Shawanda Hill testified Tuesday in the Derek Chauvin trial. She said when a cop with a gun stood in front of the car she was in with George Floyd on May 25, 2020, Floyd grabbed the steering wheel and said, “Please, please don’t kill me, please, please, don’t. ” shoot me. “Court TV over AP Hide caption
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Shawanda Hill testified Tuesday in the Derek Chauvin trial. She said when a cop with a gun stood in front of the car she was in with George Floyd on May 25, 2020, Floyd grabbed the steering wheel and said, “Please, please don’t kill me, please, please, don’t. ” shoot me.”
Court television on AP
Defense attorney for former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin urged Shawanda Hill to testify Tuesday morning. Chauvin faces trial for the murder of George Floyd.
Hill told the court that she was at the Cup Foods store on May 25, 2020 when she met Floyd, who she knew. She described his behavior as “happy, normal, speaking, alert”.
She said Floyd offered to drive her to her house and she took him to his car.
They sat in the car chatting and talking about what they were up to, she told the court. Then she said she got a call from her daughter and while she was on the phone Floyd fell asleep.
The store staff then approached the car because of the fake $ 20 bill Floyd had previously used. Hill said she, the shop clerk, and a friend of Floyd’s tried to wake him up. Floyd would wake up for a moment and say something or make a gesture, then nod off again, Hill testified.
Hill told the store clerk that she would wake Floyd and send him to the store. She tried again to wake Floyd, then took another call.
Police officers then went to the car. Hill said she hastily woke Floyd and said the police were at the car about the $ 20 bill.
An officer knocked on the passenger window with a flashlight, Hill recalled. When she and Floyd looked back at the window, she said an officer had drawn a gun. Floyd put his hands on the steering wheel and said, “Please, please don’t kill me, please, please don’t shoot me,” said Hill.
When interviewed by Attorney Matthew Frank, Hill confirmed that while Floyd was leaving Cup Foods and sitting in the car, he appeared normal other than being sleepy and did not complain of shortness of breath or chest pain.
Did he seem startled when an officer pulled a gun at him?
“Very,” said Hill.
Hill described Floyd as her “ex” in police camera footage shown at Tuesday’s court session. She was one of two people who sat in the car with Floyd in front of Cup Foods prior to the fatal Minneapolis police officer incident.
An attorney for the man identified as the other person, Morries Hall, has filed court records stating he would be asserting his right to fifth amendment against self-indictment. As reported by NPR’s Bill Chappell, Hall was portrayed in previous statements as the person who allegedly first tried to use the fake bill in the store.
