Chauvin’s defense attempted to portray bystanders as angry mob that diverted officers’ attention – By Janelle Griffith (NBC) / Mar 30 2021
“You can’t paint me out to be angry,” one witness told Derek Chauvin’s attorney, Eric Nelson.
During his opening statement Monday, the attorney for the former Minneapolis police officer charged with murder in George Floyd’s death claimed that the crowd of onlookers who witnessed Floyd’s death last May had made the responding officers worry for their safety and diverted their attention from him.
On Tuesday, the defense attorney, Eric Nelson, doubled down. He asked four witnesses, including the teenager who recorded the widely seen video of Floyd being detained, whether they and others in the crowd were angry as they watched Floyd pinned on the pavement by the former officer, Derek Chauvin.
Nelson had a particularly tense exchange with witness Genevieve Hansen, an off-duty firefighter who came across the scene while out for a walk.
