Chauvin Trial Day 15 pt 1 pscp.tv/w/czMjBDFheVFW…
We are starting today with a replay of our interview with Keith the former 911 operator in Minneapolis, then will go live
Court is expected to resume in #DerekChauvinTrial any minute now. Court ended yesterday with Judge Cahill getting very aggressive towards Genevieve Hanson, the eyewitness who is also a firefighter and trained paramedic.
Both Cahill and defense attorney Nelson (who had been getting hostile in his questioning of Hansen) had interrupted Hansen when she was finishing an answer. When Cahill sent the jury out to scold Hansen, she again told him "I was finishing my answer"
Court is just now resuming for today - Genevieve Hansen is back on the stand. Eric Nelson (Chauvin defense) is going to finish cross-examining her.
Nelson asks if she identified herself as a firefighter at the scene of Floyd's death, she says no. End of Nelson's cross
Nelson asks if she identified herself as a firefighter at the scene of Floyd's death, she says no. End of Nelson's cross
MN Asst AG Frank is now doing re-direct exam on the witness. Asks if she had her MFD ID with her, she says no. Asks more details about her noticing bodily fluids leaking from Floyd's body as he died while cops ignored her and others' pleas to get him medical attention.
No more redirect or cross-exam Qs for Hansen, she is now done testifying. A quick end to her testimony today after a long afternoon of Qs for her yesterday.
The state calls its next witness, Christopher Martin, to the stand
Christopher Martin is 19 years old, lives in Bloomington, Minnesota. On May 25, 2020 he was living in the apartments above Cup Foods at 38th & Chicago - the exact block where George Floyd was killed.
Most days out of the week at that time last year, Mr. Martin was working as a cashier at that Cup Foods. He'd been working there about 2 months at the time of the incident involving Floyd's killing.
Martin describes the Cup Foods at 38th and Chicago as a busy bustling store with a lot of customers coming in and out.
Martin describes seeing George Floyd coming into Cup Foods but says he hadn't known him previously. Said they had a brief conversation about sports - Martin asked if Floyd played baseball, Floyd said he played football. Describes Floyd's demeanor as "appearing that he was high"
The state is using Martin's testimony to introuduce Exhibit 29, a silent surveillance video showing moments while George Floyd was inside the Cup Foods while Martin was working.
The video shows George Floyd walking through the store and approaching the counter, prosecutors ask Martin to use a stylus on the court video display to show different areas of the store, where he would have been working at the time, what products are where etc.
The video is still playing and progresses to show George Floyd handing some money bills in front of the store counter, speaking with employees in an area with cell phone products
Martin says he had a cashier transaction with Mr. Floyd before he left the store. The surveillance video is still rolling now
Martin says he began to suspect a $20 bill Floyd gave him was counterfeit, after "second guessing myself" he eventually told his manager. The manager told him to go find Floyd in his vehicle and ask him to come inside the store to discuss the issue with the bill
Court is back after an unexpectedly lengthy break, the state is now publishing Exhibit 31 - another camera angle of surveillance camera footage from outside the Cup Foods at 38th & Chicago
pscp.tv/w/1gqxvopyLAwKB
pscp.tv/w/1gqxvopyLAwKB
Martin describes interacting w George Floyd in his car parked outside Cup Foods after his manager sent him to go find Floyd and try to bring him back inside the store (Floyd did not agree to return to the store). Martin says he mostly talked to the other person in the car w Floyd
Martin told his manager that Floyd didn't want to come back into the store. The Cup Foods manager sent him back out w other coworkers to try to make Floyd come back inside again - security footage showing those moments getting played in court now
Martin says Floyd offered to pay the balance in question re the alleged counterfeit but the manager said to try to bring him back inside anyway. Martin says he offered to take care of the contested balance personally
Martin claims that the person in the passenger seat of Floyd's car (not Floyd himself) said something indicating that a $20 bill may have been fake
According to Martin, after this point, his manager at Cup Foods told one of his coworkers to call the police on George Floyd
Christopher Martin says that when officers arrived, they didn't speak with him, he kept working the cashier. The cops spoke with his manager. As he kept working, he began to notice a commotion outside the store with a crowd growing and people leaving the store to gather outside
Martin says that eventually when he went outside to check out the commotion, he saw "people yelling and screaming, I saw Derek [Chauvin] with his knee on his neck and him on the ground"
"George was motionless, limp, and Chauvin seemed very...he was in a resting state meaning he just rested his knee on his neck"
Martin says he called his mom and told her not to come outside and look, and then he started recording on his phone but later deleted the footage
Martin says he called his mom and told her not to come outside and look, and then he started recording on his phone but later deleted the footage
Martin says he knew Floyd was dead bc he saw the ambulance drive in a direction that did not take it directly to the hospital. Says he deleted his video bc "I didnt want to have to show it to anyone." Martin's voice has become tearful only in the v recent line of questioning.
