George Floyd told police he ‘could not breathe’ 20 times
‘Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I’m dead’
George Floyd told Minneapolis police officers he “could not breathe” at least 20 times, a transcript of his final conversation has revealed.
The 46-year-old died after being detained by officers in May, with one officer kneeling on his throat for almost nine minutes, as cellphone footage captured him saying he could not breathe. He then passed out, and subsequently died.
In the days and weeks after his death, protesters across America and around the world, seized on this words, which echoed the final utterance of Eric Garner, who died after being placed in an illegal choke hold by police in New York in 2014.
The four officers who detained Mr Floyd were fired and one of them, Derek Chauvin, has been charged with murder.
The other three, Thomas Lane, J Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao, were charged with aiding and abetting murder and manslaughter.
What was not clear until Wednesday, was that Mr Floyd had gasped that he could not breathe not just once, but up to 20 times. He also told officers he had once been shot and that he was nervous when he was arrested, for allegedly using a counterfeit $20 bill.
The new information was contained in a transcript of a video from two police body cameras, that captured Mr Floyd’s final moments alive, and which were entered into evidence by one of the officers, Mr Lane, who is seeking to have the charges against him dismissed.
The transcripts – totalling 82 pages – also record Mr Floyd telling the officers he had once been shot. He does not specifically say when or where, or whether it was by the police. The Floyd family lawyer, Ben Crump, has yet to comment on the transcript, or to confirm whether Mr Floyd had indeed once been shot.
According to the transcript Mr Floyd said that was why he was nervous when two officers approached him as he sat in his SUV outside Cup Foods, a grocery store at the intersection of Minneapoli’s East 38th Street and Chicago Avenue. One of the officers, Mr Lane, had his weapon drawn.
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. God dang man. Man, I got shot. I got shot the same way, Mr Officer, before,” said Mr Floyd. The officer asked a woman who was in the vehicle with Mr Floyd, why he was “getting all squirrelly”.
The woman responded: “Because he’s been shot before.”
The New York Times said that the transcript showed that even before the officers sought to get Mr Floyd onto the ground, he told them he was claustrophobic and could not breathe. At one point he said: “Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I’m dead.”
The transcript suggests Mr Floyd said: “They going to kill me. They’re going to kill me man.”
Mr Chauvin then replied: “Takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to say that.”