A former Georgia cop testified on Monday in the high-profile trial of another former cop, his son, and neighbor, who are charged with the murder of Ahmaud Arbery. Former Glynn County Police Officer Ricky Minshew said that, while he saw Ahmaud Arbery lying face-down in a “puddle of blood” and heard him breathing, the officer—who was the first to arrive on the scene—made no effort to render aid.
“Well, when I got there I did not know any of the people or any of the facts or circumstances to what had happened,” said Ricky Minshew, who CNN identified as a former Glynn County Police officer. “The only thing I knew that I observed was a body laying in the middle of the roadway that had just bled out, and it was by apparent gunfire.”
“So being that I was the only officer on scene,” he continued, “without having any other police units to watch my back, there was no way that I could switch my attention to anything medical and still be able to watch my surroundings and watch after my own safety. I also did not have the adequate medical training.”
Minshew testified that he worked for the Brunswick Police Department for one year before going on to work for the Glenn County Police Department’s patrol division for two years. He then went into retail management for four years before returning to the Glenn County Police Department. He had only been back seven months when he responded to the “suspicious person” call that ended in Arbery’s death.
“When I first come in the neighborhood, I didn’t hear anything,” Minshew testified. “As I go a little further down Satilla Drive, I hear two loud pop sounds. They were within a couple seconds apart.” He said he knew it was either a firearm or fireworks, so he continued driving, and saw someone flagging him down. Minshew said he later stopped at an intersection, got out of his patrol car, and activated his body camera with a double tap.
“I see two males there in front of me, and I observed a Black male laying in the middle of the roadway, and he was covered in blood.” The two unharmed men were pacing, and the bleeding man later identified as Arbery was “laying face down on his stomach in the puddle of blood,” Minshew testified.
“I heard like an agonal breathing. I’ve always heard it being called a death rattle,” Minshew said. He testified that he had heard the sound before when responding to a suicide and multiple vehicle fatalities. but when asked if he attempted “any CPR or anything like that on the deceased male,” Minshew said, “I did not, no ma’am.”
The case centering former Georgia cop and prosecutorial investigator Gregory McMichael, his son Travis, and local resident William "Roddie" Bryan has been hammered with allegations of prosecutorial misconduct, an incomplete police investigation, and more recently, a biased voir dire process leading to a jury with only one Black person on it.
Defense attorneys, however, have claimed repeatedly that it’s their clients who stand to be treated unfairly. They sought in one motion to ban from the trial a photo of a vanity plate with a Confederate emblem that was on Travis McMichael's truck when Arbery was killed. The McMichaels said through their attorneys in the motion that the state’s goal is to "draw the conclusion the Mr. Arbery saw the vanity plate, that he interpreted its meaning, and that he feared the occupants in the truck because of this vanity plate, which is why he ran away from the truck."
Prosecutors responded in a motion that “the State will present the facts of this case, and one of those facts is that Travis McMichael purchased a new truck sometime after January 1, 2020, and put this vanity plate on it.”
Watch the trial live below:
YouTube Video
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RELATED: Travis McMichael is actively trying to keep his Confederate vanity plate out of his murder trial
RELATED: Murder trial in Ahmaud Arbery case is not about Arbery's past, judge rules in vital decision
“Well, when I got there I did not know any of the people or any of the facts or circumstances to what had happened,” said Ricky Minshew, who CNN identified as a former Glynn County Police officer. “The only thing I knew that I observed was a body laying in the middle of the roadway that had just bled out, and it was by apparent gunfire.”
“So being that I was the only officer on scene,” he continued, “without having any other police units to watch my back, there was no way that I could switch my attention to anything medical and still be able to watch my surroundings and watch after my own safety. I also did not have the adequate medical training.”
Minshew testified that he worked for the Brunswick Police Department for one year before going on to work for the Glenn County Police Department’s patrol division for two years. He then went into retail management for four years before returning to the Glenn County Police Department. He had only been back seven months when he responded to the “suspicious person” call that ended in Arbery’s death.
“When I first come in the neighborhood, I didn’t hear anything,” Minshew testified. “As I go a little further down Satilla Drive, I hear two loud pop sounds. They were within a couple seconds apart.” He said he knew it was either a firearm or fireworks, so he continued driving, and saw someone flagging him down. Minshew said he later stopped at an intersection, got out of his patrol car, and activated his body camera with a double tap.
“I see two males there in front of me, and I observed a Black male laying in the middle of the roadway, and he was covered in blood.” The two unharmed men were pacing, and the bleeding man later identified as Arbery was “laying face down on his stomach in the puddle of blood,” Minshew testified.
“I heard like an agonal breathing. I’ve always heard it being called a death rattle,” Minshew said. He testified that he had heard the sound before when responding to a suicide and multiple vehicle fatalities. but when asked if he attempted “any CPR or anything like that on the deceased male,” Minshew said, “I did not, no ma’am.”
The case centering former Georgia cop and prosecutorial investigator Gregory McMichael, his son Travis, and local resident William "Roddie" Bryan has been hammered with allegations of prosecutorial misconduct, an incomplete police investigation, and more recently, a biased voir dire process leading to a jury with only one Black person on it.
Defense attorneys, however, have claimed repeatedly that it’s their clients who stand to be treated unfairly. They sought in one motion to ban from the trial a photo of a vanity plate with a Confederate emblem that was on Travis McMichael's truck when Arbery was killed. The McMichaels said through their attorneys in the motion that the state’s goal is to "draw the conclusion the Mr. Arbery saw the vanity plate, that he interpreted its meaning, and that he feared the occupants in the truck because of this vanity plate, which is why he ran away from the truck."
Prosecutors responded in a motion that “the State will present the facts of this case, and one of those facts is that Travis McMichael purchased a new truck sometime after January 1, 2020, and put this vanity plate on it.”
Watch the trial live below:
YouTube Video
RELATED: Trial for Ahmaud Arbery murder begins with brutal video one defendant thought would prove his case
RELATED: Arbery judge: Seating one Black juror seems to be 'intentional discrimination.' Same judge: Oh well
RELATED: Travis McMichael is actively trying to keep his Confederate vanity plate out of his murder trial
RELATED: Murder trial in Ahmaud Arbery case is not about Arbery's past, judge rules in vital decision