MINNEAPOLIS — A teenage witness to the 2020 killing of George Floyd testified in federal court Friday that Floyd's distress was obvious to several bystanders as four officers arresting him ignored pleas to relent and render aid.
Alyssa Funari, now 19, testified that she "instantly" knew Floyd was in distress and that she warned the officers Floyd was near unconsciousness as former Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes while two other officers pinned the rest of his body stomach-down in the street.
"Is he talking now?" Funari said in a clip of cellphone video played in court Thursday. "He's about to knock out."
Funari, who was 17 at the time, recorded the video after arriving at Cup Foods in South Minneapolis on May 25, 2020, to buy a phone charger.
"I observed that over time he was slowly being less vocal and he was closing his eyes," Funari testified. "He wasn't able to tell us he was in pain anymore and he was just accepting it."
Former Minneapolis officers J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao are on trial in federal court on charges that they violated Floyd's civil rights when they arrested him for allegedly using a counterfeit $20 bill. They are also charged in state court with aiding and abetting Floyd's murder; that trial is scheduled for later this year.
Chauvin was convicted in state court last year of murdering Floyd and later pleaded guilty in federal court of violating his civil rights. He is serving 22 1/2 years in prison in the state case and awaits sentencing in the federal case.
Funari testified that she didn't see any of the officers provide aid to Floyd.
In his cross-examination of Funari, Thao's attorney, Robert Paule, attempted to reinforce that his client's back was turned to his colleagues and Floyd as he corralled a crowd of concerned bystanders. Body camera and bystander videos showed that Thao engaged bystanders and his colleagues.
Funari's answers prompted Paule to revisit the issue a number of times.
Paule asked if Thao wasn't watching his colleagues pin Floyd.
"I believe he did look," Funari said. "He might not have been watching the whole time, but he knew what was going on."
"He's not turning around to watch what's happening behind him, is he?" Paule asked.
Funari said Thao turned back a few times.
He's not turning back to watch, Paule asked.
"I wouldn't... agree with that," Funari said.
"Alright, fair enough," Paule said, ending that line of questioning.
Under cross-examination from Paule, Funari also testified that she and a few other bystanders stepped off the sidewalk into the street, prompting Thao to engage them in an attempt to move them back. Funari testified that one bystander ignored Thao's verbal command and gesture to get back on the sidewalk, and only complied after Thao pushed him.
The crowd of several bystanders, many of whom yelled at the officers to stop pinning Floyd and to check his pulse, has been raised as a potential threat to officers at the scene.
Earlier Friday, prosecutors called Mendota Heights Police Chief Kelly McCarthy to testify about training requirements for police officers. McCarthy is chair of the Minnesota Board of Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST), which licenses all officers in Minnesota.
Assistant U.S. Attorney LeeAnn Bell asked McCarthy about an officer's responsibility to civilians they have arrested.
"Once someone is in your custody, they are essentially your baby," McCarthy said. "You have restricted their freedom of movement ... so there are things they can no longer do for themselves, so because you're the one who took them into custody, you are now responsible for those things."
McCarthy said the POST Board has hundreds of learning objectives required of all officers. Those include learning about "positional asphyxia" and the risks while handcuffing someone, use-of-force and civilians' constitutional rights, among others.
"They build on each other," McCarthy said of the objectives. "You have to be able to use that whole breadth of knowledge to address situations safely and legally."
The POST Board requires training on some topics like use-of-force and firearms every year and others, like police pursuits, every few years, McCarthy testified.
"...The way those things are actually taught are left to the particular (police) departments, correct?" asked Paule in his cross-examination of McCarthy.
"Correct," McCarthy said.
Magnuson also announced that court won't be in session next Friday. He didn't cite a reason, but had previously mentioned a conflict Lane's attorney Earl Gray has in Hennepin County District Court in Minneapolis.
Gray represents former Brooklyn Center Police Officer Kimberly Potter who was convicted of manslaughter last year for shooting Daunte Wright after a traffic stop on April 11, 2020. Potter will be sentenced on Friday.
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