generic Witness at George Floyd arrest says police officers 'wanted to kill that man’
Donald Williams, a bystander at the arrest that would ultimately lead to the death of George Floyd while in police custody, spoke with CNN’s Chris Cuomo Wednesday night where he recounted what he witnessed Monday night. In the video in which Floyd can be heard telling Minneapolis police officers that he couldn’t breath, Williams can be heard pleading with an officer to take his knee off of Floyd’s neck. Floyd was on the ground in handcuffs at the time with an officer kneeling on his neck. Floyd’s family says that what happened to him was murder on the part of the police, and Williams says that’s exactly what he witnessed.
Video Transcript
DONALD WILLIAMS: I told him it was a blood choke. He knew it was a blood choke. He looked at me when I said it. He put his head down. He did not make any more gestures. He did not say any other thing,
KYLIE MAR: Donald Williams, a bystander at the arrest that would ultimately result in the death of George Floyd while in police custody, spoke with Chris Cuomo Wednesday night where he recalled pleading with a Minneapolis police officer to take his knee off of Floyd's neck. Floyd's family has said what happened to him was murder on the part of the police. And Williams says that's exactly what he witnessed.
CHRIS CUOMO: Did you hear them talking to each other about why they couldn't just move him and get him out of the situation?
DONALD WILLIAMS: [CHUCKLES]
Bro, they wanted to kill that man, bro. Like, I'mma be 100, bro. They didn't speak. They didn't say nothing. If you was in his eyes, bro, the man that had his knee on his chest, bro, he knew what he was doing.
KYLIE MAR: All four officers involved have been fired. And the mayor of Minneapolis has called for the arrest of the one who knelt on Floyd's neck. But according to Williams, they're all responsible for Floyd's death.
DONALD WILLIAMS: And the two other cowards that was on the other side of the car, there was an intent to smother my man and kill my man, and I seen it. I seen it in his eyes. I seen it in his demeanor, and I seen it in their movement. And officer Tao didn't-- he didn't partake in it, but he had control of what was going on on the other side of that car.
KYLIE MAR: And Williams said that what he witnessed will stick with him for the rest of his life.
DONALD WILLIAMS: Seeing another man that look like me, that feels like me, that got the same complexion as me lose his life to another man that had no senseless-- he had no feeling. He had no remorse. He had [BLEEP] in him.
He had no feeling. I don't even think he had a heart at that moment. And he's going to feel that for the rest of his life. Just like I'm gonna hear my man say this-- "I can't breathe."
