Trial for the death of George Floyd: The young woman who recorded the video accuses the police of acting in cold blood

The second session is dominated by Darnella Frazier’s testimony: Chauvin “didn’t seem to care about that.”

• USA The trial for the death of George Floyd against Derek Chauvin in the US begins: “What is judged is how far freedom and justice have come”
• Mxico Salvadoran woman dies after being subdued by police in southern Mexico

George Floyd died from the combination of the drugs he had taken and from his health problems, and not from the actions of the police officer Derek Chauvin. That was the thesis of Chauvin’s lawyer, Eric Nelson, on the second day of the trial on Floyd’s death, which sparked the worst race riots in America since 1968.

Nelson and, by extension, Chauvin had a difficult day. The session was dominated by the testimony of Darnella Frazier, who is the one who recorded the video that went around the world in which you see how Chauvin puts his left knee on Floyd’s neck while he yells “I can’t breathe!” and calls his mother until he ends up dying.

Frazier’s words resonated on television and on the Internet in the US, where the process is being broadcast live. Chauvin “didn’t seem to care about that”as Floyd was dying, said the young woman, who accused the policeman of having “a cold, heartless look.” Frazier spoke without his face being seen, since, when he took the pictures on his mobile phone, he was a minor. For that reason, Chauvin’s defense did not ask him questions.

The young woman’s testimony not only had an emotional element. Frazier insisted that “When I see George Floyd I see my father; I see my brothers, my cousins, my uncles, because they are all black”. The racial question underlies the entire trial. Floyd was black; Chauvin is white. Two of the other three police officers who made up his patrol were also white, while one is Asian. All of them will be tried this summer, once the Chauvin trial has concluded.

The trial jury is made up of 14 people. Of them, eight are white and six of other races. Five are men, and nine are women. His is the task of deciding whether Chauvin is guilty or innocent. No one will be satisfied with your opinion. If they choose to hear the former, they will be blamed for having given in to pressure from the media, the street, and social media. If they vote for Chauvin’s innocence, they will be called racists.