After showing a video of George Floyd's death, prosecutor says bystanders 'called the police on the police'

While delivering opening arguments in the trial of former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin on Monday, prosecutor Jerry Blackwell played a video of George Floyd's death and said witnesses "called the police on the police."

Video transcript

JERRY BLACKWELL: 9:29, the three most important numbers in the case-- 9 minutes and 29 seconds-- is how long that went on for half of that time Mr. Floyd was unconscious, breathless, and pulseless. You will see in the videos, ladies and gentlemen, that Mr. Floyd from time to time was heaving up his right shoulder. There's a reason for that. Mr. Chauvin's on his left side, his back and his neck. He can't move that. His hands are behind his back.

He's heaving up the right shoulder so he can get room for his rib cage to expand to breathe because at this point, you will learn he's pancaked with the hard pavement beneath him and Mr. Chauvin on top of him. In order to breathe, [INHALES] you have to have room for the lungs to expand in and out. And you'll see Mr. Floyd doing his best to kind of crank his right shoulder up, having to lift up his weight and Mr. Chauvin's weight on top of him to get a breath for as long as he could get a breath. And you will see and hear more about that during the trial.

You will learn that a number of the bystanders there called the police on the police. Genevieve Hansen, the first responder, called the police on the police. You'll learn that Donald Williams, the young man who was very vocal-- security background, mixed martial arts background-- saw the pressure that was put on the neck. He called the police on the police.

But not only that, you're gonna learn that there was a 9-1-1 dispatcher. Her name is Jenna Scurry. Jenna Scurry is going to come and talk to you also. There was a fixed police camera that was trained on this particular scene. And she could see through the camera what was going on. You will learn that what she saw was so unusual and for her so undisturbing-- I'm sorry-- so disturbing that she did something that she had never done in her career.

She called the police on the police-- a 911 dispatcher. She called Sergeant David [INAUDIBLE], who's gonna come in to testify. She called him to report what she saw because she found it just that disturbing. She will tell you that she felt that she saw a man literally lose his life. And you will hear her testify.