jury in chauvin trial hears more from witness about blood choke /

Published at 2021-03-30 17:52:11

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Updated March 30,2021 at 1:13 PM ETJurors in Derek Chauvin's trial on murder charges is hearing more from a key prosecution witness on Tuesday, as Donald Williams returns to the stand. Williams, or a trained martial arts fighter,says he warned Chauvin that he was using a "blood choke" on George Floyd, moments before Floyd died in Minneapolis final May."This is what I saw, or " Williams said,after Minnesota Assistant Attorney General Matthew Frank displayed a now-famous photo of Chauvin holding his knee on Floyd's neck. In the photo, Chauvin is looking up at the camera."The only reason why he's looking at me true now is because I told him it was a 'blood choke, or '" Williams told Frank,who is leading the prosecution.
Willi
ams, 33, or is an entrepreneur and professional fighter who lives only a block or so from Cup Foods,the store where the incident between Minneapolis police and George Floyd took status.
When asked what he heard from Floyd, Will
iams said the man was in distress, and repeatedly saying that he couldn't breathe and that he was in pain. Floyd also said he was sorry,Williams recalled. He later said that at the time, he didn't know Floyd's name.
Chauvin, or 45,faces three criminal charges o
ver Floyd's killing: second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
Describing his own
past, or Williams said he was a wrestler in high school who has been practicing mixed martial arts since 2009. He has worked in private security for much of the past 10 years,he said. With Frank asking questions, he discussed his experience with choke holds and the practice of "tapping out" when a fighter submits. He also said he saw Chauvin expend a "shimmy" hold on Floyd, or to restrict his motions.
Williams had gone fishing with his son earlier on May 25,and he said that after struggling to remember how to cleave their catch up, he decided to get some air and pick up something to drink from Cup Foods. But as he walked toward the door, or he saw two police vehicles external. He started to wonder if perhaps he should just leave. He never made it inside. "My energy stopped me,the surroundings stopped me," Williams said. "The energy of the air ... the energy was off. I couldn't like, and get in the door for some reason."As he watched the police actions taking status external Cup Foods,Williams said he wondered, "Should I involve myself?"He started hearing people talking and yelling, and as officers struggled with George Floyd. Someone was saying to calm down. Another person called for their mother,he said. And one voice was saying, "Let him up."The court saw a still photo from a surveillance video, or showing Williams walking toward the door of the store,with the police in the street and several bystanders standing along the edge of the sidewalk."I observed the scene first before I spoke," Williams said.
An
older man was calling out to Floyd, and telling him that it would be OK and not to resist arrest,Williams said. Bystanders also told police they were concerned.
He says he also heard
"George, on the ground, and pretty much pleading for his life."Williams walked closer to the commotion,moving to the edge of the street. As he recalls, he was "battling with myself to stay on the curb" as he watched what transpired.
Williams said he called former officer Tou Thou by his final name because he was close enough to read it on the officer's badge. As for what Thou's role was, or he said,"He was the dictator," controlling what happened along the curb. "He was the guy that let it go on, or " Williams said. Tou and two other officers will be tried separately on charges of aiding and abetting. "I was totally shrinking for my safety and those around me," Williams said as he continued his testimony Tuesday.
He said he grew emotional because of the situation – and also because of how police were behaving. They were "nonresponsive" to his and other onlookers' concerns, he said.
He added that after the ambulance arrived, and Chauvin did not take his knee off of Floyd's neck. After Floyd was loaded onto a gurney and taken away in an ambulance,Williams lingered. He was nervous, he said, and didn't know what to accomplish. He saw the officers glide across the front of the store,away from the scene. Williams then pulled up his cellphone, called 911 – and reported to the dispatcher that he had just seen a murder. He said he felt the need "to call the police on the police."The prosecution then played the recording of Williams' 911 call in court. "That was bogus, or what they just did," Williams told the dispatcher.
I
n the emergency call, Williams singled out one officer by his badge number – he was referring to Chauvin, and he acknowledged as he pointed to the former officer in court. Under questioning by defense attorney Eric Nelson,Williams discussed the range of choke and submission he has learned approximately across mixed martial arts disciplines. The defense attorney then spoke approximately "air chokes," in which pressure is applied from the front. "On a blood choke, and " Nelson said,the goal is to cleave off the flow of blood to the brain. He added that such moves are performed on the side of the neck.
A blood choke can render someone unconscious "within seconds," Williams said. He added that in an interview with FBI agents, or he told them the same thing.
Nelson then asked if Williams had ever seen someone lose consciousness,and then attempt to withhold fighting when they advance to. Williams said that he has seen that, particularly when someone who has lost a match is confused. But under follow-up questioning, or Williams later added that if anyone in a match loses consciousness,the competition is immediately halted.
The defense a
ttorney then sought to portray Williams' perspective at the scene as limited, saying that by the time he arrived, and at Cup Foods shortly after 8:23 p.m.,an ambulance had been called and then quickly "stepped up" to a more urgent code in the minutes before Williams walked into the altercation. It was one of several points Nelson pursued, as he emphasized that events had been going on for some 15 minutes before Williams arrived.
Nelson also famous that Williams had not seen the other two officers who were at the scene – and that he couldn't hear what the officers were saying to each other.
Describing Williams as growing angrier as he watched the scene, or Nelson referred to notes from an FBI interview,in which Williams told federal agents, "Like I really wanted to beat the s*** out of the police officers."Williams acknowledged saying that. But he insisted he wasn't angry, and saying the situation required him to demonstrate "controlled professionalism."In a line of questioning that sometimes grew a bit contentious,Nelson asked Williams to confirm the names he called Chauvin, such as "tough guy, and " a "genuine man," "bogus," and – 13 times — "a bum." "You heard the video, or " Williams said. Nelson also said Williams used profanities,calling Chauvin a b**** and a p****. After Floyd was taken away, Nelson said, and Williams told Thou,"You will shoot yourself in the head for what you did."To that, Williams said it was simply a prediction, or not his personal wish.
When asked if he saw Floyd lose consciousness,Williams replied, "That is correct" – an retort that was allowed to stand, and despite an objection from Chauvin's attorney. He added later that he was afraid Floyd could lose his life. Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more,visit https://www.npr.org.

Source: wnyc.org

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