MPD trial: Prosecution expected to rest case Monday

After 19 witnesses over 12 days, the prosecution in the federal trial of three former Minneapolis Police officers says they expect to rest their case on Monday.

(FOX 9) - After 19 witnesses over 12 days, the prosecution in the federal trial of three former Minneapolis Police officers says they expect to rest their case on Monday.

Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane are accused of failing to provide aid to George Floyd as he slowly died under the knee of Derek Chauvin on May 25, 2020. Thao and Kueng are also charged with failing to intervene with Chauvin’s use of force. Chauvin, in prison for Floyd’s murder, pleaded guilty to these same charges last year.

Compelling testimony on Friday came from Alyssa Funari, an eyewitness to Floyd’s murder as she stood on the sidewalk outside of Cup Foods in Minnepaolis. Prosecutor Leann Bell played three videos that Funari recorded that show the now-familiar scene of Chauvin, Kueng and Lane holding Floyd down, while Thao stands in the street keeping the bystanders back.

Funari, who was 17-years-old at the time, was among eight people on the sidewalk pleading with Tou Thao that Floyd can’t breathe, later asking Thao to check Floyd’s pulse and screaming to Thao that "he’s not moving."

Funari can be heard telling Thao "you can multi-task," after Thao said he was too busy with the crowd to check on Floyd. Thao’s defense is that the crowd was hostile and his attention was so focused on them that he didn’t know what was happening behind him.

"What, if any, physical threats did you make to the officers?" she was asked. "None," she replied.

Thao’s defense attorney, Robert Paule, then pressed Funari on how Thao could know what was happening to Floyd if he couldn’t see it. "You could hear it," she replied firmly, referring to both Floyd’s pleas and those of the bystanders. Paule asked again that Thao wasn’t watching what was going on. "I wouldn’t 100% agree with that," she answered, noting that Thao looked back multiple times, which can also be clearly seen in Thao’s own body camera video.

There were two other prosecution witnesses Friday: In the morning, Chief Kelly McCarthy, the chair of the Minnesota Police Officer Standards and Training Board provided yet more testimony about officers learning about the duty to care for those in custody.

In the afternoon, FBI Special Agent Matthew Vogel testified about an elaborate timeline they created from transcribing the various videos. It shows key things that were said and done during Floyd’s custody and death, to highlight the moments officers could have taken life-saving actions but did not.