as the incident wore on, and eventually he stopped moving altogether, Mr Williams told the court, likening the sight to the slow death of fish he had caught earlier that day.

“From there on he was lifeless”, Mr Williams said. “He didn’t move, he didn’t speak, he didn’t have no life in him no more on his body movements. (It was) like a fish in a bag.”

In the opening day of the murder trial at a court in central Minneapolis, jurors were shown harrowing footage of Mr Floyd’s death on May 25 last year, including previously unseen video taken on the phone of Alisha Oyler, a cashier at a nearby petrol station.

She had seen officers handcuff Mr Floyd during an arrest for allegedly trying to buy cigarettes with a counterfeit $20 note, and started filming because the police were “always messing with people and it’s not right”, she told Hennepin County Court.

In his opening address, prosecutor Jerry Blackwell said Mr Floyd was pinned down by Chauvin for nine minutes and 29 seconds, and the officer “didn’t let up” even when Mr Floyd said he could not breathe and eventually went limp.

Protesters and activists march the day before opening statements in the trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin
Protesters and activists march the day before opening statements in the trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin
REUTERS

“He put his knees upon his neck and his back, grinding and crushing him, until the very breath — no, ladies and gentlemen — until the very life was squeezed out of him”, he told jurors.

It is alleged that Chauvin used excessive force against a suspect who was not resisting and was in handcuffs.

The former officer is expected to argue that he was following his police training and procedures, and that drug use combined with Mr Floyd’s heart disease, high blood pressure and adrenaline caused his death. A few hundred protesters gathered for the first day of the trial yesterday, calling for justice for Mr Floyd and others who are said to have died at the hands of the police.

The case is being televised as social distancing has limited the numbers that can safely be inside the court room. Mr Williams is set to continue his evidence later today.

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