MINNEAPOLIS (CN) — The second day of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin’s murder trial for the death of George Floyd kicked off with a morning of tense, emotional testimony from some of those who watched Floyd’s fatal arrest from the street.
The second day of trial picked up where the first left off, with the testimony of eyewitness Donald Williams. Williams, a security guard and mixed martial artist, said on Monday he drove to Cup Foods on May 25, 2020, for something to drink after a day of fishing and saw Chauvin and his fellow officers arresting Floyd as he walked up to the store. He recognized Chauvin’s grip on Floyd’s neck as what he called a “blood choke,” in which a choker puts pressure on the side of a person’s neck in order to restrict blood flow to and from the brain.
That testimony veered into the inadmissible when Williams discussed the distinction between that and what he called a “kill choke,” which he claimed he saw Chauvin using. Chauvin’s attorney Eric Nelson moved early in jury selection to prevent Williams from testifying about his mixed martial arts training at all, but Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill largely denied that motion, allowing any testimony that did not go to Floyd’s cause of death. As Cahill went to explain that distinction Monday with Williams, however, a power surge cut off several live streams of the trial, leading the judge to shut proceedings down for the day in the interest of maintaining transparency.
Assistant Attorney General Matthew Frank returned to questioning Williams Tuesday morning, asking him about his interactions with Tou Thao, an officer who stood near the curb and kept a growing crowd away from Chauvin and Floyd, and a 911 call he made to report the incident after an ambulance carried Floyd away.
“I just was really trying to keep my professionalism and make sure I speak out for Floyd’s life, because I felt like he was in very much danger,” he told Frank.
He mentioned Thao pushing him back onto the curb at one point, and said he was fearful of the police.
“I did call the police on the police,” Williams said of the call.
“And why did you do that?” Frank asked.
“Because I believed I witnessed a murder,” he replied. He said he didn’t attempt to make that report to the officers at the scene because “we didn’t have no connection. I spoke to them, but not on a connection of a human-being relationship.”
In the call, Williams could be heard saying “Officer 987 killed a citizen in front of a Chicago store. He just pretty much killed this guy who wasn’t resisting arrest. He had his knee on the dude’s neck the whole time…. The dude was not responsive when the ambulance came and got him.” Chauvin’s badge number at the time was 1087, and Williams confirmed in court that he had meant Chauvin.
The operator asked him if he wanted to speak to a supervisor, and sent him to an automated operator. Before he reached a supervisor, however, he spoke with Thao.
“Y’all murderers, bro, y’all murderers, Thao. You’re gonna kill yourself, I know it. Two more years, y’all gonna shoot yourself," Williams said on the call.
When Nelson’s turn to question Williams came, the witness's demeanor changed and he became visibly wary of the attorney’s questions. Nelson started with several questions about Williams’ background in security and martial arts, asking about the details of chokehold use in competitive wrestling and MMA and the distinctions between a blood choke and an air choke. He asked whether a blood choke had to put pressure on both sides of the neck, a contention Williams objected to. He also asked whether Williams had ever had conversations with his MMA opponents while choking them out. Williams said he hadn’t.