WITNESSES ARE ALWAYS A THREAT TO THE MURDERER:

Some of the bystanders witnessing George Floyd dying with Derek Chavin's knee on his neck on May 25, 2020.

Four teenagers, a 9-year-old girl, a 61-year-old man, and an off-duty firefighter were among a group of bystanders who witnessed, with growing horror and distress, George Floyd take his last breaths under the weight of Derek Chauvin's knee on May 25, 2020.

They are also the people whom Chauvin's attorney, Eric Nelson, has repeatedly characterized as an "angry" crowd that became a growing "threat" to the four police officers, causing them "to divert their attention from the care" of Floyd. It's a central argument in the former Minneapolis cop's defense.

But hours of surveillance video, body camera footage, and cellphone recordings played in court during the first week of Chauvin's murder trial tell a different story: The crowd wasn't uncontrollable, but they were concerned that Chauvin was killing Floyd before their very eyes.

The witnesses testified this week that they complied with officers' demands while pleading with them to check Floyd's pulse. Many screamed at Chauvin to get off of Floyd. One witness who had a background in mixed martial arts told Chauvin he was cutting off Floyd's oxygen supply and called him "a bum." Another bystander, an off-duty firefighter, was so distressed with what she was seeing, she offered to take Floyd's pulse herself.

Prosecutors argued that none of the bystanders attacked, threatened, or physically engaged with the officers at any point. A senior Minneapolis police official testified that the onlookers were not a threat to the officers.

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