“I literally watched police officers not take a pulse and not doing anything to save a man,” Hansen said,sounding deeply distressed. “I am a first responder myself,and I literally have it on video camera.”
The video footage captured Officer Tou Thao,who stood between Floyd and a crowd of witnesses,asking if Hansen was actually a firefighter.
Yes,Hansen told him,from Minneapolis.
Donald Williams wipes his eyes as he answers questions during the trial of Derek Chauvin.Credit:AP
“Tell me what his pulse is right now,” Hansen shouted later as other bystanders protested. “I swear to god.”
At one point,Thao responds to Hansen’s pleas:“I am too busy dealing with you guys.”
The testimony was aimed at showing that Chauvin had multiple opportunities to think about what he doing and change course.
But Chauvin attorney Eric Nelson also sought to bring out evidence of anger in the crowd,in an apparent attempt to show that Chauvin and his fellow officers found themselves in a tense and distracting situation,with onlookers becoming more and more agitated.
But witnesses also testified that no bystanders actually interfered with police.
Earlier on Tuesday,Donald Williams,one of the onlookers,testified that he called 911 after paramedics took Floyd away,“because I believed I witnessed a murder”. In a recording of the emergency call,Williams could be overheard yelling at the officers:“Y’all is murderers,bro!”
During cross-examination,Chauvin’s lawyer pointed out that Williams seemed to grow increasingly angry at the police,taunting Chauvin with “tough guy,” “bum” and other names,then calling Chauvin expletives,which the defence lawyer repeated in court.
Williams initially admitted he was getting angrier,but then backtracked and said he was controlled and professional and was pleading for Floyd’s life but wasn’t being heard.
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Williams said he was stepping on and off the curb,and at one point,Thao,who was controlling the crowd,put his hand on Williams’ chest. Williams admitted under questioning that he told Thao he would beat the officers if Thao touched him again.
Chauvin,45,is charged with murder and manslaughter,accused of killing Floyd by pinning the 46-year-old handcuffed Black man to the pavement for what prosecutors said was 9 minutes and 29 seconds. Floyd was arrested after being accused of trying to pass a counterfeit $US20 bill at the convenience store.
The most serious charge against the now-fired white officer carries up to 40 years in prison.
The defence has argued that Chauvin did what his training told him to do and that Floyd’s death was not caused by the officer but by a combination of illegal drug use,heart disease,high blood pressure and the adrenaline flowing through his body.
Floyd’s death last May,along with the bystander video of him pleading that he couldn’t breathe and onlookers angrily yelling at the officer to get off him,triggered sometimes-violent protests around the world and a reckoning over racism and police brutality across the US.
On Tuesday,prosecutors played mobile phone video recorded by yet another bystander,18-year-old Alyssa Funari,that showed onlookers shouting and screaming at Chauvin after Floyd stopped moving.
The video,which had not been released before,also showed the woman who said she was a Minneapolis firefighter calmly walk up to Thao and offer to help,before he ordered her to get back on the curb.