Key Witness in George Floyd Trial Under Arrest on Domestic Abuse Charges, Allegedly Threatened Life of Responding Officer's Family
Donald Wynn Williams, who witnessed George Floyd’s death and then later testified in Derek Chauvin’s trial, has been charged with domestic assault.
Williams, who is also a mixed martial arts fighter, was charged for allegedly choking his ex-girlfriend and hitting her in the face after arguing with her near the Minnesota State Fairgrounds on Saturday, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported.
The 34-year-old Williams has also been accused of resisting arrest as well as threatening to kill the police officers who were sent.
Williams denied strangling or hitting the woman and told the police that he suffers from PTSD related to Floyd’s death and the Chauvin trial, according to documents obtained by Law & Crime.
When George Floyd died, Williams was a witness at the scene and was among those shouting at police to stop when Chauvin had his knee on Floyd’s neck, the Pioneer Press reported.
Williams then testified at Chauvin’s trial last year and said that based on his own training and experience as an MMA fighter, Chauvin may have been using a blood choke on Floyd, which Williams described as “torture.”
Now Williams faces charges for harming his ex-girlfriend.
The Pioneer Press reported that the criminal complaint filed against Williams said he and the woman he allegedly assaulted began arguing over text messages while she and her children were selling bottled water to those going to the state fair.
When the woman returned to her vehicle, Williams was supposedly sitting in his vehicle. But when she got into her car, he got out and began shouting at her and approached her car.
According to the complaint, Williams then “reached into her vehicle with his left hand and grabbed her throat and strangled her,” the Pioneer Press reported
The woman said that Williams then used his right hand to backhand her on the left side of her face, but stopped when someone yelled at him.
The woman showed officers a scratch and bruise on the side of her neck and told them her throat was sore. She also said that she could not breathe and feared for her life while Williams was allegedly assaulting her.
When police found Williams nearby, he resisted arrest and only complied when an officer pulled out a Taser, the complaint claimed.
It also said Williams used his body weight to resist the officers bringing him to the police car and that he was “verbally hostile,” the Pioneer Press reported.
Once in the car, Williams allegedly kicked the door and told officers that if he could take the cuffs off, he would ‘(expletive) up’ the officers and kill them,” the complaint read, according to the Pioneer Press.
“Williams told one officer that he could kill him, and that he knew who the officer’s family was and would come after them,” it added.
Court records also show that this is not the only trouble that Williams has been in.
In October of 2021, Williams was charged with a misdemeanor fifth-degree assault for allegedly punching a pizza delivery driver in the face, the Pioneer Press reported.
Williams also has two pending misdemeanor cases after being charged for obstructing legal process and driving after getting his license revoked.
After these most recent charges of domestic assault by strangulation and misdemeanor domestic assault, Williams appeared in court on Tuesday, but was conditionally released, the Pioneer Press reported.
He has made no comment on the situation.
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