Prosecutors were on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT) laying out the sequence of events that led to Mr Floyd’s ill-fated arrest outside the shop.
Christopher Martin, 19, said as he stood on the curb a short time later, his hands on his head as he watched Floyd’s arrest, he felt “disbelief — and guilt.”
“If I would’ve just not tooken (sic) the bill, this could’ve been avoided,” Mr Martin testified, joining the burgeoning list of onlookers who said they felt a sense of helplessness and lingering guilt over the Black man’s death last May.
Prosecutors played store security footage showing Mr Floyd in Cup Foods for about 10 minutes, adding to the mountain of video documenting what happened.
Mr Martin said he immediately believed the $20 Mr Floyd gave him was fake but accepted it even though store policy was that the amount would be taken out of his paycheck.
The cashier said he initially planned to just put the bill on his “tab” but then second-guessed himself and told a manager, who sent him outside to ask Mr Floyd to return to the store.
The 46-year-old was later arrested outside, where Mr Chauvin pinned his knee on his neck for what prosecutors said was 9 minutes, 29 seconds, as a handcuffed Floyd lay face-down on the pavement.
The Black man was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Mr Martin said when he asked Mr Floyd if he played baseball, the man replied that he played football but it took some time to respond, so “it would appear that he was high.”
The defence has argued the now-fired white officer did what his training told him to do.
It was argued that Mr Floyd’s death was not caused by Mr Chauvin’s knee on his neck, as prosecutors contend, but by a combination of illegal drug use, heart disease, high blood pressure and the adrenaline flowing through his body.
Mr Martin went outside as people were gathering on the curb and yelling at officers.
He took out his phone and began recording but later deleted it explaining that the ambulance didn’t take the fastest route to the hospital so he thought Floyd died.
“I just didn’t want to have to show it (the video) to anyone,” he said.
Genevieve Hansen, one of several bystanders seen and heard shouting at the officer as he pinned Mr Floyd down, wept on Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT) as she recalled being prevented from using her EMT training to help Mr Floyd.
She described her desperation as she recounted how she was unable to come to the man’s aid or tell police what to do, such as administering chest compressions.
“There was a man being killed,” said Ms Hansen, who testified in her dress uniform and detailed her emergency medical technician training.
“I would have been able to provide medical attention to the best of my abilities. And this human was denied that right.”
Mr Chauvin, 45, is charged with murder and manslaughter. The most serious charge against him carries up to 40 years in prison.
Witnesses and video depicted police keeping back some of those on the sidewalk who tried to intervene.
Mr Chauvin appeared unmoved by their pleas, according to the bystanders, including the teenager who shot the video that set off nationwide protests.
“He didn’t care. It seemed as if he didn’t care what we were saying,” said 18-year-old Darnella Frazier, one of several witnesses who testified through tears.
She said he gave the bystanders a “cold” and “heartless” look.
Mr Chauvin continued to kneel on Floyd while fellow officer Tou Thao held back about 15 onlookers, even when Ms Hansen identified herself as a firefighter and pleaded repeatedly to check Floyd’s pulse, according to witnesses and bystander video.
“They definitely put their hands on the Mace, and we all pulled back,” Ms Frazier told the jury.
The testimony from the prosecution witnesses was apparently aimed at showing Mr Chauvin had multiple opportunities to think about what he was doing and change course.
But defence attorney Eric Nelson sought to bring evidence onlookers were agitated, in an apparent attempt to show that the police were distracted by what they perceived as a growing and increasingly hostile crowd.
Witnesses testified that no bystanders interfered with police.
This content first appear on 9news