A woman who took video of George Floyd's killing that sparked protests around the world has told the court of her guilt at not being able to stop former police officer Derek Chauvin from allegedly murdering Floyd.
"I ended up apologizing and apologizing to George Floyd for not doing more," Darnella Frazier, who at times sobbed as she gave evidence during the trial in Minneapolis, said.
Floyd looked "terrified and scared, begging for his life," Frazier said.
Prosecutors have presented Frazier's video as evidence of Chauvin's guilt. "It was homicide. It was murder," Jerry Blackwell, one of the prosecutors, told the court in his opening statement on the first day of the trial.
Six witnesses took the stand on the second day of the heavily publicized trial. Several were in tears as they recounted their memories of the event.
They included Frazier - who was 17 when she recorded the video - and her 9-year-old cousin, a mixed martial arts fighter, two high school seniors and a Minneapolis firefighter.
"There was a man being killed...I would have been able to provide medical attention to the best of my abilities. And this human was denied that right," Genevieve Hansen, the firefighter, testified.
Donald Williams II said his experience as an MMA fighter told him that Chauvin's "blood choke" was squeezing the life out of Floyd.
"Floyd was trying to gasp for air, trying to be able to breathe as he's down there, trying to move his face side to side, I'm assuming to gasp for more air," Williams said.
Around a dozen people chanted and carried signs outside the courthouse.
The downtown Minneapolis courthouse has been fortified with fences, concrete barriers and razor wire. City and state officials want to prevent a repeat of violence that erupted after Floyd's death.
Chauvin, 45, has denied charges of second- and third-degree murder. He faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted of the most serious charge.
