USA TODAY International Edition
Witnesses break down, express guilt over Floyd
Several testify of regret for inability to help him
MINNEAPOLIS – Firefighter Genevieve Hansen broke down in tears Tuesday as she testified about being prevented from helping George Floyd as police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck.
The 27- year- old, who also trained as an EMT, was on a walk last Memorial Day when she encountered Floyd and Chauvin. She can be heard on video of the arrest begging officers to check Floyd's pulse.
She described feeling “totally distressed” and “helpless” that the police wouldn't let her give medical attention to Floyd.
Almost everyone who has testified in Chauvin's trial became choked up on the witness stand as they described watching Floyd go unconscious and lose his pulse. Many expressed regret that they couldn't help Floyd, a Black man who was pinned beneath Chauvin's knee for more than nine minutes on May 25, 2020.
Sometimes survivors of traumatic events hold a “false belief ” about their role – for example, that they could've saved Floyd from dying, said Nadine Kaslow, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Emory School of Medicine.
Among those who testified were a mixed martial arts fighter, the teenager who recorded a video showing Floyd's death and her 9- year- old cousin and the cashier who took a counterfeit $ 20 bill that Floyd allegedly tried to pass, which led to the 911 call for police. Chauvin, who is white, is charged with second- degree murder, third- degree murder and second- degree manslaughter.
Simply watching video of Floyd's death can take an emotional toll on viewers, especially people of color who have been repeatedly exposed to microaggressions and viral incidents of racism and police brutality, said Kaslow, director of the Atlanta Trauma Alliance.
Witnessing a severely traumatic event – such as Floyd's death – in person can have “profound” psychological effects, both short and long term, she said.
“It will impact them for the rest of their lives,” Kaslow said. “When people are telling the story, it's almost like they are reliving a lot of memories.”
Wednesday, Judge Peter Cahill had to call a 10- minute recess when Charles McMillian, the prosecution's 11th witness, began to sob as he watched the video showing Floyd struggling with police and calling out for his mother.
“I feel helpless,” McMillian said, struggling to regain his composure. “My mom died June 25th.”
McMillian can be seen in a video standing in the street behind a patrol car during Floyd's initial struggle with police. After McMillian regained his composure, prosecutor Erin Eldridge asked him whether he could handle hearing and watching more of the video.
“What stood out to you about what Mr. Floyd was saying when you saw him on the ground?” Eldridge asked.
“When he said ‘ I can't breathe,' and when he said, ‘ Mama, they're killing me, they're killing me.' That's what I kept hearing: ‘ I can't breathe, they're killing me,' ” he replied.
Darnella Frazier, the teenager who filmed the video, broke down in tears multiple times Tuesday as she told attorneys that witnessing and recording the incident changed her life.
Frazier, who was 17 at the time, said she has stayed up some nights “apologizing and apologizing to George Floyd for not doing more and not physically interacting and not saving his life.”
Donald Williams, a wrestler trained in mixed martial arts who asked officers to stop the “blood choke,” wiped away tears as he listened to the 911 call he made once officers left the scene.
Witnessing Floyd's death could create emotional anguish, fear, sadness and other “classic symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder” such as intrusive memories, flashbacks or nightmares, Kaslow said.
She said witnesses may experience a symptom of PTSD called survivor's guilt, a feeling that they did something wrong because they survived a trauma while others did not or that they didn't do enough to help.
Christopher Martin, the Cup Foods employee who took the counterfeit $ 20 bill, told jurors Wednesday that he experienced “disbelief and guilt” after seeing Floyd taken away in an ambulance.
“If I had just not taken the ($ 20) bill, this could have been avoided,” Martin, 19, said.
Martin said he left his job at Cup Foods because he didn't feel safe.
Kaslow said people trying to cope with traumatic events may become isolated and avoid talking about it.
High school student Alyssa Nicole Funari, 18, told the court Tuesday that she hasn't been to Cup Foods since.
Funari said she felt like she was failing because she wanted to intervene but an officer was pushing the crowd back.
“There was nothing I could do as a bystander there,” she said. “I couldn't do physically what I wanted to do.”
The avoidance coping mechanism is “severely challenged” in a trial, Kaslow said. “We need to be mindful as we ask people to testify,” she said. “This is really going to stir a lot of people up.”