Derek Chauvin trial: Man says he ‘witnessed a murder’ during compelling testimony

‘I believe I witnessed a murder. I felt the need to call the police on the police’

A man who witnessed George Floyd’s death said he believed he had witnessed a murder while delivering testimony on Tuesday in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who faces second-degree murder charges.

Donald Williams, a mixed martial artist who called 911 after watching the former police officer press his knee into Mr Floyd’s neck for several minutes, said: “I believe I witnessed a murder. I felt the need to call the police on the police.”

Mr Williams said Mr Floyd appeared to be “going through tremendous pain” as he was detained by Mr Chauvin, adding: “You can see it in his eyes, slowly rolling back in his head and him having his mouth open, wide open, slowly with drool and slobber and dryness on his mouth.”

Read live updates from The Independent on the Derek Chauvin trial

Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, died on 25 May after Mr Chauvin kneeled on his neck for over nine minutes in an arrest captured on bystander video, which subsequently went viral online and sparked international demonstrations against racism and police brutality. 

Mr Williams, who said he had worked in security and was trained in chokeholds and other techniques as a mixed martial artist, told jurors Mr Chauvin squeezed the life out of Mr Floyd through a “blood choke” that caused him to “slowly fade away” like “a fish in a bag”. 

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“You can see that he’s trying to gasp for air,” Mr Williams said of Mr Floyd, “trying to be able to breathe as he’s down there, trying to move his face side to side, I’m assuming to gasp for more air.”

Mr Williams appeared visibly upset as a recording of his phone call to police was played in court, wiping away tears from his face as he was heard describing what he witnessed occur to Mr Floyd. 

Asked why he made the call, Mr Williams said he believed “it was the right thing to do” and added: “He just pretty much killed this guy that wasn’t resisting arrest.”

Mr Williams can be heard on a bystander’s cellphone screaming at Mr Chauvin, who kept his knee on Mr Floyd’s neck for about nine minutes after he was accused of passing a fake $20 bill.

Mr Williams calls Mr Chauvin a “bum” in the video, accuses the white police officer of “enjoying” his restraining of Mr Floyd and told jurors on Monday he believed that Mr Chauvin was using his knee in a “blood choke” on Floyd, a wrestling move to knock an opponent unconscious.

Mr Chauvin’s lawyers argued that Mr Williams has no knowledge of police maneuvers.

Mr Chauvin, 45, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, which carries up to 40 years in prison, as well as third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. He and the three other officers on the scene were fired the day after Mr Floyd’s death.

In opening arguments on Monday, a prosecutor said Mr Chauvin betrayed his badge “when he used excessive and unreasonable force upon the body of George Floyd.”

Mr Chauvin’s lawyers argued he was simply following training from his 19 years on the force and that the main cause of Mr Floyd’s death, which the county examiner ruled a homicide caused by police restraints, was a drug overdose.

With access to the courtroom limited by the coronavirus pandemic, the Hennepin County District Judge has allowed a live video of proceedings to be broadcast to the public, something normally prohibited in Minnesota courts.

However, the judge agreed to a request by prosecutors not to show four eyewitnesses on video: two of whom were under 18 when they saw Mr Floyd die, and two of whom are still minors.

One of those witnesses is Darnella Frazier, 18, who recorded the most widely seen cellphone video of Mr Floyd’s death.

Additional reporting by Reuters