Coverage on this day's blog has ended, please click here for coverage of Day 3 of Derek Chauvin's murder trial.
Former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin's trial began Monday morning. Chauvin faces three charges, including second-degree murder, in the death of George Floyd.
Floyd, a Black man, died May 25 after Chauvin, a white 19-year veteran of the department, pressed his knee into Floyd's neck for several minutes.
The nearly nine-minute video of Floyd's death, in which he can repeatedly be heard saying, "I can't breathe," led to global protests last year against police brutality.
The first witness, 911 dispatcher Jena Scurry, said the police officers restrained Floyd for so long that she asked someone whether her "screens had frozen because it hadn't changed" and "was told that it was not frozen."
The two other witnesses were bystanders, Alisha Oyler, who was working at a Speedway station across the street, and Donald Williams II, who had been on his way to Cup Foods.
Testimony ends for day with tense exchange between judge, witness
Testimony for Tuesday ended with tension as Judge Peter Cahill delivered a warning to witness Genevieve Hansen, the off-duty firefighter who called 911 to report Chauvin.
"You will not argue with the court, you will not argue with counsel," Cahill said, turning toward Hansen as she sat on the stand. "They have the right to ask questions; your job is to answer them."
"I was finishing my answer," Hansen said.
"I will determine when your answer is done," Cahill retorted, his voice quickening.
Cahill then adjourned the court session and instructed Hansen to return at 9:30 Wednesday morning, when her cross-examination will resume.
The conversation came after a heated exchange between Hansen and defense attorney Eric Nelson, who was cross-examining her. Hansen will return to the stand Wednesday morning.
This concludes today's live coverage of the Derek Chauvin murder trial. Please check back tomorrow morning for live updates.
Firefighter calls 911 to report the police who detained Floyd
An off-duty firefighter, who came upon the deadly police apprehension of George Floyd, told jurors she called 911 to report the officers involved.
Minneapolis firefighter Genevieve Hansen is the third witness to testify that they called police to report on other officers, in the wake of murder suspect Derek Chauvin and his colleagues detaining Floyd.
"I should have called 911 immediately but I didn’t," Hansen told jurors. "Then things calmed down and I realized that I wanted them (police supervisors) to know what was going on. I wanted to, basically, report it."
Earlier in the trial, 911 dispatcher Jena Scurry and bystander Donald Williams both testified they called authorities to report what they saw as potential police misconduct.
Witness: Chauvin 'looked so comfortable' while putting knee into Floyd's neck
Murder suspect Derek Chauvin "looked so comfortable" while putting "the majority of his weight" on top of George Floyd's neck, a firefighter testified.
Genevieve Hansen, an off-duty Minneapolis firefighter and trained EMT, was strolling through the Minneapolis neighborhood near Cup Foods on May 25 when she came upon Floyd and the officers.
Hansen, wearing her white Minneapolis Fire Department shirt, told jurors she was struck by how incredibly calm Chauvin — hands in his pockets — appeared to be while allegedly putting deadly force on to Floyd's neck.
“He seemed very comfortable with the majority of his weight balanced on top of Mr. Floyd’s neck," Hansen testified. "In my memory he had his hands in his pocket. He looked so comfortable.”
Young witnesses deliver powerful testimony for prosecution
Four young female witnesses delivered emotional testimony that amplified already disturbing footage taken of the deadly encounter between murder suspect Derek Chauvin and George Floyd, a legal analyst said.
The witnesses, now 18, 18, 17 and 9, often struggled to control their emotions while describing what they saw outside Cup Foods on May 25 last year when Floyd died after being under then-officer Chauvin's knee for about nine minutes.
"The video is powerful enough," criminal defense attorney and NBC legal analyst Danny Cevallos said "These witnesses are testifying about their reaction to it, which the jury can relate to."
The witnesses also calmly pushed back on defense assertions that Chauvin and his police colleagues might have been threatened by the bystanders who witnessed Floyd's deadly apprehension.
