With the world watching, the trial of three men accused of killing Ahmaud Arbery continued in Glynn County, Georgia on Wednesday. Much of the day’s proceedings centered around a police investigator who spoke to Greg McMichael shortly after his son, Travis, shot and killed Arbery in February 2020. Reporting from The Guardian has emphasized the argument that McMichael did not view Arbery as an unarmed jogger at the time of the shooting. In fact, the police investigator testified that McMichael told him that Arbery “wasn’t out for no Sunday jog.”
“He was getting the hell out of there,” McMichael reportedly told the investigator.
In previous days of the trial, witnesses walked the court through what took place from the viewpoint of Greg McMichael. He claims that he was under the impression Arbery was fleeing the scene after breaking into an unfinished home in the area. Given that there were allegedly a string of robberies and break-ins in the area, McMichael told officers that he instructed his son to join him as they attempted to confront Arbery. Riding in a car with a shotgun, the two men approached Arbery, who was jogging at the time. The defendant claims that Arbery attempted to run back in the other direction, only to find that McMichael’s friend, William “Roddy” Bryan, had positioned his car at the other end of the road. With the two cars positioned at opposite ends of the street, the police investigator claims McMichael told him that Arbery was “trapped like a rat.” After discovering that Bryan was at the other end of the road, Arbery allegedly ran back toward the McMichaels and Travis McMichael shot him.
“I think he was wanting to flee and he realized that something, you know, he was not going to get away,” Greg McMichael reportedly told Glynn county police sergeant Roderic Nohilly, according to The Guardian.
While Greg McMichael, Travis McMichael and William “Roddy” Bryan, felt the need to confront Arbery, others in the area did not. The Guardian reports that Glynn County resident Matthew Albenze also saw Arbery enter the unfinished home, but he decided to call the police nonemergency number instead.
“Why not [the emergency number] 911?” prosecutor Linda Dunikoski asked, according to The Guardian.
“I did not see an emergency,” Albenze answered.
Dunikoski also addressed Greg McMichael’s assertion that Arbery wasn’t out a “Sunday jog” when he was killed. The prosecution referred to the deceased as an “avid runner.” Nohilly also testified that McMichael admitted they had “chased [Arbery] around the neighborhood a bit, but he wasn’t winded at all.”
“I mean this guy was, he was in good shape,” McMichael reportedly told Nohilly, according to The Guardian.
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