George Floyd’s girlfriend Courteney Ross emotes on stand

Video Transcript:

Miss Ross, can you tell the jurors not your address but generally where you live? Yes, I live in Northeast Minneapolis. How long have you been in the Northeast Minneapolis area? My entire life. I was born and raised. And can tell jurors hold you? I'm 45 years old. Seems like a strange question. There is a reason for it. And do you have any children? I'm 22 years old. And Miss Ross, did you know George Floyd? Yes. When did you meet George Floyd? I met Floyd in August of 2017. And you referred to him as Floyd? All the time. That's how you just referred to him all the time? Yes. And in court, we prefer to use Mr. Floyd. So as much as you can do that, but I understand Floyd is just how you're known, right? Sure. Alright. And so when was it that you first met Mr. Floyd? May I tell this to you? Sure. Okay. If I'm my favorite stories, tell. Excuse me. And Miss Ross, so you know, if you feel like you needed to take a moment to collect yourself, feel free. We're in no rush here. Thank you. Yeah. In August of 2017, I had a... I worked at a coffee shop for 22 years now. Part time. And I was tired. And it just cleaned up and closed up the shop. And I went to go visit my son's father who was staying at Harbor Lights. And his salvation army sheltered. He had had some difficulties and was staying there. I answered Harbor Lights. And when you visit there, you have to ask for a person to come down. If you're visiting them. So I had the receptionist call him down, but he didn't seem to be coming down. So I waited in the lobby. And I wanted to talk to him about our son's birthday. Excuse me. I was pretty upset. And I started kind of fussing in the corner of the lobby. And at one point, so I came to me. And I was like, I'm just waiting for my son's father. He said, look at my pray with you. I was so tired. We had been through so much. My son's and I, this kind of person just to come up to me and say, can I pray with you? When I fell alone in this lobby, it was so sweet. And at the time, I had had faith in God. Mr. Ross, I started interrupt, but I'm just going to want to help with a few questions. At that point, did you know what Mr. Flory was doing there at the Salvation Army? Oh, yes. I'm sorry. He worked there as a security guard. And so he came up to you and tried to comfort you. Yes. And was that the beginning of your relationship? Well, not that part. That was just Floyd. Afterwards, he had asked me who my son's father was. And I said, you know, we're, we're, we're co-parent and we're, we're not in a relationship. And that's when his, I like to say his voice dropped like two levels, even though it was deep already. And he asked me if he could get my number and we had our first kiss in the lobby. And that's when our relationship started. And after that, how close did you become? Very, very close. And so I'm not sure you told us when this was. Do you recall roughly, you know, not the date, but the year at least? In August of 2017. Okay. And up until his death, did you continue to be in a relationship with him? Yes. Can you describe, you know, how close you are often you saw each other during those three years? Just about every day you saw each other as much as we possibly could. Were there times when you weren't as close as other times? We had, you know, sometimes just like, uh, couples. We argued sometimes, you know, might have taken a break, but... Like most couples. Like most couples I assume. Did you learn, you know, whether he was new to Minneapolis? Oh, yeah. On our first date, you know, like most people do, we went over like our histories and he told me he was from Houston. And what kind of things did the two of you do together when you get together and do things? Floor was, was, was new to the city, so everything was kind of new to him. Everywhere we went was new to him. He made it seem like, you know, I was new to my own city. So, we like to go to, he lived right by Lake, but they Makasca. We like to go down there a lot and, you know, enjoy the outdoors. We like to go to this culpritschegart and just, excuse me, walk around. Um, we went out to eat a lot because we love to eat a lot. He's a big man and it took a lot of energy to keep him going. And he loved food. And some of the day it was fun. It was an adventure always with him. Did you know where he was working, you know, prior to his death, had he been working someplace? Yes, he was working at Konga. What is that? That in Bistro. What is that? Konga is a restaurant, but also a nightclub at, you know, in the evening. What's he going to do there? He was a security guard. He was head of security there. And did he, at some point, lose that job? Only because of COVID. I mean, he shut down because of COVID. And you had met at Salvation Army. Did you learn eventually that he worked there? Yes, I knew that evening that he worked at Salvation Army. And he was a security guard there. Yes. And at some point that job ended. Correct? Yes. I think that maybe a year or so after I met him. And, you know, in the time period leading up to his death in May of last year, you know, let's talk about January to May when he passed. I'll often read the two of you seeing each other. Of 2020? Yes. At the beginning of the year, we had not seen each other and we had been kind of separated for a little while, but from March until May, we spent every day together. And we have a photograph of Mr. Floyd. I believe we showed that to you in a prior meeting with you. Yes. And you recognize that as him? Yes. You're going to be offered, except at 247? 247 has received. So I'm showing you, except at 247. Sorry. Yeah, that's OK. See, if you touch the screen, it's going to rain on there. Sorry. Are you familiar with this photograph? Yes. What kind of photograph is this? I would call it a dad selfie. And why would you call it that? I'm just joking, but a lot of dads, sometimes, don't have the best angle when they take selfies. It's kind of lower. And it just, I don't know. They don't take the time to maybe do certain angles that everybody else does. And so you believe a selfie that he took? Yes. I believe it was outside of the Salvation Army. You recall about roughly when this was taken? From the sweater he was wearing, I think it was the fall of 2017. Did Mr. Floyd have any children? Yes. How many children did he have? Two girls. And did he try to be a part of their lives as much as he could? Yes. He loved his girls. It was hard being a Minnesota in a long distance, but... So his daughters were not in Minnesota? No. No. I want to make sure that your voice is out enough to everybody here. At some points, when you were... When you knew Mr. Floyd, did you learn of his mother's death? Yes. Did you recall when that was? It was in May 2018. And did you see... Well, describe if you would for the jury what you saw his reaction to his mother's death. Pardon me. Pardon me. Floyd is... Floyd, what I would call a mama's boy, I could tell. From the minute I met him. And when he came back from Houston... He seemed kind of like a shell of himself. Like he was... If he was broken. He seemed so sad. He didn't have the same kind of bounce that he had. He was devastated. He loved his mother so much and I knew that. He talked about her all the time. I knew how he felt. It's so hard to look at him. They loved like that. Mr. Russell, thank you and I'm sorry I interrupts, I'll see if I can ask some questions to help a little. So he struggled with grief over his mother's death. Excuse me, yes.