Derek Chauvin trial live updates: Day one over

first_imgThe trial has wrapped for the day.Mar 29, 5:27 pm3rd witness, who told Chauvin to stop kneeling on Floyd, testifiesDonald Williams, the professional mixed martial arts fighter who can be heard in a witness video criticizing Minneapolis police officers during their encounter with Floyd, was called by the prosecution as its third witness Monday.Williams was walking around the corner from the Cup Foods when he heard a commotion and saw Floyd on the ground with Chauvin kneeling over him, he testified.Floyd “was speaking in a distressed way” when Williams got there, vocalizing to the officers that he was in pain and that he wanted his mom, Williams said.“His breathing was getting tremendously heavy,” Williams said, adding that it was apparent that he was struggling to gasp for air.At one point, Floyd’s eyes then “slowly rolled to the back of his head” and his nose started bleeding, and soon after he was “lifeless,” Williams said.Williams said his experience as a fighter led him to believe that Chauvin’s position on Floyd’s neck was putting Floyd in imminent danger.Another witness on the scene who is a paramedic told the officers multiple times to check Floyd’s pulse, but no one did, Williams said.Mar 29, 3:54 pmProsecution calls 2nd witness, employee of store across the street from Cup FoodsAlisha Oyler, a shift manager for the Speedway located across the street from Cup Foods, first noticed police officers “messing with someone” when she began watching the encounter involving Floyd, she told prosecutors Monday.Oyler took seven separate video recordings on her cellphone but could not immediately recall details, stating that it had “been so long.”Mar 29, 3:48 pmDefense tries to establish that 911 dispatcher was not an expert on use of force policiesDuring a cross-examination, defense attorney Eric Nelson walked 911 dispatcher Jena Scurry through the timeline of the encounter and pressed her on her knowledge of Minneapolis Police use of force policies.Nelson seemed to want the jury to know that Scurry was not familiar with how police handled such incidents.Scurry acknowledged that she has only seen police incidents play out live on monitors in the dispatch center three to four times in the seven years she has been a dispatcher.ABC News’ Whitney Lloyd contributed to this report.Mar 29, 1:44 pm“My instincts were telling me that something was wrong,” 911 dispatcher saysJena Scurry, the Minneapolis 911 dispatcher, told the court she had a “gut instinct” that something was wrong.Scurry said she continued to take calls but noticed that the squad car in front of the Cup Foods did not have officers surrounding it.The next time Scurry looked up, she saw the officers placing Floyd in the back of the car.Scurry said she later knew “something might be wrong” when she saw Floyd on the ground.When Assistant Minnesota Attorney General Matthew Frank asked what made her think something was amiss, Scurry said dispatchers rarely see videos of active scenes on those cameras. Moreover, the fact that Floyd went from the back of the squad car to the ground and officers had not requested additional assistance worried her, Scurry said.“I took that instinct and called the sergeant” who supervises police officers, she said.Court recessed for lunch after Frank was done questioning Scurry.Mar 29, 12:37 pmProsecution questions first witnessJena Scurry, a 911 dispatcher who watched Floyd’s encounter with police unfold on a fixed police camera, was the first witness to take the stand Monday.Scurry began by explaining the tools she utilizes to do her job. She said dispatchers have access to cameras that are placed around the city.Mar 29, 12:10 pmOpening statements have wrapped.Mar 29, 12:00 pmFloyd was struggling with officers before Chauvin arrived, defense saysFloyd was struggling with officers who were trying to get him in a squad car when Chauvin arrived on the scene, Nelson said.After Chauvin asked whether Floyd was under arrest, he assisted the other officers in their attempts to get Floyd in the car.The struggle was so profound that the squad car could be seen rocking back and forth in a fixed police camera. The image caught the attention of a police dispatcher, Nelson said.Chauvin then used what is called a “maximal restraint technique” to restrain Floyd, Nelson said.