Derek Chauvin trial: Witnesses questioned by lawyers

Floyd was struggling with officers who were trying to get him in a squad car when Chauvin arrived on the scene, Nelson said.

After Chauvin asked whether Floyd was under arrest, he assisted the other officers in their attempts to get Floyd in the car.

The struggle was so profound that the squad car could be seen rocking back and forth in a fixed police camera. The image caught the attention of a police dispatcher, Nelson said.

Chauvin then used what is called a "maximal restraint technique" to restrain Floyd, Nelson said.

"You will learn that Derek Chauvin did exactly what he was trained to do over the course of his 19-year career," Nelson said.

Eric Nelson, Chauvin’s defense attorney, emphasized during his opening statement that the evidence for the case is "far greater than 9 minutes and 29 seconds."

The evidence has been collected "broadly and expansively" and includes several police experts and at least 200 civilian witnesses, Nelson said.

Nelson will spend the trial talking about "reason and common sense and how that applies to the evidence," Nelson said.

The store clerk at Cup Foods who accused Floyd of making a purchase with a fake $20 bill will be among those who testify, Nelson said.

Attorneys will also question one of Floyd’s friends who was in the Mercedes-Benz after he left the store. The friend previously stated that Floyd consumed what she believed to be two Percocet pills before police arrived. Floyd then fell asleep, Nelson said.

When officers arrived, Floyd put drugs in his mouth in an effort to conceal them from police, Nelson said.

Three people who witnessed Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck called 911 on the officers who were at the scene, Blackwell said.

A first responder, who was distressed that the officers were not checking Floyd’s pulse or performing chest compressions on him, called the police, Blackwell said.

Another man, who Blackwell described as a "very focal” bystander with a background in security and mixed martial arts, also called the police.

The third person was a 911 dispatcher who could see the encounter through a fixed police camera on the scene.

The incident was "so unusual, and for her, so disturbing," that she called a sergeant at the police department to alert him to what was happening, Blackwell said.

Blackwell played a portion of the 9 minute and 29 second video taken by a witness on May 25, 2020.

"For half of that time, Mr. Floyd was unconscious, breathless and pulseless," Blackwell said.

Blackwell said Floyd can be seen repeatedly heaving his right shoulder into the air. This move was an attempt by Floyd to expand his ribcage so he could breathe, as he was "pancaked" between the hard pavement beneath him and Chauvin on top of him, Blackwell said.

Chauvin watched intently as the video was played in the courtroom.