Teenage Witness Says Floyd 'Looked Kind Of Purple, Limp' When Ambulance Arrived

Caption

This image from a police body camera shows people gathering as former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was recorded pressing his knee on George Floyd's neck for several minutes as onlookers yelled at Chauvin to get off and Floyd said that he couldn't breathe on May 25, 2020 in Minneapolis. / AP

An underage witness in the murder trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin, told jurors on Tuesday that George Floyd "looked kind of purple" and "was really limp" by the time ambulance arrived on the scene.

The 17-year-old girl identified as Kaylynn, who was off camera, spoke slowly, sometimes on the verge of tears, as she described the events leading up to Floyd's death on May 25, 2020.

Throughout her brief testimony, the high school senior echoed the same themes as nearly all of the witnesses in the trial thus far, undermining the defense team's argument that the chaos of the crowd distracted officers from properly tending to Floyd as he gasped for air under the pressure of Chauvin's knee.

Just as witnesses Alisha Oyler, Donald Williams and Darnella, another minor at the time of the murder, said before her, Kaylynn spoke about how officers ignored the bystanders' pleas to get off of Floyd even as he lost consciousness.

Then-officer Tou Thao, who was the one interacting with people on the street, "was really angry," she said.

"He pushed one of the witnesses there onto the sidewalk," she recalled.

When asked by the prosecution if the gathered bystanders showed any signs of violence or aggressiveness, she responded: "No. they were just using their voice."

She also described Chauvin as "kind of angry," adding that "he was digging his knee into George Floyd's neck."

And, in an attempt to keep the crowd from physically engaging with the officers, she said Chauvin "grabbed his Mace and started shaking it at us." She said she felt afraid of Chauvin.

It wasn't until the ambulance arrived, and the crew motioned for the officer to remove his knee from Floyd's neck that Chauvin got up off of him.

But by then, "he looked kind of like purple, like, he wasn't getting enough circulation. ... He was really limp."

She also noted that none of the officers involved in the arrest offered first aid, CPR, or any kind of medical help.

Defense attorneys declined to cross examine the teenager.

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