First witness in Chauvin trial testifies she thought police camera froze because of how long he kneeled on George Floyd's neck

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published 29 March 2021

The first witness in the murder trial of former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin testified on Monday that while watching live police camera footage of George Floyd's arrest last May, she actually thought the video had frozen because of how long Chauvin was kneeling on his neck, The New York Times reports.

Jena Scurry, a 911 dispatcher, took the stand as the prosecution played the video. In her testimony, Scurry recalled she couldn't tell precisely what was happening on the ground, but she said she grew concerned about how long the officers remained in the same position and eventually made the rare decision to call her supervisor and report the use of force. "My instincts were telling me that something's wrong," Scurry said Monday.

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.

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