Derek Chauvin Trial: Convenience Store Cashier Recalls George Floyd's Arrest

The convenience store cashier who sold cigarettes to George Floyd and was handed a counterfeit $20 bill in return took the stand Wednesday at Officer Derek Chauvin's murder trial as prosecutors laid out the sequence of events that led to Floyd's ill-fated arrest outside.

Christopher Martin, 19, said that as he stood on the curb a short time later, his hands on his head as watched Floyd's arrest, he felt "disbelief — and guilt."

"If I would've just not tooken the bill, this could've been avoided," Martin testified, joining the burgeoning list of onlookers who said they felt a sense of helplessness and lingering guilt over the Black man's death last May.

Prosecutors also played store security footage showing Floyd in Cup Foods for about 10 minutes, adding to the mountain of video documenting what happened.

Martin said he immediately believed the $20 that Floyd gave him was fake, but accepted it even though store policy was that the amount would be taken out of his paycheck.

Martin said he initially planned to just put the bill on his "tab" but then second-guessed himself and told a manager, who sent Martin outside to ask Floyd to return to the store.

Floyd was later arrested outside, where Chauvin pinned his knee on his neck for what prosecutors said was 9 minutes, 29 seconds, as a handcuffed Floyd lay face-down on the pavement.

Floyd, 46, was later pronounced dead at a hospital.

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