Store cashier who says George Floyd gave him fake $20 bill testifies in Derek Chauvin trial
Christopher Martin, a 19-year-old cashier at Cup Foods, said Floyd appeared to be high when he came into the store on May 25, 2020. Surveillance video played in court shows Floyd fiddling with items in his pockets and casually interacting with other customers and employees.
Floyd then bought a pack of cigarettes with a $20 bill that Martin said had a blue pigment to it, so “I assumed it was fake.” After examining the bill closely, Martin told his manager, who then told Martin and another employee to go to Floyd’s vehicle and resolve the issue.
Martin’s testimony comes on the third day of Chauvin’s trial and after prosecutors have called a number of bystanders to explain their interactions with Floyd and Minneapolis Police that fatal day. Chauvin, 45, has pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
She tried to help Floyd and repeatedly asked police to check for a pulse, but they refused, leaving her feeling desperate and helpless.
“I tried calm reasoning, I tried to be assertive, I pled and was desperate,” she testified. “I was desperate to give help.”
Hansen became combative with defense attorney Eric Nelson during Tuesday’s cross-examination, repeatedly taking issue with his questioning and responding with snark. “I don’t know if you’ve ever seen someone die in front of you, but it’s very upsetting,” she said at one point.
After dismissing the jury for the day, Judge Peter Cahill admonished Hansen, telling her to answer questions and stop arguing. Upon her return to the stand on Wednesday morning, Nelson asked just one question to confirm she did not show the officers on the scene her ID.
“I was sad and kind of mad,” the 9-year-old testified. “Because it felt like he was stopping his breathing, and it was kind of like hurting him.”
Defense tries to show crowd was ‘threat’
“You can believe your eyes that it’s a homicide,” prosecuting attorney Jerry Blackwell said Monday. “You can believe your eyes.”
“I grew professional. I stayed in my body,” Williams said. “You can’t paint me out to be angry.”
His trial comes 10 months after Floyd’s death sparked a summer of protest, unrest and a societal reckoning with America’s past and present of anti-Black racism and aggressive policing.