“You will learn that Derek Chauvin did exactly what he was trained to do over the course of his 19-year career,” Nelson said.Mar 29, 11:54 amThe evidence goes beyond the video, defense saysEric Nelson, Chauvin’s defense attorney, emphasized during his opening statement that the evidence for the case is “far greater than 9 minutes and 29 seconds.”The evidence has been collected “broadly and expansively” and includes several police experts and at least 200 civilian witnesses, Nelson said.Nelson will spend the trial talking about “reason and common sense and how that applies to the evidence,” Nelson said.The store clerk at Cup Foods who accused Floyd of making a purchase with a fake $20 bill will be among those who testify, Nelson said.Attorneys will also question one of Floyd’s friends who was in the Mercedes-Benz after he left the store. The friend previously stated that Floyd consumed what she believed to be two Percocet pills before police arrived. Floyd then fell asleep, Nelson said.When officers arrived, Floyd put drugs in his mouth in an effort to conceal them from police, Nelson said.Mar 29, 11:29 amThree witnesses “called the police on the police” during Floyd encounter, prosecutor saysThree people who witnessed Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck called 911 on the officers who were at the scene, Blackwell said.A first responder, who was distressed that the officers were not checking Floyd’s pulse or performing chest compressions on him, called the police, Blackwell said.Another man, who Blackwell described as a “very focal” bystander with a background in security and mixed martial arts, also called the police.The third person was a 911 dispatcher who could see the encounter through a fixed police camera on the scene.The incident was “so unusual, and for her, so disturbing,” that she called a sergeant at the police department to alert him to what was happening, Blackwell said.Mar 29, 11:42 amChauvin watches intently as prosecutor plays witness videoBlackwell played a portion of the 9 minute and 29 second video taken by a witness on May 25, 2020.“For half of that time, Mr. Floyd was unconscious, breathless and pulseless,” Blackwell said.Blackwell said Floyd can be seen repeatedly heaving his right shoulder into the air. This move was an attempt by Floyd to expand his ribcage so he could breathe, as he was “pancaked” between the hard pavement beneath him and Chauvin on top of him, Blackwell said.Chauvin watched intently as the video was played in the courtroom.Mar 29, 11:05 am“Mr. Chauvin betrayed his badge,” prosecutor saysDerek Chauvin failed the responsibilities that come with the badge he was given by the Minneapolis Police Department when he pressed his knee on George Floyd’s neck and killed him, prosecutor Jerry Blackwell said in opening statements Monday.Part of the oath Minneapolis police officers take is to enforce the law “courteously and appropriately,” while “never employing unnecessary force,” Blackwell said, adding that Chauvin violated both when he engaged in the “grinding and crushing” of Floyd “until the very life was squeezed out of him.”“Mr. Chauvin betrayed his badge,” Blackwell said.Floyd was unarmed, in handcuffs and did not present a threat to anyone, Blackwell said.“He was completely in the control of the police,” Blackwell said. “He was defenseless.”Blackwell vowed to give Chauvin a fair trial, but stated that he was “anything but innocent” on May 25, 2020 — the day that Floyd died.The prosecution plans to prove that Chauvin engaged in “force that he applied without the regard for its impact,” Blackwell said.Mar 29, 10:50 amAttorneys for George Floyd’s family speak ahead of trialThe civil rights attorneys representing the family of George Floyd — Benjamin Crump, Antonio Romanucci and L. Chris Stewart as well as Rev. Al Sharpton — spoke to reporters Monday morning.“Today starts a landmark trial that will be a referendum on how far America has come in its quest for equality and justice for all,” Crump said, with Floyd’s family present.Crump stressed that the evidence against Chauvin speaks for itself, saying this “murder case is not hard.”“We’re not asking for anything extraordinary,” Crump said. “We’re asking for equal justice under the law.”Mar 29, 10:36 am15th juror to be excusedHennepin County District Court Judge Peter Cahill will excuse the 15th juror chosen for Chauvin’s trial as court gets underway.The first 14 jurors are present and will be sworn in and seated.Eight jurors are white and six are people of color, including four jurors who self-identify as Black. There are nine women and five men.Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. Courtesy Ben Crump LawBy JULIA JACOBO, ABC News(MINNEAPOLIS) — The trial for Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer charged in the death of George Floyd, begins Monday in Minneapolis.He faces charges of manslaughter, second-degree murder and third-degree murder.The trial is expected to last four weeks. Mar 29, 5:39 pmlast_img read more