Martin says he saw one of his younger, teenage coworkers get pushed by an MPD officer on the scene of Floyd's killing. He says another coworker quickly brought the teen worker back inside the store after the cop laid hands on them.
The state is now publishing Exhibit 33 - another surveillance video showing Mr. Martin on the phone - he says he was calling his mom (who also lived above the Cup Foods at the time) and telling her not to come downstairs/outside.
The surveillance video showing the sidewalk and street just outside Cup Foods is now rolling into the scene with George Floyd and the officers/squad car that most people are already familiar with via another bystander video angle.
Martin says he didn't see his teenage coworker touch or do anything to officers at the scene before the officer forcefully pushed them
The Cup Foods surveillance video metadata visible on the footage incorrectly labels Chicago Ave as "Chicago St"
The video shows Martin & others gathering by the scene where Floyd was killed- Officer Thao can be seen keeping people back, allowing Chauvin to continue choking Floyd without interference. Martin is tearfully describes his guilt & "disbelief", wishes he hadn't taken the $20 bill
Christopher Martin says he soon stopped working at the Cup Foods because "I didn't feel safe."
The state is done with their direct exam of Mr. Martin. Eric Nelson is about to cross-examine him for Chauvin's defense
The state is done with their direct exam of Mr. Martin. Eric Nelson is about to cross-examine him for Chauvin's defense
Nelson is quizzing Martin about basic info about his statements given during interviews with law enforcement investigators who contacted him after the incident
Nelson is now asking Martin about how he "formed the opinion that Mr. Floyd was under the influence" due to "delayed response" in speech etc
Nelson asks Martin about hearing his coworker call the cops on Floyd and describing him seeming under the influence. Martin chokes back tears as he answers, "correct"
"I thought that George didn't really know it was a fake bill..." - Christopher Martin, 38th & Chicago Cup Foods worker (as of 5/25/20, since has quit)
Martin described another person wearing a red hat who he believed knowingly was trying to pass a fake bill (as opposed to Floyd who he didn't think knew it was allegedly fake)
Nelson is walking Martin back through the same series of events he already described for the state - in which his manager sent him outside to try to resolve the alleged fake bill situation and Floyd and the other person in red hat reportedly declined to come back into Cup Foods
Nelson asks Martin about his description of the crowd of onlookers as "yelling and screaming" and "angry" and how he tried to hold some people back
Nelson has finished with his cross-examination of witness Christopher martin - prosecutor doing a "re-direct" now
Asked if he was trained to spot fake bills, Martin says no. Asked to describe Floyd's demeanor, Martin says he was friendly and talkative and also seemed like maybe he was high
After super brief "re-cross" by Nelson, Christopher Martin is finally excused as a witness. Today's testimony clearly forced him to relive a traumatic event
Next witness called by the prosecution is Christopher Belfrey - he's 45 and lives in south Minneapolis - on May 25, 2020 he found himself in the vicinity of George Floyd's killing at 38th & Chicago while shopping at Cup Foods
Belfrey says he noticed officers walking across the street and approaching the vehicle in front of him - "one officer drew a handgun and opened the door and pointed the gun at whoever was in the driver's seat"
Christopher Belfrey tells the court "it startled me...to see the officer had raised his gun...so I started recording"
He later stopped the recording bc he wanted to move his car so he didn't get stuck "in the middle" of traffic gridlock as he heard more sirens arriving
He later stopped the recording bc he wanted to move his car so he didn't get stuck "in the middle" of traffic gridlock as he heard more sirens arriving
The video shows officers on either side of a vehicle with both its front doors open - officers then move to the driver's side and appear to reach inside the vehicle and begin struggling as bystanders start to yell out
Exhibit 36 - another cell phone video taken by Belfrey from his car - appears to show George Floyd sitting down on the sidewalk across the street as he is apparently being detained by 3 officers
Content Advisory: This thread and our stream from court will continue to feature graphic disturbing material - our daily court reporting threads such as this one may be muted by selecting “Mute This Conversation”
Christopher Belfrey says he stopped recording the second clip after an officer gave him a menacing look that made him concerned about continuing to film.
