Body-camera footage detailing the interaction between four Minneapolis police officers and George Floyd became publicly available Wednesday, and records Floyd saying “I’m not a bad guy” as he struggles with officers before being pinned to the ground, the Associated Press reported.
The video was reviewed Wednesday by appointment only since Judge Peter Cahill prohibited publication of the video and is the fullest public view of the incident, which resulted in Floyd’s death, according to the Associated Press
At the beginning of the video, Floyd appears distraught when police ask him to step out of his vehicle near a south Minneapolis corner grocery, where he was suspected of passing a counterfeit $20 bill. After not immediately displaying his hands to police, Officer Thomas Lane pulls his gun, and Floyd says he’s been shot before.
MINNEAPOLIS, MN – JUNE 29: Former Minneapolis Police officer Thomas Lane (L) leaves with his attorney Earl Gray after a hearing at the Hennepin County Public Safety Facility on June 29, 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Lane is charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter in the death of George Floyd on May 25. (Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)
Floyd’s hands are hands cuffed behind his back, and he tells officers that he’s claustrophobic and pleads with them not to put him in the back of the squad car. Floyd loses a shoe while struggling with officers, and the Associated Press reports that what appears to be Officer Derek Chauvin’s body camera ends up underneath the squad car. Floyd is soon on the pavement as officers hold him down.
Chauvin and Officer J. Alexander Kueng grip Floyd’s handcuffed hands to hold them behind his back, and Keung’s knee appears to press on Floyd’s bottom or below it. Lane is positioned at Floyd’s feet.
“I think he’s passing out,” one officer says. “You guys all right, though?” someone asks. “Yeah — good so far,” says one. Another officer — apparently Lane — says: “My knee might be a little scratched, but I’ll survive.”
Lane asks whether Floyd should be rolled on his side and suggests that Floyd might be in delirium. Meanwhile, bystanders are asking whether Floyd has a pulse and is breathing.
Lane asks again, with more concern, whether Floyd should be rolled onto his side. Kueng check for a pulse and says he can’t find one.
Floyd is placed on a stretcher in an ambulance, and Lane follows Floyd into the ambulance where EMTs instruct him to perform CPR, which had no visible results.
Rather than going straight to the hospital, the ambulance parks a few blocks away while Lane and the EMTs work more on Floyd, who is in full cardiac arrest.
Previously reported transcripts show that Floyd had told Chauvin “you’re going to kill me man,” to which Chauvin responded “Then stop talking, stop yelling. It takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk.”
MINNEAPOLIS, MN – JUNE 11: Members of the Minneapolis Police Department monitor a protest on June 11, 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The MPD has been under scrutiny from residents and local city officials after the death of George Floyd in police custody on May 25. (Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)
Public access of the video comes roughly a week after Lane’s attorney, Earl Gray, argued that there isn’t probable cause to charge his client, and that from the start, Lane demanded to see Floyd’s hands at least 10 times while Floyd was in his car and that he was acting erratically. (RELATED: Attorney Of One Officer In George Floyd Case Seeks Case Dismissal Due To Lack Of Probable Cause)
Chauvin is charged with second-degree murder while former officers Lane, Kueng and Tou Thao are charged with aiding and abetting.