Cup Foods employee Christopher Martin was questioned today at trial about a possibly counterfeit $20 bill that George Floyd used to buy cigarettes inside the store on May 25, 2020.
Martin said that after examining the bill that Floyd gave him, he believed it was a fake. Initially, Martin said, he thought he would just accept the bill and not confront Floyd about it. Martin testified that the store’s policy was “if you took a counterfeit bill, you would have to pay for it out of your money.”
He said that at first he thought he would just take it and put it on his own “tab.” But then Martin decided to go talk to his manager about the fake bill. His manager instructed him to go out to the car that Floyd had gotten into and ask him about the bill. Martin said he went out to Floyd’s vehicle twice.
The prosecution played security video from the restaurant across the street that showed Martin and another employee going out to Floyd’s car and asking him about the bill.
“I notified them that they needed to come back into the store and the bill was fake and my boss wanted to talk to them,” Martin said.
He testified Floyd “just seemed like he didn’t want this to happen. He was just kind of like, ‘why is this happening?'”
Martin said that Floyd wouldn’t agree to come back into the store.
He said that he went back into the store and told his manager that Floyd would not come back into the store. His manager told Martin to go back out to the car and try again.
After Martin and a coworker tried a second time, Floyd still would not agree to come into the store to talk to the manager. “George Floyd did not choose to come into the store,” he said.
He said that after he told his manager a second time that George Floyd would not come back into the store, somebody called the police.
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