Day 3 of Chauvin trial includes never-before-seen footage of George Floyd moments before his arrest

(Image credit: tephen Maturen/Getty Images)

published March 31, 2021

On the third day of the murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, 19-year-old Christopher Martin took the stand as a witness. Martin was working as a cashier at Cup Foods, the store in front of which George Floyd was arrested and died last May. Alongside Martin's testimony, the prosecution played previously never-before-seen footage from the store's security camera, which showed Floyd interacting with other customers and employees before purchasing cigarettes from Martin just minutes before Chauvin arrived at the scene.

Martin can be seen holding up Floyd's $20 bill to the light after receiving it, but they completed the transaction and Floyd left the store to return to his vehicle. Because he suspected the bill was counterfeit, Martin said he went and back and forth over whether to just put the cigarette purchase on his employee tab, or tell the manager. He did the latter, and was told to go outside and tell Floyd to come back into the store, but he and other co-workers were not able to convince Floyd to do so. Martin testified that he did ultimately offer to cover the cost, but the store decided to call the police, anyway. "If I would have just not taken the bill, this could have been avoided," Martin said, adding that he did not think Floyd knowingly passed a counterfeit bill. Tim O'Donnell

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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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