The second day of witness testimony in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer charged with murdering George Floyd, brought emotional statements from four young eyewitnesses, including a 9-year-old girl.
Prosecutors for the state of Minnesota called the four witnesses, who were all minors when Floyd died in May 2020, to testify about what they saw that night.
Earlier Tuesday, Judge Peter Cahill ruled that video of the four witnesses would be restricted because of their ages but that audio of their testimonies would not. He ruled, however, that audio would be cut from the live feed when those four witnesses stated and spelled their names. (HuffPost is identifying the witnesses because their names have been published in publicly available court documents and at least two have given interviews to the media.)
Darnella Frazier, 18, testified that she had been walking to a corner store with her younger cousin to buy snacks on May 25, 2020, when she noticed Floyd being arrested. Frazier, who was 17 at the time, testified that she took out her cellphone and began recording. That video would later be viewed by millions of people across the world.
Frazier said she saw Floyd “terrified, scared, begging for his life” as Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck.
“It wasn’t right,” she said. “He was suffering. He was in pain. ... He cried for his mom.”
Frazier became audibly emotional when describing how witnessing Floyd’s demise has impacted her life.
“When I look at George Floyd, I look at my dad,” Frazier testified. “I look at my brothers. I look at my cousins. I look at my uncles. Because they are all Black. ... And I look at how that could have been one of them.”
“It’s been nights I’ve stayed up apologizing and apologizing to George Floyd for not doing more and ... not saving his life,” she said.
But Frazier suggested it was Chauvin who bore responsibility for Floyd’s death.
“It’s not what I should have done,” Frazier said. “It’s what he should have done.”
Chauvin has been charged with second- and third-degree murder as well as second-degree manslaughter in Floyd’s death. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The prosecution then called Judeah Reynolds, Frazier’s 9-year-old cousin, to take the witness stand.
Reynolds, a third grader, could be seen wearing a green shirt emblazoned with the word “LOVE” in a still image from video captured by a body camera worn by then-Minneapolis Police Officer Tou Thao the night of Floyd’s arrest.
“I saw the officer put his knee on George Floyd,” Reynolds told the court.
During her brief testimony, Reynolds, who turns 10 next week, said watching Chauvin kneeling on Floyd made her “sad and kind of mad.”
“It felt like he was stopping his breathing and it was kind of like hurting him,” Reynolds testified.
Alyssa Funari, who was 17 at the time of Floyd’s arrest, also testified Tuesday. She recorded portions of Floyd’s arrest on the cellphone of her friend Kaylynn Gilbert, who testified later Tuesday.
Funari, now 18, also became audibly emotional during her testimony, stating that it was difficult for her to talk about that night.
“I felt like that there wasn’t really anything I could do,” Funari said of watching Floyd’s demise. “That I was powerless ... I felt like I was failing him.”
She said she felt it was important to stay and document what happened.
“I almost walked away at first because it was a lot to watch, but I knew that it was wrong and I couldn’t just walk away even though I couldn’t do anything about it,” Funari said.
Gilbert, 17, testified that she heard Floyd’s voice “yelling out for his mom and saying he can’t breathe” as she was standing outside the corner store.
After a few minutes, she watched Floyd stop speaking and cease moving.
“I didn’t know for sure if George Floyd was dead until after the fact but I had a gut feeling,” Gilbert testified.