Teenage witness recounts George Floyd's arrest and death in tearful testimony during Chauvin trial


Several more witnesses took the stand on Tuesday, the second day of the murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, including Darnella Frazier, the then-17-year-old who recorded video of George Floyd's arrest last May.
Judge Peter Cahill ruled that Frazier and three other young witnesses, including Frazier's 9-year-old cousin, could deliver their testimony off-camera, so they were not seen while being questioned, but Frazier can be heard recounting what happened. She notes she walked her cousin into Cup Foods (the store in front of which Chauvin kneeled on Floyd's neck while he was pinned to the ground) to spare her from watching the disturbing scene that was unfolding. She added that she then walked back to the scene and began filming, which police camera footage shows, as well.
Frazier told the prosecution she went back because what was happening "wasn't right." Floyd was "suffering, he was in pain," she said, explaining that she heard him say he couldn't breathe and call for his mother. "It seemed like he knew it was over for him," she said.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Later in her testimony, Frazier provided some details about how the event personally affected her. She said when she looks at Floyd, she thinks of her father, her brother, her cousins, and uncles, who, like Floyd, are Black men. "That could have been one of them," she said. There have been nights, she said, where she's "stayed up apologizing and apologizing to George Floyd for not doing more and not ... saving his life," though she said she realizes "it's not what I should have done, it's what he should have done" seemingly referring to Chauvin. Read more at The New York Times. Tim O'Donnell
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
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.
-
July 6 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Sunday’s political cartoons include paying for school lunch by enlisting, and the banality of evil
-
5 biting editorial cartoons about 'Alligator Alcatraz'
Cartoons Artists take on dangerous green things, historical precedent, and more
-
A journey into the deep past on beautiful Arran
The Week Recommends New Unesco Global Geopark played a 'key role' in the birth of modern geological science
-
Combs convicted on 2 of 5 charges, denied bail
Speed Read Sean 'Diddy' Combs was acquitted of the more serious charges of racketeering and sex trafficking
-
Sniper kills 2 Idaho firefighters in ambush
Speed Read A man started a wildfire, then fired a rifle at first responders when they arrived
-
Weinstein convicted of sex crime in retrial
Speed Read The New York jury delivered a mixed and partial verdict at the disgraced Hollywood producer's retrial
-
'King of the Hill' actor shot dead outside home
speed read Jonathan Joss was fatally shot by a neighbor who was 'yelling violent homophobic slurs,' says his husband
-
DOJ, Boulder police outline attacker's confession
speed read Mohamed Sabry Soliman planned the attack for a year and 'wanted them all to die'
-
Assailant burns Jewish pedestrians in Boulder
speed read Eight people from the Jewish group were hospitalized after a man threw Molotov cocktails in a 'targeted act of violence'
-
Driver rams van into crowd at Liverpool FC parade
speed read 27 people were hospitalized following the attack
-
2 Israel Embassy staff shot dead at DC Jewish museum
speed read The suspected gunman chanted 'free, free Palestine'