MINNEAPOLIS – A defense attorney for the police officer accused of murder in the George Floyd death tried to portray a key witness that he was angry at police at the time. The witness, Donald Williams, bristled. “No, you can’t paint me out as angry,” Williams responded calmly. “I was in a position where I had to be controlled. Controlled professionalism. I wasn’t angry.” Williams is a security guard trained as a wrestler and in martial arts. It was his second day in the wtness stand. The defense argument for the pplice officer, Derek Chauvin, hinges oartly on a theory that police were facing an angry street mob during the arrest. About Williams shouting for Chauvin to get off Floyd and calling him a bum and other names, Williams said: “I believe I witnessed a murder.” Williams testified that neither he nor anyone else in the crowd threatened any of the officers and that he stepped back onto the curb at the direction of an officer who was running crowd control. During the episode on the street, Williams called 911 – a call to police reporting police abuse. On the wutness stand Williams said that Chauvin “just pretty much just killed this guy that wasn’t resisting arrest.” Williams became emotional and wiped away tears. During his cross-examination, Chauvin’s attorney, Eric Nelson, asked Williams if he became angrier and angrier as Floyd lay prone on the ground under the weight of Chauvin.“That’s for you to perceive,” Williams said. “I grew in control and professionalism.” Nelson persisted and read a transcript from an interview Williams gave to the FBI earlier. “In that that statement you said, ‘like I really wanted to beat the shit out of the police officers,’” Nelson said. Responded Williams: “Yeah, I did. That’s what I felt,” Williams said. Nelson concluded: “You were angry.”
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GEORGE FLOYD MURDER TRIAL
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Second day on stand. Williams broke down sobbing at tapes of Floyd handcuffed, prone on his face, and held down with a choke hold.