Belfrey describes seeing officers walk George Floyd around the corner to the area in front of Cup Foods - he also remembers seeing them put Mr. Floyd in and out of a squad car.
The state is done with direct examination of witness Christopher Belfrey. Derek Chauvin's lawyer Eric Nelson declines to cros-examine Belfrey, meaning he is now excused. Judge asks attorneys to approach for a sidebar so the court audio feed is now muted on the public video
Judge Peter Cahill just told the jury that their lunch break start now - he expects court to resume for the afternoon at 1:15 PM central time
We are adjusting video systems and streams will start in ~10 minutes for the afternoon court session
Court is back after lunch - the state has called another witness named Charles Macmillian - a 61 year old Black Minneapolitan
Macmillian lives near the area of 38th & Chicago and says that on May 25, 2020 he was passing by Cup Foods and noticed an incident involving police
Macmillian said he parked nearby and then walked to the Cup Foods side of the street to "engage in what was going on by watching." He saw that officers had taken Floyd out of a vehicle and walked him over to the sidewalk
*McMillian
McMillian did not see officers putting handcuffs on George Floyd - saw he was cuffed already when he arrived. Saw officers "starting to walk him down the sidewalk". State prosecutor pulls up Ex. 001 (map of the Cup Foods area) to have him show exactly where he saw this take place
After he saw officers walking Floyd away, McMillian says he couldn't hear what Floyd said "but whatever he said they let him sit down"
The state is showing the jury Exhibit 38 (surveillance video frame showing Mr. McMillian walking down the sidewalk towards the spot where the deadly incident occurred)
McMillian says that at the first point he observed the incident only two officers were engaging with George Floyd, "getting him into the car"
Around this time McMillian says he was talking to Floyd, "the officer was trying to get him into the car...I was telling him just comply with them, get in the car because you can't win, something of that nature"
Asked if he saw Floyd being violent with officers, McMillian answers with an emphatic "no"
(Erin Eldridge from the Minnesota Attorney General prosecutor team is asking the Qs for now)
The state is now showing the court Exhibit 39 - composite of officer body camera footage alongside surveillance video from Cup Foods which shows Mr. McMillian walking past the squad car where 2 officers have Floyd inside
McMillian describes trying to talk to George Floyd and calm him down as officers are pushing him in the car - "I have had interactions with officers myself and in understand once you get into cuffs you can't win, you're done...make the situation easy"
Around this point in the timeline other officers arrived on the scene. McMillian says he recognized Derek Chauvin amongst those officers who were later to get involved
The video shows George Floyd telling officers "i'm claustrophobic...please" & repeatedly begging as officers force him into the vehicle and he begins screaming. Floyd begins to say "I can't breathe" as officers flatly yell at him to get in the car as he continues to scream & beg
After many moments of yelling and struggling, another officer can be heard off camera saying to "take him out" of the car. Officers then can be seen pinning onto Floyd's back as he is pressed face down into the pavement screaming that he can't breathe and crying for his mother
The court pauses the video as Mr. McMillian breaks down crying on the witness stand. "Oh my god", he cries, as he blows his nose and takes off his glasses to wipe his eyes with a tissue
Asked to tell the court what he is feeling, McMillian says "I can't... I feel helpless... I don't have a momma either so i understand him... my momma died June 25th"
Judge Cahill interrupts: "let take a ten minute break"
Judge Cahill interrupts: "let take a ten minute break"
Content Advisory: This thread and our stream from court will continue to feature graphic disturbing material - our daily court reporting threads such as this one may be muted by selecting “Mute This Conversation” 
McMillian's testimony is resuming again now after the short break
McMillian describes watching an officer looking for something he assumes he intended to use to "hogtie" Floyd
Asked what he "heard Mr. Floyd say when he was on the ground", McMillian says he heard him repeat things like "I can't breathe", "you're killing me", "my body's shutting down"
The prosecution is now resuming playing the video composite that they had paused before Judge Cahill called for a break. The video is extremely hard to watch as it shows George Floyd repeatedly begging for his life, saying he can't breathe as cops continue to stay pinned on him.
