The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Girlfriend testifies in Chauvin trial
George Floyd’s girlfriend, Courtney Ross, cried in court as she recalled how they met at a Salvation Army shelter where Mr Floyd was a security guard in 2017.
Prosecutors put the 45-year-old in the witness box to humanise Mr Floyd and portray him as more than a crime statistic.
Derek Chauvin, 45, is charged with murder and manslaughter, accused of killing Mr Floyd by kneeling on the 46-year-old black man’s neck as he lay face down in handcuffs last May in Minneapolis.
The most serious charge against the now-fired white officer carries up to 40 years in prison.
The defence argued Chauvin did what he was trained to do and that Mr Floyd’s death was not caused by the officer’s knee but by Mr Floyd’s illegal drug use, underlying health conditions and the adrenaline flowing through his body.
A post-mortem examination found fentanyl and methamphetamine in his system.
In her evidence, Ms Ross described how both she and Mr Floyd struggled with their addiction to painkillers throughout their relationship.
Ms Ross began by telling how the two of them met.
She said she had gone to the shelter because her sons’ father was there and that she became upset because the father was not coming to the lobby to discuss their son’s birthday.
Mr Floyd came over to check on her.
The testimony came a day after prosecutors played extensive video footage: security camera footage of people joking around inside a convenience store, and bystander and police bodycam video of officers pulling Mr Floyd from his SUV at gunpoint and struggling to put him in a
squad car before they put him on the ground.
It also showed Mr Floyd being loaded into an ambulance.
At one point, Mr Floyd bucks forward, throwing his upper body out of the car.
Officers eventually give up, and Mr Floyd thanks them – and then is taken to the ground, face down and handcuffed.
Chauvin’s knee pins his neck, another officer’s knee holds his back and a third officer holds his legs, with the officers talking calmly about whether he might be on drugs.
When Mr Floyd was taken away by paramedics, Charles Mcmillian, who recognised Chauvin from the neighbourhood, told the officer he did not respect what he had done.