By Shaila Dewan

transcript

Witness Breaks Down During Testimony in Chauvin Trial

On Wednesday, Charles McMillian, who was driving by Cup Foods at the time of George Floyd’s arrest and stopped to see what was happening, grew emotional in the courtroom when describing what he saw.

“Mr. McMillian, do you need a minute?” [crying] “Oh my God. I couldn’t help but feel helpless. I don’t have a mama either, but I understand him. My mom died June 25. Basically what I’m saying, I became aware because, like I said before, once the police get the cuffs on you, you can’t win. So I’m trying to tell him, just cooperate with them. Get up — get in the car, go with them, you can win.” “And did he say, ‘I can’t’ to you?” “Yes, ma’am.” “OK, did you understand him to be talking to you?” “Yes, ma’am.”

Charles McMillian, 61, who saw the police trying to get George Floyd into the police car and begged him to cooperate, broke down in sobs as he watched video in court of Mr. Floyd calling for his mother. Mr. McMillian had to stop testifying, take off his glasses and wipe his eyes. “I couldn’t help but feel helpless,” he said.

Nearly every witness so far has cried at some point in their testimony, and not just because of the trauma of what they saw. Several have said they felt powerless to intervene as they watched a man die. In almost all cases, interfering with officers is itself a crime.

On Wednesday, that same stress started to impact the jury. The prosecution has shown the jury parts of the video multiple times every day of the trial. One juror interrupted the proceedings an hour into Wednesday’s session, motioning to the judge that she felt ill. The judge paused the trial citing the woman’s “stress-related reaction.” The 50-year-old woman told the judge that she was feeling shaky, but better, and that she had been having trouble sleeping.

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