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Who is Kaylynn Gilbert? Teen witness says Derek Chauvin KNEW George Floyd was dead but still kept kneeling

Gilbert strongly believes that had the crowd of witnesses realized Floyd was dead, the resulting tension would have led to loss of more lives
UPDATED MAY 25, 2021
Graffiti artist Akse spray paints a mural of George Floyd; Derek Chauvin's booking photo (Getty Images)
Graffiti artist Akse spray paints a mural of George Floyd; Derek Chauvin's booking photo (Getty Images)

Among the crowd that helplessly witnessed the killing of George Floyd by Derek Chauvin was a teenager who filmed the entire incident - an act that led to the former Minneapolis police officer's conviction. Another teenager at the scene, who stood there unable to do anything except repeatedly begging Chauvin to get up from Floyd's knee, has now claimed that the officer knew Floyd had died but decided to keep quiet as he didn't want to aggravate the situation.

Kaylynn Gilbert has shared her own self-doubt about whether she could have done more to prevent the Black man's death. But Gilbert strongly believes that had the crowd of realized that Floyd was dead, the resulting tension would have also led to loss of more lives. 

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Who is Kaylynn Gilbert?

The 17-year-old can be seen standing on the pavement near the car next to which Floyd was pinned down. Clad in a sleeveless grey top and jeans, with a beige bag on her right arm, Gilbert is seen repeatedly asking Chauvin to get off Floyd's neck, which the ex-cop did only after the paramedics arrived. Floyd's cause of death was determined to be asphyxiation that resulted from the excessive force used by Chauvin. And speaking to the Daily Mirror, Gilbert shared her insights on why Chauvin didn't get up from Floyd's neck sooner. 

"I believe Derek stayed on his neck for so long because he knew he was dead," Gilbert told the Daily Mirror, adding: "If he would've got up before the ambulance arrived, it would have escalated. Everybody would have known there and then George was dead... The police would have killed someone else." Further explaining her claims, Gilbert added, "It doesn't make sense why he would stay on top of him, especially after George was unconscious. A cop doesn't have any reason to be applying pressure to them when they're handcuffed. He knew what he was doing. I understood what he was doing."

A mural painted by artist Kenny Altidor depicting George Floyd is unveiled on a sidewall of CTown Supermarket on July 13, 2020 in the Brooklyn borough New York City. George Floyd was killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis and his death has sparked a national reckoning about race and policing in the United States. (Getty Images)

How Kaylynn Gilbert got close to the murder scene

Gilbert had accompanied her friend Alyssa Funari, an 18-year-old 12th-grade student, to Cup Foods - the same shop where Floyd was allegedly caught trying to use a forged bill. Funari was going to pick up an auxiliary cable for her phone but before she reached the door of the store, she heard the sound of bystanders yelling at police officers. Gilbert remained in the car when Funari turned her attention to the arrest and began filming. When she noticed her friend in distress, Gilbert decided to step out of the car and witnessed the dying man gasping "I can't breathe."

"I had a gut feeling George was dead because of how the paramedics later lifted him up and how they were reacting," Gilbert told Daily Mirror. "When I watch my video back, I can see that when the ambulance crew arrived they went to check his pulse, it was clear they couldn't find one. They then took their time to get the [stretcher]. Unbelievably, Derek was still on his neck. The ambulance crew had to signal to him to get off him. It was like they were saying 'get up off of him – he's dead'. It was murder, pure and simple," she claimed. 

Gilbert told the court during the trial how she was also threatened by the ex-cop with pepper spray. Speaking about how she got closer to the scene, she told the outlet "At the time, I knew George needed help, but I didn't know then Chauvin was killing him. I really think if me or anyone else there would have continued to move forward to challenge the police, somebody else would have been killed by them as it was getting so intense."

Chauvin was found guilty on all three counts of second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter; his sentencing is scheduled for June 25. The other three officers involved in the crime are yet to face trial.

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