George Floyd is a name pretty much everyone has heard of, and no one will ever forget. On May 25, 2020 the United States had one less black man living and breathing on its turf.
Officer Derek Chauvin of the Minneapolis Police Department was called to the corner of Chicago Ave and 38th Street at Cup Foods where George Floyd had attempted to use a counterfeit twenty dollar bill to purchase cigarettes.
In attempt to take Floyd into custody, Chauvin had knelt on Floyd's neck. After nine minutes and 29 seconds of his face touching pavement, Floyd was pronounced dead.
While his name hasn't gone forgotten, less than a year later, the Floyd murder is resurfacing as day one of Chauvin's trial wrapped up yesterday. Of those called to the stand day one was Donald Wynn Williams II, who witnessed the death of Floyd before entering Cup Foods.
Williams was called to testify, but was also questioned about his background in MMA (mixed martial arts) and how that could potentially relate to how Floyd was murdered.
Now an entrepreneur, Williams has wrestled and competitively fought for a vast majority of his lifetime. February 4, 2011 Williams knocked out Travis Krumrei in his professional MMA debut. According to Tapology, he was active from 2011 to 2019, with a split record of 6-6. His most recent fight resulted in a loss to Jesse Wannemacher from a "triangle choke."
Based on his knowledge in MMA practice, Williams uses the term "blood choke" to describe the tactic Officer Chauvin used when he had Floyd on the ground.
"One, the neck was diagonal across the throat, which on a blood choke you attack the side of the neck," said Williams.
Below is a clip of Williams describing different chokes and what their approaches are on the human body.
Later on in his testimony Williams went on to explain, "Because a side choke or a blood choke can ultimately turn into death, which is what we've seen here," he said referring to the death of Floyd.