Derek Chauvin Trial, March 31: New Video Shows Chauvin Defending His Actions To Bystander
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- In day three of the Derek Chauvin trial, a witness who tried to urge George Floyd to comply with Minneapolis police broke down on the stand, sobbing, "Oh my God."
Also, for the first time, we heard then-Officer Chauvin give his version of the encounter to a bystander.
Once again, raw emotions were on display in court Wednesday as new body camera video showed Floyd being pulled onto the ground by officers. Charles McMillian, 61, was one of five people to testify Wednesday. He can be seen and heard on surveillance camera yelling at Floyd, who is in the squad car, to comply with police.
"You can't win! You can't win!" McMillian said.
Prosecutors then played for the first time dramatic video of Floyd being hauled out of the car. At that point, McMillian began to cry on the witness stand. Video shows that after the encounter was over, McMillian shouted at Chauvin as he got into his car. Audio from inside the squad captured Chauvin's explanation as McMillian continued to shout at him.
"That's one person's opinion," Chauvin said. "We gotta control this guy cuz he's a sizeable guy, and it looks like he's probably on something."
Also for the first time, we saw video inside Cup Foods, where Floyd used a counterfeit $20 bill. The surveillance video shows Floyd in the store for just over 10 minutes. Store clerk Christopher Martin, seeing Floyd's muscular frame, asked him if he played baseball. Floyd replied he had played football, but his answer was slow.
"It kind of took him a little long to get to what he was trying to say, so it would appear that he was high," Martin said.
Martin, now 19, described how Floyd went to the front of the store and bought cigarettes with a $20 bill that looked different.
"When I saw the bill I noticed that it had a blue pigment to it, kind of how a $100 bill would have," he said. "I found that odd, so I assumed that it was a fake."
Body camera footage from all four officers were presented to the jury Wednesday -- none of whom had seen the entire video of the incident before. Now they have seen it multiple times from multiple angles.
There was also an incident involving a juror who wasn't feeling well, leading Judge Peter Cahill to call for a break. The juror told the judge she has not been sleeping during the trial. She did continue, which was likely a source of relief because there are only two alternates, and they don't want to lose a juror this early.
