Derek Chauvin trial resumes as eyewitness says ‘I believed I witnessed a murder’ – live

The friend of the previous witness told the court that onlookers weren’t being violent when police became “really hostile” and aggressive.

“He pushed one of the witnesses there onto the sidewalk… The tone in their voice, officer Tao’s voice was really angry,” the 17-year-old witness said, in reference to ex-police officer Thao Tao.

She described Derek Chauvin as “kind of angry” and digging his knee into the neck of George Floyd when he grabbed and began shaking mace.

“I was scared of Chauvin,” she said.

The witness told prosecutor Erin Eldridge that she was worried the situation might escalate, but that the crowd wasn’t being violent or aggressive.

“They were just using their voice,” she said.

On cross-examination, witness Alyssa Nicole Funari was asked about initial statements she made to police that she saw officers “check his pulse multiple times” before paramedics arrived.

“I would not agree with that. Because I don’t remember,” Ms Funari said when questioned by defence attorney Eric Nelson.

Ms Funari told the court that, after re-watching the video, she remembers seeing someone – not Derek Chauvin – move their hands towards the writs of George Floyd.

The court has adjourned for a short recess.

Alyssa Nicole Funari told the court she saw Derek Chauvin put weight onto George Floyd, and remained on top of him as paramedics were checking for a pulse.

Asked how she knew Mr Chauvin put weight onto Mr Floyd, she said his back foot lifted off the ground while he put his hands in his pockets.

“I kind of saw him move his knee down more, make little movements,” she said.

The trial resumed with Alyssa Nicole Funari, an 18-year-old girl from the area who filmed the death of George Floyd.

The high-school 12th grader, who was 17-years-old at the time, said she began filming the incident when she saw “a lot of people” in distress at Mr Floyd struggling to breathe.

“At first he was vocal and he got less vocal and you could tell he was talking with smaller and smaller breaths, and he’d spit a little and he’d talk, and he’d try and move his head because he was uncomfortable,” she said.

“You could see in his face he was slowly not being able to breathe. His eyes were rolling back. At one point he just kind of sat there.”

The court has returned after a lunch break. Testimony continues.

The 9-year-old cousin of Darnella Frazier testified at the trial of Derek Chauvin how she witnessed the death of George Floyd.

“I saw an officer put the knee on the neck of George Floyd,” the girl said.

She said she was mad that day because it felt like the police were stopping his breathing and hurting him.

She was on the stand for only a few minutes before she was dismissed and the trial was adjourned for lunch.

After a short recess, the trial of Derek Chauvin has resumed.

Witness Darnella Frazier, who was 17 when she went with her 9-year-old cousin at Cup Foods, filmed the infamous video seen around the world.

She has taken the stand to deliver testimony and is being questioned on whether Derek Chauvin administered any aid, delivered CPR, or engaged anyone else to deliver any aid to George Floyd.

“No,” Ms Frazier responded repeatedly.

She said at the end of her 9-10 minute video, Mr Chauvin never let his knee off Mr Floyd.

“If anything he actually was kneeling harder, looked like he was shoving his knee in his neck,” Ms Frazier said.

Nelson’s efforts to discredit Donald Williams have so far failed to yield fruit, so he is now picking apart the witness’s swearing at the police officers as heard on the video of George Floyd’s death, which was surely understandable as he became increasingly distraught at what he was seeing unfold.

Williams though is well prepared and not afraid to stand up for himself, saying the officers were “trying to intimidate” him and that he had continued raising his voice to protest their actions “because I wasn’t being heard”.

Superbly, he also appears to be wearing a “Black Excellence” T-shirt beneath his white shirt.

Chauvin’s lawyer, Eric Nelson, is pushing Donald Williams on his career as an MMA fighter as he seeks to draw a distinction between the witness’s knowledge of wrestling holds in sport and his inexperience of pressure holds used professionally by the police.

After quibbling with Williams referring to his written notes, Nelson moves on to the witness’s work as a security guard and doorman, a field in which George Floyd also worked.