On Monday 29th March, the trial finally commenced for former Minneapolis policeman Derek Chauvin, the man the world saw kneel on George Floyd’s neck outside a Chicago store for over 9 minutes, new police bodycam footage has revealed.
For half of these minutes Floyd lay unresponsive in the street dying in front of shocked bystanders, six of whom recounted what they saw on the stand on Tuesday. “You could see that (Floyd) was going through tremendous pain. You could see it from his face from the grunting and his eyes rolling back,” witness Donald Williams recalled who also called 911 in response. “I believe I witnessed a murder. I felt the need to call the police on the police.”
Floyd’s death at the hands of Chauvin sparked Black Lives Matter protests around the world, putting pressure on police institutions to stop violently mistreating black people or be abolished altogether. Seeking justice by trial is what remains to be achieved for Floyd sadly in his death, of which Chauvin has been charged for second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter. If convicted, he will receive a 10–15 year sentence as a first-time offender with the maximum of a 40-year sentence on the most serious charge.
Chauvin’s attorney, Eric Nelson, attempted to defend his client by accusing Williams of getting progressively “angry” towards Chauvin at the scene calling the former policeman names and further pushed the point that the other witnesses shouting effected Chauvin’s capability to do his job. This contradicts Nelson insisting that his client was correct in how he acted on duty in relation to Floyd offering a frankly, weak defense. “Derek Chauvin did exactly what he had been trained to do over the course of his 19-year career. The use of force is not attractive, but it is a necessary component of policing.”
The police were initially called after 19-year-old Christopher Martin, a cashier at Cup Foods, received what appeared to be a counterfeit $20 bill from Floyd when he entered the store. Perhaps, the most intriguing part of this trial so far was from Martin’s testimony as he revealed his regrets informing his manager. “He instructed one of my co-workers to call the police. If I would just not taken the bill, this could have been avoided.” Regret was felt from most of the witnesses, including 18-year-old Darnella Frazier, who emotionally confessed in court that she wished she could have done more, “It’s been nights I stayed up apologising and apologising to George Floyd for not physically interacting and not saving his life, but it’s not what I should have done. It’s what [Chauvin] should have done.”
According to attorney Nelson, Chauvin’s actions were correct and ultimately didn’t cause Floyd’s death, sighting evidence he died of cardiac arrest as a result of hypertension and drugs – conveniently leaving out suffocation by force as the most concerning factor. Witness Genevieve Hansen could have no doubt given a more accurate analysis of this evidence as a medical professional, telling the court how she tried to offer help to Floyd as an EMT. “In memory, I offered to walk [the police] through CPR, or told them ‘if he doesn’t have a pulse you need to start compressions.’ And that wasn’t done either.”
The wide impact of Floyd’s death among generations was most effectively realised in this trial with the accounts given by the youngest anonymous witness at 9-years-old followed by the oldest witness at 61, Charles McMilian. “I was sad and kind of mad,” the 9-year-old said, probably still trying to process what she witnessed that day. For McMillian, the emotion was there on the stand, “I feel helpless. I don’t have a mama either. I understand him.” Hopefully the court feels empathy towards Floyd along with McMilian and understands the correct justice that needs to be won.
GLAMOUR will update this piece with any new developments.