The woman who filmed George Floyd’s death and sparked a worldwide debate over race relations told the court on Tuesday that she apologizes for “not doing more.”
“When I look at George Floyd, I look at my dad, my brother, my uncle, because they are all black. I look at that, and I look at how that could be one of them,” 18-year-old Darnella Frazier told the court between tears on Tuesday. “There have been nights I stayed up apologizing to George Floyd for not doing more, not physically interacting, and not doing more.”
Frazier testified by audio, an effort to protect her identity because she was only 17 at the time of Floyd’s death last May. The prosecution previously played the entirety of Frazier’s video of Floyd’s death for the jury on Monday.
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Prosecutor Jerry Blackwell asked her to describe the circumstances leading up to Floyd’s death, including whether she could identify any pleas for help during his arrest.
“I heard George Floyd saying, ‘I can’t breathe, please get off me, I can’t breathe,'” she said. “He cried for his mom. He was in pain. … He was terrified. He was suffering. This was a cry for help.”
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She added: “I heard them say, ‘Get off of him. You’re hurting him. You’re hurting him. Are you enjoying this? He can’t breathe.'”
When cross-examined by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin’s attorney, Eric Nelson, Frazier said the crowd got louder as the struggle to control Floyd continued, although she stopped short of calling the bystanders unruly.
Frazier also acknowledged that Officer Tou Thau told her, “You can breathe if you can talk,” when she asked Chauvin to stop restraining Floyd.
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Chauvin faces two counts of murder and one count of manslaughter. The court is expected to resume Wednesday morning at 10:30.
