Derek Chauvin is on trial for George Floyd's death

Judge Peter Cahill adjourned proceedings in the trial of Derek Chauvin for the day.

Witness testimony will continue tomorrow morning at 10:30 a.m. ET with Genevieve Hansen, a trained EMT and Minneapolis firefighter.

Hansen took the stand today and testified that she was walking by the scene on May 25, 2020 when she came upon the George Floyd incident.

Prosecutors played video footage that featured Hansen pleading with the officers to check Floyd's pulse.

She said she should have called 911 "immediately" after arriving on the scene. Hansen said once the ambulance left with Floyd, she stood there on the sidewalk in "disbelief."

Hansen told prosecutors that she felt "helpless" and was upset about what she saw.

When the prosecutor asked her why she felt helpless, she said, "because there was a man being killed, and I would have... had I had access to a call similar to that, I would have been able to provide medical attention to the best of my abilities and this human was denied that."

Genevieve Hansen, a trained emergency medical technician (EMT) and Minneapolis firefighter, said she identified herself as a first responder and demanded officers check his pulse when she saw George Floyd on the ground.

Hansen then called 911 to report what she saw. 

Hansen lives within walking distance of Cup Foods and was taking a walk the evening of May 25, 2020. When she approached the corner, she saw the police lights and heard a woman across the street screaming they were killing him.  

She was concerned by what she saw. “He wasn’t moving, and he was cuffed. And three grown men putting all of their weight on somebody is too much,” she said. “The first thing that concerned me was his face was smushed into the ground. Swollen. It appeared swollen to me.” 

She noticed that Floyd had an altered level of consciousness and wasn’t moving despite Derek Chauvin’s knee on his neck. 

Her main focus was how she could gain access to the patient or direct offers to provide treatment, she testified. 

She identified herself as a firefighter to former officer Tou Thao, who said if she was really a firefighter she would know better than to get involved. 

Hansen never saw officers take a pulse, but she could not entirely see all four of them.  

Minneapolis firefighter Genevieve Hansen said that she should have called 911 "immediately" after arriving on the scene.

She said once the ambulance left with George Floyd, she stood there on the sidewalk in "disbelief."

"I think it all settled in that I wish I would have done that immediately because it was ridiculous that 17... fire station 17 was as close as it was and that they hadn't been there," she testified after questions from the prosecution.

Hansen told prosecutors that she felt "helpless" and was upset about what she saw.

When the prosecutor asked her why she felt helpless, she said, "because there was a man being killed, and I would have... had I had access to a call similar to that, I would have been able to provide medical attention to the best of my abilities and this human was denied that."

Minneapolis firefighter Genevieve Hansen testified that when she came upon the scene, police officers prevented her from helping George Floyd.

Hansen, who is also a licensed EMT, said she identified herself to the officers on the scene. She said that former officer Tou Thao told her not to get involved.

She said that trying to help is "exactly what I should have done." 

"There was no medical assistance on scene and I got there and I could have given medical assistance. That's exactly what I should have done," she said.

Hansen began to get emotional on the stand as she testified about not being able to help Floyd. Asked if the officers' response that day frustrated her, with tears in her eyes, Hansen choked up as she responded "yes."

Watch here:

The next witness to testify is Genevieve Hansen, a firefighter for Minneapolis who was walking by the scene on May 25, 2020 when she came upon the George Floyd incident. She appeared in her firefighter's uniform in court.

Prior to her questioning, prosecutors played video footage featuring Hansen pleading with the officers that had Floyd in custody to check his pulse.

The prosecution also played a 911 call that Hansen placed that day.

Here's part of what the jury heard from that call:

The seventh witness was a minor, a friend of the prior witness, who also saw George Floyd’s death.

She told prosecutor Erin Eldridge that she was in court today “for George Floyd.” 

The witness, who is not being publicly named or shown on video by the court because she's a minor, said she was going to Cup Foods with her friend when they came upon Floyd being restrained by police.  

When they arrived, they “hear George Floyd’s voice yelling for his mom and saying he can’t breathe,” she said.

She gave her phone to her friend to record video of what was going on. 

This witness initially waited in the car and heard yelling. 

When she got out of the car, she saw Floyd unconscious, not moving and former officer Derek Chauvin digging his knee into his neck, she testified.  

None of the bystanders were aggressive or attacking in any way, she said.

“They were just using their voices,” she told the court.  

Former officer Tou Thao was being aggressive to the bystanders and Chauvin got his mace and started shaking it, she said. 

When paramedics arrived, Floyd looked “purple, like he wasn’t getting enough circulation,” she said.

She did not know Floyd was dead, but she had a gut feeling that he was.  

Officers did not try to provide any first aid or medical help before paramedics arrived, she said.   

The defense did not cross examine this witness.

A witness who filmed former officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on George Floyd's neck was asked about the impact of the May 25, 2020 event. The witness testified that they felt "numb."

"I kind of just pushed it aside because I didn't really know how to feel. It was a lot to take in," the 18-year-old told the court.

An attorney asked the witness if they have been back to Cup Foods, which is located on the corner where Floyd's encounter with Chauvin and the other officers occurred. The witness said, "I still haven't been there to this day."

When the prosecutor asked why the witness hadn't been back there, the witness said, "I don't want to be reminded."

A witness became audibly emotional when being asked about watching the death of George Floyd.

“You could see in his face that he was slowly not being able to breathe. His eyes were rolling back, and at one point, he just kind of sat there, or laid there,” the witness said. 

The witness stopped talking for more than 30 seconds after saying it was difficult to speak about Floyd’s death.

“I was there and, like, technically, I could have did something, but I couldn't really do anything physically what I wanted to do because the highest power was there at the time.”

The witness said other officers were nearby while former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on Floyd’s neck. 

“Most of the time, I saw him staring at George. I didn't really see him take his eyes off of him for the most part,” the witness said about Chauvin. 

The next witness to testify at the Chauvin trial is an 18-year-old woman. She was not shown on camera because she was underage when she witnessed Floyd's encounter with police on May 25, 2020.

She said she arrived at the scene that day in a car. When she got there, she said she saw the police officers holding George Floyd on the ground. There were bystanders already gathering and asking for the police to "let him up," the witness said. She also said she heard Floyd say that he couldn't breathe and asking for his mom.

"I knew initially that there was something wrong, so I started recording" on her phone, the witness said. She said Floyd was "in distress."

She said that Floyd "looked like he was struggling at first, and he looked distressed, and he looked like he was fighting to breathe." 

"He was struggling with his ability to breathe. He was focused on trying to breathe," she added.

She said that when she first arrived Floyd was "vocal" but "he got less vocal."

"You could tell he was talking with, like, small – smaller and smaller breaths and he would spit a little when he would talk, and he would try and move his head to – because he was uncomfortable," she said.

She said she became more concerned as he stopped being vocal.

"Because I slowly knew that if they were – if he were to be held down much longer, he wouldn't live," the witness testified.

She became emotional on the stand, testifying "there was nothing I could do," adding, she felt like she failed to help Floyd.