Darnella Frazier, the teen who recorded the heavily circulated video of George Floyd’s final moments, testified in the trial of Derek Chauvin on Tuesday, sharing with the courtroom that the horrifying event still keeps her up at night as she regrets not being able to do more.
"There have been nights I stayed up apologizing & apologizing to George Floyd for not doing more & not physically interacting & not saving his life,” she said, according to a tweet from PBS reporter Yamiche Alcindor. “But it’s like not what I should have done, it’s what he [Chauvin] should have done."
Darnella Frazier who filmed death of George Floyd at 17: "There have been nights I stayed up apologizing & apologizing to George Floyd for not doing more & not physically interacting & not saving his life. But it’s like not what I should have done, it’s what he should have done."
— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) March 30, 2021
In an emotional audio-only testimony given her minor status at the time of Floyd's death, she said she lived nearby the area where Floyd was killed. On May 25, 2020, Frazier said she was taking her 9-year-old cousin on what they thought would be a typical trip to the grocery store when she saw "a man terrified, scared, begging for his life,” USA Today reports.
In an emotional testimony, the 18-year-old shared with attorneys that she hoped her younger cousin was not outside the store at the time of the incident. Unfortunately, the young girl had left the store and Frazier described the agonizing feeling of having her cousin witness the harrowing attack on Floyd.
"When I look at George Floyd, I look at my dad, I look at brothers, I look at my cousins, my uncles because they are all black. ..I have black friends & I look at that & I look at that how that could have been one of them,” Frazier said per Alcindor’s tweet.
Darnella Frazier summing up feelings of so Black people: "When I look at George Floyd, I look at my dad, I look at brothers, I look at my cousins, my uncles because they are all black. ..I have black friends & I look at that & I look at that how that could have been one of them."
— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) March 30, 2021
According to USA Today, she was one of five witnesses for the prosecution who took the stand Tuesday. Frazier was joined by her cousin, a mixed martial arts fighter and another teenager who witnessed Floyd's killing.
Last Memorial Day, Floyd suffocated to death after Chauvin pressed his knee into his neck for more than nine minutes as the exasperated father struggled to mutter, “I can’t breathe,” as Blavity previously reported.
Chauvin is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
During the Tuesday testimony, Frazier said the former Minneapolis police officer became more agitated after onlookers offered to help. With bystanders urging Chauvin to check Floyd’s pulse, "he actually was kneeling harder," she said.
"He was shoving his knee in his neck," she added.
Darnella Frazier, who is now testifying, is the 17-year-old who bravely filmed the murder of George Floyd.
"I wasn't looking to be a hero."
Darnella Frazier IS a hero.#ChauvinTrial pic.twitter.com/yYjoDPgq1o
— Miss Leah (@LeahsLounge) March 30, 2021
The teenager’s account is consistent with the testimonial shared on Monday by an EMT who was at the scene and said Chauvin threatened her with mace when she tried to offer Floyd assistance.
Before Frazier addressed the court on Tuesday, Hennepin County Circuit Judge Peter Cahill decided that livestream video of the courtroom would be cut during the testimony of any minor or person who was a minor at the time of the incident as a means "to give them comfort.”
Since the release of the video, Frazier has become both criticized and praised for her act. In the fall, human rights advocacy organization Pen America announced that it would honor the teenager with its 2020 PEN/Benenson Courage Award for her “exceptional courage."
Defense attorney Eric Nelson asked the 18-year-old during cross-examination if she was shocked that the video she recorded had circulated and garnered so much attention.
"Definitely," Frazier responded.
"It changed your life, right?" Nelson asked before she replied: "It has.”
The trial's opening statements and witness testimonies are expected to proceed for nearly four weeks, then deliberations will begin.