With the video puased on a frame that shows his vantage point to where 3 officers have George Floyd pinned down, McMillian is asked to describe which officer was which based on his vantage point from standing a few feet away from the killing
The video played in court, which again is clearly retruamatizing for everyone involved, shows McMillian begging Chauvin to take his knee of George Floyd’s neck shortly before Floyd says “i’m through.” McMillian tells the court he was worried Floyd was going to die.
Asked if he saw any officers attempt any medical aid or CPR on Floyd, McMillian says no. He also confirmed Chauvin’s knee stayed on Floyd’s neck until the ambulance arrived.
Exhibit 40, which is being played in court now, is a composite of Derek Chauvin's body camera footage alongside surveillance video footage that establishes McMillian's presence at the scene
The state is done with direct examination of Charles McMillian as a witness. Eric Nelson may cross examine him for the Chauvin defense but its not clear - he is having a sidebar discussion w his client now
Nelson opted not to cross-examine McMillian ( a wise choice of optics for the defense given how moving and emotional his testimony was). McMillian excused from the witness stand
Judge Cahill just took court into a surprise 20 min break (back at 2:40 PM central, he says)
"Counsel is going to streamline some ways to be productive w some of the testimony coming up"
"Counsel is going to streamline some ways to be productive w some of the testimony coming up"
Next witness called by the state takes the stand now - Minneapolis Police Lt. James Jeffrey Rugel
The prosecution is asking Rugel about his work indexing and retrieving video footage saved from officer's body-worn cameras (BWC)
Rugel works in the Strategic Information Center - a police fusion center hub that digests large amounts of surveillance information
Unicorn Riot previously published police records showing Rugel’s “Strategic Information Center” work included creating fake social media accounts to target Black protesters for surveillance:
unicornriot.ninja/2019/police-fu…
unicornriot.ninja/2019/police-fu…
In April 2018, Rugel left the Strategic Information Center to work for MPD’s Business Technology Unit, he tells the court. The state asks him to describe more about the city’s system of surveillance cameras and their capabilities
‘Angel Garcia LoneTree’ is one of the fake online identities created by Rugel and/or his colleagues as part of their work at the Strategic Information Center to conduct surveillance of #BlackLivesMatter /#JamarClark protesters in 2015:
unicornriot.ninja/2019/police-fu…
unicornriot.ninja/2019/police-fu…
Ok, enough background, now back to the live court feed....
Prosecution is continuing to ask Rugel to explain details of how various security video is tagged and archived in file storage systems and was retrieved for the investigation after Chauvin was charged
Prosecution is continuing to ask Rugel to explain details of how various security video is tagged and archived in file storage systems and was retrieved for the investigation after Chauvin was charged
The prosecution uses Rugel's testimony to introduce Exhibit 42, which will be played in court shortly - "milestone footage" (no sound) that shows the view of Cup Foods from behind the Speedway sign across the street
Rugel describes how MPD began piloting body worn cameras in 2015-2016. By this year they've finished rolling body cameras out to the whole department
The prosecution is about to use Rugel's testimony to introduce and play "a series of body worn cameras associated with particular officers in this case"
Some of the first video played is body worn camera footage of an officer aggressively threatening Floyd at gunpoint while he is behind the wheel, swearing at him. Floyd immediately audibly panics and starts crying as the officer is verbally hostile to him while pointing the gun.
George Floyd tells the officer wearing. the camera "I just lost my mom man, please don't shoot me.' The officer appears unmoved by Floyd's emotional pleas as he continues to address him in a forceful, flat tone of voice and point the gun while aggressively manhandling him
The body camera video currently being played seems to be Officer Lane's
The body cam video is still playing in court & is becoming more traumatic w each passing second. Currently it shows Floyd panicking (he clearly began having a panic attack when confronted at gunpoint) and pleading with officers to listen to him as they detain him by the squad car
Lane's bodycam video is still rolling, now shows the point where officers pulled Floyd out of the car after punching him in the back of the car. He is pleading for his life on the ground crying while the four officers ignore his cries and continue to press their weight into him.
We will opt not to repeat intensely traumatic details in this tweet but the court and jury is once again watching truly horrible moments in which George Floyd is clearly dying.
