Newly released bodycam footage from two of the cops accused in the murder of George Floyd shows the disturbing interactions a terrified Floyd had with police leading up to his death.
Transcripts of the footage were released last month, but a Minneapolis judge ruled that the video could only be viewed in the courthouse. The video was leaked to the Daily Mail, and there are more than 18 minutes of bodycam video from Officer Alex Keung and about 10 minutes from Officer Thomas Lane.
The videos begin with rookie cops Lane and Keung entering Cup Foods and being approached by an employee holding what appears to be the counterfeit $20 Floyd tried to use to pay for cigarettes.
The officers then approach Floyd’s car, knocking on the window with a flashlight, and when the driver’s side door is opened, Lane immediately draws his gun on Floyd and demands that he put his hands on the steering wheel. Floyd apologizes to Lane, “Hey man, I’m sorry,” as he tells him he’s been shot before. Floyd pleads for his life to the officers, visibly terrified.
Floyd is pulled from the car, and at this point, Lane begins talking to Floyd’s passengers, Maurice Hall and Shawanda Hill. Hill lets the officer know that Floyd is suffering from mental issues, has been shot before, and is afraid of the police.
Floyd starts to struggle with the officers as they attempt to put him in the cop car, telling them he’s claustrophobic and has anxiety.
“Y’all, I am going to die in here,” Floyd says, predicting his own death. “I’m going to die, man. I just had COVID, man. I don’t want to go back to that.”
Derek Chauvin and Tou Thou arrive to back up the officers at the scene.
Somehow, Floyd comes out of the passenger side of the vehicle and ends up on the ground with Chauvin’s knee pressed to his neck, where it would remain for over eight minutes, pressing the life out of Floyd.
Floyd says he can’t breathe several times to the officers restraining him and calls out to his mother as the life drains from his body.
“Tell my kids I love them. I’m dead,” he says.
In one of the more disturbing images from the footage, Keung is seen casually picking a pebble from the tire of the police car and tossing it next to Floyd’s lifeless body.
EMTs were called to the scene, but by the time they arrived, Floyd is dead.
Chauvin has been charged with Floyd’s murder, and the other three officers have been charged with aiding and abetting murder. Floyd’s death has led to months of nationwide protests over police brutality and racism.
