Emergency responder was so disturbed by live feed of Floyd arrest she called police sergeant 

An emergency responder was so disturbed by the sight of former police officer Derek Chauvin pinning George Floyd to the ground that she “called the police” on him, prosecutors told the court as Mr Chauvin’s murder trial began in Minneapolis yesterday.

Opening arguments in the highly charged trial began with Jerry Blackwell, the prosecutor, detailing how Mr Chauvin knelt on Mr Floyd’s neck for a total of nine minutes and 29 seconds last May as the unarmed black man said “I can’t breathe” 27 times before becoming silent and unresponsive.

As he outlined the sequence of events, Mr Blackwell told the court that several witnesses to the incident, including the 911 dispatcher who sent the officers to the scene, were so disturbed by Mr Chauvin’s actions that they “called the police on the police”.

Bystander footage of the arrest of Mr Floyd, an unarmed black man, launched a global movement against police brutality and racial injustice and will play a central role in the prosecution’s case during the four-week trial.

Mr Chauvin, who is white, is charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter and third-degree murder and faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted of the most serious charge.

Joe Biden was watching the proceedings “closely” along with the rest of America, the White House said yesterday.

The US president’s spokesman said the events surrounding Mr Floyd’s death were a reminder of the need to make “addressing racial injustice a priority to the things we do”.

The distressing footage of Mr Floyd’s last moments was played to jurors, with the prosecution telling them Mr Chauvin (45) squeezed “the very life” out of the 46-year-old, refusing to remove his weight even as paramedics attempted to find Mr Floyd’s pulse.

“Mr Derek Chauvin betrayed this badge when he used excessive and unreasonable force upon the body of George Floyd,” Mr Blackwell said.

The jury panel consists of eight white people and six black or mixed raced people. Two of the 14 are alternates and will not take part in the deliberations. The prosecution called Jena Scurry, the 911 dispatcher who sent police to the scene on May 25, as their first witness.

Ms Scurry said she grew distressed as she watched a live video feed showing Mr Chauvin continuing to pin Mr Floyd to the ground, saying “my instincts were telling me that something’s wrong”. The emergency responder said she was so shocked that she decided to call a police sergeant to voice her concerns – the first time she had done so in her seven years in the role.

“You can call me a snitch if you want to but... all of them sat on this man. I don’t know if they needed to or not,” she said in audio of the call played to the court.

Meanwhile, the defence urged the jury to separate the social justice movement triggered by Mr Floyd’s death from the proceedings taking place in the courtroom as they presented their opening arguments.

“There is no political or social cause in this courtroom,” lawyer Eric Nelson told the court.

Mr Nelson said there was “more to the scene” than the bystander footage showed after Mr Floyd was apprehended outside a shop in Minneapolis for allegedly using a counterfeit $20 note.

“The evidence is far greater than nine minutes and 29 seconds,” he said.

Mr Nelson cited the fact that Mr Floyd would not co-operate during his arrest and the heckling Mr Chauvin and the other officers had to contend with from a large, hostile group of onlookers.

A large group of protesters gathered outside the courthouse as the trial began. Some of the crowd filled the road waving Black Lives Matter flags in a stand-off with cars attempting to pass.

Abdirashiid Jibriil Jawjawla, a Minneapolis resident originally from Somalia, said he had been there since 8am.

“We’re not talking about skin colour, we are talking about justice,” he said.

Outside the courthouse in downtown Minneapolis, Mr Floyd’s family said the trial would have broader implications for America.

Ben Crump, a lawyer for the Floyd family, said: “Today starts a landmark trial that will be a referendum on how far America has come in its quest for equality and justice for all”.

“The whole world is watching,” he added. (© Telegraph Media Group Ltd 2021)

Irish Independent