Leaked video shows Floyd’s last moments
Newly published body-camera footage shows the initial moments of George Floyd’s arrest and the final moments of his life.
The Daily Mail published partial footage Monday from the body cameras of two Minneapolis police officers involved in Floyd’s arrest on May 25. Floyd, a Black man, died after former Officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, knelt on his neck for nearly 8 minutes as Floyd pleaded that he could not breathe. Floyd’s death sparked protests worldwide against racial injustice and police brutality.
The videos, which the British newspaper describes as “leaked,” show about 10 minutes from former Officer Thomas Lane’s bodycam and about 18 minutes from former Officer J. Kueng’s bodycam.
In the footage, which was also reviewed by the Associated Press, Lane approaches Floyd and tries to get him out of his vehicle while pointing a gun at him. Floyd pleads with the officer, saying, “Please don’t shoot me, Mr. Officer.”
Officers take his name and date of birth and tell him they’re stopping him because he allegedly used a counterfeit bill. They lead him toward a squad car, and Floyd drops to the ground, begging not to be put inside.
Officers handcuff Floyd and tell him to stop resisting. At one point, Lane says he thinks Floyd is “on something.”
“Why’s he getting all squirrelly and not showing us his hands and just being all weird like that?” he asks Floyd’s girlfriend, Shawanda Hill.
“I have no clue,” she responds, “because been shot before . ... He have problems all the time when they come, especially when that man put that gun like that.”
Floyd repeatedly tells officers he is claustrophobic and has anxiety as he resists being put in the car.
“I am claustrophobic, for real,” Floyd says. “I’m going to die in here. I’m going to die, man.”
Officers pull him into the car as he tells them he can’t breathe. Floyd is then forced to the pavement, where he can be heard calling out for his mother and repeatedly insisting he can’t breathe.
“Relax,” one of the officers responds. “You’re talking fine.”
Floyd’s last words are “Please.
Please. Please.”
Lane asks Chauvin if Floyd should be put on his side, and Chauvin replies, “He‘s staying put where we got him.”
“OK, I just worry about the excited delirium or whatever,” Lane says.
“Well, that’s why we got the ambulance coming,” Chauvin replies.
Bystanders tell officers Floyd is not responsive and urge them to check his pulse. Kueng takes Floyd’s pulse, and about a minute later the video ends.
Hennepin County District Court spokesman Spenser Bickett told USA TODAY the court is working with police to investigate how the Daily Mail obtained the copies of the two videos, which were submitted to the court on July 7, but declined further comment.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, whose office is leading the prosecution of the four fired Minneapolis police officers charged in Floyd’s death, said he was not the source of the leak.
“We will continue to take the strictest precautions to ensure a fair trial,” Ellison said in a statement.