Young girls armed with telephones, a martial arts buff and a woman firefighter, all witnesses to the agony of George Floyd, delivered moving testimonies Tuesday, March 30 in front of the court of Minneapolis, sorry to not have been able to it. "
Save
".
"
Some nights, I stay awake and I apologize to George Floyd for not having done more,
" said in tears Darnella Frazier, 18, called to testify at the trial of Derek Chauvin.
Read also: Death of George Floyd: high-risk trial in a fractured America
On May 25, in the big city of the North of the United States, she was out for a run with a little cousin, when she found herself in front of a scene which, by her own admission, "
definitively
" changed her life. .
In front of her, Derek Chauvin is kneeling on the neck of George Floyd who gasps, moans, begs, then passes out.
Darnella Frazier pulls out her cell phone and starts filming.
His video, posted on the internet, will go around the world, pushing millions of people to demonstrate against racism and police violence.
But, at the time, the young girl just tries to convince the policeman to let go.
"
I am someone who keeps everything in me
," she explained to the jurors.
But when I saw what I saw, I made myself heard.
"
On the sidewalk next to her, a former high school friend, 17, has the same reflex.
While filming, she shouts to the police: "
Check his pulse, he's not moving for a minute."
"
A feeling of guilt
Genevieve Hansen, a 27-year-old female firefighter on leave that day, also calls out to Derek Chauvin and his colleagues.
She identifies herself, asks to help.
In vain.
"
As soon as someone tried to approach,
" the police pushed them aside.
“
They were on the defensive,
” commented Darnella Frazier.
After long minutes, an ambulance arrives, too late to revive the forty-something.
And these witnesses still haven't gotten over it.
“
We couldn't do anything, powerful forces were there and I feel like I
gave up” George Floyd, said, very moved, the second young girl.
“
When I think of George Floyd, I see my father, my brothers, my cousin, my uncle.
They are all black,
”added Darnella Frazier.
“
It could have been them.
"Some nights, she has insomnia and apologizes to George Floyd for not"
having intervened physically
"to save him.
"
But it was not for me to do otherwise, it was for him
", she concluded to the address of Derek Chauvin.
Of "contempt" for Floyd's life
Derek Chauvin, 45, is charged with murder and manslaughter.
Released on bail, he appeared free and pleaded not guilty.
His lawyer maintains that he followed a procedure consistent with his training and that George Floyd died of a fentanyl overdose and health problems.
But for prosecutors, the policeman showed an
obvious
"
contempt
" for the African American's life by holding on to his pressure for nine minutes and twenty-nine seconds.
The parties have three to four weeks to convince the jurors, who are expected to deliver their verdict in late April or early May.
The three other police officers involved, Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao, will be tried in August for "
complicity in murder
".