Leaked bodycam footage from the arrest of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25 shows the 46-year-old Black man terrified and struggling to stay out of the backseat of the police cruiser before he ends up face down beneath the knee of Derek Chauvin, where he died.
The Daily Mail obtained about 10 minutes of footage from Thomas Lane’s body camera and 18 minutes from Alexander Kueng’s, which includes the final nine minutes as Floyd repeatedly says he can’t breathe, calls for his mother, and eventually lies still, breathing his last.
Chauvin has been charged with murder in Floyd’s death, while Lane, Kueng — both in their first week on the job — and Tou Thao were charged as accessories. All four have been fired from the Minneapolis police department, as CrimeOnline previously reported.
The chatter in videos matches transcripts released by the courts.
In Lane’s video, the officers walk into the Cup Foods store, which called police because they believed Floyd had given them a counterfeit $20 bill. Lane, 37, and Kueng, 26, are greeted by a store employee, who points out Floyd’s SUV parked across the street. Lane taps on his window with a flashlight and immediately draws his gun.
“Hey man, I’m sorry,” Floyd says, apparently surprised.
Thomas Lane’s body camera footage:
“Put your f***ing hands up right now! Let me see your other hand,” Lane shouts.
When Floyd doesn’t immediately put his hands on the wheel, Lane shouts again, “Put your f***ing hand up there. Jesus Christ, keep your f**king hands on the wheel.”
Kueng, meanwhile, has gone to the passenger side of the vehicle, where he speaks with Floyd’s passengers, Shawanda Hill and Maurice Hall.
Floyd begs Lane not to shoot him as he and Kueng get him out of the vehicle. Kueng takes Floyd to the sidewalk to get his name and other information while Lane talks with Hall and Hill, who tells the officer Floyd “has a thing going on about the police.”
Eventually, they decided to arrest him and escort him to the squad car. Floyd’s panic increases as he tells the officer he’s claustrophobic. Both officers’ body cam footage show the struggle to get him into the vehicle, with Floyd sometimes apparently crying, asking the officers not to put him in the back and leave him there alone.
They get him into the car, but he’s still struggling, and eventually comes out the other side. By this time, Chauvin and Thao have arrived. In bystander videos, Thao is seen standing on the sidewalk, keeping bystanders away, while Chauvin wrestles Floyd face down on the street and puts his knee on his neck. Kueng and Lane also hold him down.
Alexander Kueng’s body camera footage:
Lane’s video ends as the officers wrestle to get Floyd down. Kueng’s continues. “I can’t breathe,” he says. “Tell my kids I love them. I’m dead.” Bystanders can be heard calling for the officers to ease up — “Check his pulse.” “He’s not responsive.” “You call what you’re doing OK?”
“You’re fine,” Kueng tells Floyd. “You’re talking fine.”
“I’ll probably just die this way,” Floyd says. Then, “I’m through. I’m claustrophobic. My stomach hurts. My neck hurts. Everything hurts. I need some water or something, please.”
“Then stop talking. Stop yelling,” Chauvin tells him. ‘It takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk.”
Gradually, Floyd stops moving. Kueng plucks a pebble out of the squad car’s tire.
“Should we roll him on his side?” Lane asks. “No,” Chauvin says. “He’s staying where we’ve got him.”
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[Featured image: George Floyd/Facebook and Derek Chauvin/bystander video screenshot]