The state pauses the video at one point where it appears that one of the other officers has subtly removed their body worn camera and placed it in the squad car while they were still manhandling Mr. Floyd. They then resume the video and the sounds of intense suffering return
Lane's bodycam video still playing... it mostly just shows George Floyd pinned down to the ground (Lane was on his back) but you can hear the bystanders growing angrier and more agitated as Floyd has already clearly passed away. Paramedics arrive & put his corpse on the stretcher
The prosecution switches to showing another cut of body camera footage, this time from Officer Kueng. The beginning of the video shows Kueng approaching and detaining the person on the passenger side of the vehicle Floyd was pulled out of at the start of the incident
The video quickly becomes much more alarming as Kueng goes to the other side of the vehicle to assist in cuffing George Floyd, who is already clearly in the throes of panic, crying and pleading for his life after he just had a gun pointed at his head
We've now reached the portion of Kueng's body camera that shows him trying to force George Floyd into. theback of the squad car. Floyd is a tall, large guy and it doesn't really seem like he would fit.
Kueng appears to essentially strike Floyd with his hands on the chest and torso several times to try to force him into the back seat of the squad car as Floyd continues visibly and audibly panicking.
Kueng then exits the vicinity of the vehicle and it looks like other officers are striking Floyd although the view is obscured. Floyd is screaming in pain and begins to repeatedly say he can't breathe.
The video now shows Floyd on the ground with the weight of several grown police officers on top of him. The officers’ tones of voice stay casual, cool and unconcerned as Floyd’s pleas grow more desperate and his voice more distorted.
One of the cops says something like "you're breathing fine, you're talking fine" to George Floyd after he says he can't breathe (still on the Kueng body cam)
One officer can be heard saying "lay him on his side?... I just worry about excited delirium or whatever" - other officers clearly declined to take this suggestion seriously. By this point George Floyd has gone quiet and likely is already dead.
Officers continue to keep George Floyd pinned to the ground as the crowd of onlookers yell at them that Floyd is clearly "unresponsive right now"
The crowd pleas with the four officers to check George Floyd's pulse. None of them check his pulse or try to render any medical aid in any way.
Content Advisory: This thread and our stream from court will continue to feature graphic disturbing material - our daily court reporting threads such as this one may be muted by selecting “Mute This Conversation”
The state is now playing Exhibit 49 - the body worn camera of (former) MPD Officer Tou Thao
Thao's body worn camera (BWC) footage starts when he arrived at the scene right as officers are forcing a screaming, pleading, panicking George Floyd into the back of the squad car.
Thao's BWC does not show that Floyd didn't panic until a cop surprised him with. agun to. thehead through his driver side window.
The footage shows Chauvin being the one primarily handling Floyd - trying to force him into the car, then laying him on the ground and crushing him
The footage shows Chauvin being the one primarily handling Floyd - trying to force him into the car, then laying him on the ground and crushing him
The rest of Thao's body camera footage seems to mostly match the footage just played that we already described. It is truly terrible to watch.
The state stops playing Kueng's BWC shortly after officer Thao can be heard telling the crowd "dont do drugs, kids" - a clear attempt to blame and justify their deadly mistreatment of George Floyd, and a misinformation trope since taken up by neo-nazis and other racist agitators
the state is now playing video from Derek Chauvin's body worn camera (BWC)
Chauvin's BWC stopped being shown a few mins in - it just showed him driving, seemed uneventful. The state prosecutor is now publishing several evidence exhibits at once - appears these are all individual frames (so screenshots, basically) taken from officer's body cameras
Now a selection from officer's body worn camera is being shown in court in a more selective "clipped" fashion - seems the state is angling to point out a particular detail
The state points out how in the clip they just played Officer Chauvin's body worn camera has clearly been removed and is laying UNDER the squad car
Jurors are now excused for the night, unclear if Lt. Rugel from the Strategic Information Center (police surveillance fusion center of much interest beyond this case) is done testifying or if the defense will seek to cross-examine him.
Correction: MPD Lt. Rugel is now with the Business Technology Unit, was previously with the SIC.
Judge Cahill is now hearing arguments with the jury out of the court room. Nelson, Chauvin's defense lawyer, is asking Lt. Rugel questions asking details about some of. thevideo evidence - why security cameras turned at a given time etc etc
Court seems to be done for the day after Nelson did some nitpicking re how video evidence was being presented after being retrieved from archives - if it comes back online we will cut to it
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