'At that point, I kind of knew:' Teen witness who videotaped Floyd worried he was dead
In emotional testimony, witness Alyssa Funari recounted her thoughts several minutes after she began taking cellphone video of a Minneapolis police officer kneeling on George Floyd's neck.
"At that point, I kind of knew," Funari said Tuesday.
"You kind of knew what?" asked Minnesota Assistant Attorney General Erin Eldridge.
"That he was dead or not breathing," Funari replied.
Funari, the third of four witnesses who were minors on May 25 when they witnessed the fatal encounter between Floyd and murder suspect Derek Chauvin, said she thought Floyd was dead because "his eyes were closed and he was just laying there no longer fighting and resisting."
“At one point I saw him put more and more weight on to him,” she said of Chauvin. “I saw his back foot lift off the ground and his hands go into his pocket.”
Funari, who recently turned 18, said she has since avoided passing by the Cup Foods corner store so that she is not reminded of Floyd's death.
“I was upset because there was nothing that we could do as bystanders except watch them take this man’s life in front of our eyes," Funari told jurors.
Tearful teen says she has apologized to George Floyd for 'not physically interacting and not saving his life'
The teenager, who recorded viral bystander video of George Floyd's death, broke down in tears on the witness stand and said she has been kept up at night, regretting that she didn't do more to possibly save his life.
In an emotional high point of this two-day-old trial, Darnella Frazier could barely articulate her sorrow about witnessing Floyd as murder suspect Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck.
"It's been nights, I stayed up apologizing and apologizing to George Floyd for not doing more and not physically interacting and not saving his life," the tearful Frazier said. "But it's like. It's not what I should have done. It's what he (Chauvin) should have done."
Frazier said every time she views the video of the fatal interaction, she thinks of her father, brother, cousins, uncles and friends - all Black men who could have been in the same situation that Floyd faced.
"I look at that and I look at how that could have been one of them," the tearful witness said.
Teen who recorded viral video: 'It wasn't right. He was suffering. He was in pain.'
Darnella Frazier, who recorded the viral bystander video at the center of the prosecution's case when she was 17, testified that George Floyd was "terrified, scared, begging for his life," when she arrived on the scene at Cup Foods. Frazier turned 18 last week.
She is among four witnesses who Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill ruled will testify off camera. Prosecutors had requested Monday that audio and video of the four witnesses' testimony not be broadcast live.
Frazier was emotional at times while being questioned by prosecutor Jerry Blackwell. She said she heard Floyd saying he couldn't breathe and crying out for his mother.
Young witnesses won't be shown on TV feed from courtroom
An 18-year-old took the witness stand, but her face was not shown on a TV feed from the courtroom because of her age last year.
She was the first of what's expected to be four consecutive witnesses whose faces won't be shown and whose names won't be read to anyone outside the Hennepin County, Minnesota, courtroom.
While two of the four scheduled witnesses are now 18, they were minors on May 25 when they allegedly witnessed the fatal encounter between George Floyd and murder suspect Derek Chauvin.
Witness says he was 'pleading for life' as officers had Floyd pinned
A mixed-martial arts fighter said he was "pleading for life" when he yelled at officers during the fatal encounter between George Floyd and Minneapolis police.
In a tense cross-examination of witness Donald Williams, defense attorney Eric Nelson cited video of the bystander mocking suspect Derek Chauvin as a "tough guy," "such a man" and "bogus" as the officer had his knee on Floyd's neck.
Nelson asked Williams if those words showed he was growing "more and more angry" in that moment on May 25.
“They grew more and more pleading for life," Williams countered.
Nelson sought to paint Williams as angry at the moment and perhaps not a reliable witness, but the bystander stood his ground.
"I grew professional and professional. I stayed in my body. You can’t pin me out to be angry," Williams said.
Nelson pointed out that Williams called Chauvin a "bum" 13 times in video of the confrontation.
"That’s what you count in the video, then that’s what you got, 13," the witness said.