Leaked police bodycam footage
shows moment-by-moment arrest of George Floyd for
the first time
The terror on his face when officer points gun at
his head, sobbing before he's shoved into squad car
and begging to breathe as his life drains away
WARNING: DISTURBING CONTENT
The terror on George Floyd's face as a rookie cop
points a gun at his head while he sits in his car
can be seen today for the first time
DailyMail.com has exclusively obtained
video from the bodycams of officers Thomas Lane and Alex
Kueng, who were part of Floyd's fatal arrest on Memorial
Day in Minneapolis
Floyd died after Officer Derek Chauvin
kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes on May 25
The tapes show in minute detail how Floyd begs 'Mr.
Officer, please don't shoot me. Please man,' before the
struggle that ended with his death
It also shows how Floyd resisted as the
cops tried to force him into the back of the squad car,
telling them he suffers from claustrophobia and anxiety
The video begins with Lane knocking on
Floyd's car window with a flashlight and once Floyd
opens the door, Lane pulls out his gun and points it at
Floyd's head
Floyd, 46, begs him not to shoot,
saying: ''I'll look at you eye-to-eye. Please don't
shoot me man. I just lost my mom, man'
He sobs as the officers pull him out of
the car and handcuff him, as his ex suggests he was
undergoing mental problems and was afraid of police
After the struggle to get Floyd in the
cop car, he is suddenly on the sidewalk with Chauvin's
knee on his neck
Floyd says he can't breathe over and
over again and calls for his 'momma' but his voice
slowly gets weaker as his life drains away, even saying
'I'll probably just die this way'
By Martin Gould For Dailymail.com
July 04, 2020 "Information
Clearing House" - Bodycam footage from two
cops accused in the murder of
George Floyd is revealed exclusively by
DailyMail.com today — and it shows a rookie officer
terrifying Floyd by pointing a handgun at his head and
another callously picking a pebble from the squad car
tire just inches from the dying man and seconds before
he draws his last breath.
The tapes show in minute
detail how a very distressed Floyd begs 'Mr. Officer,
please don't shoot me. Please man,' before the struggle
that ended with his death on May 25.
It also shows how
belligerent cops cursed at and manhandled the sobbing
suspect, ignoring his pleas for compassion.
Floyd resisted as the cops
tried to force him into the back of the car, telling
them he suffers from claustrophobia and anxiety and how
Officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for nearly nine
minutes, leading to his death, ignoring Floyd’s repeated
cries of ‘I can’t breathe.’
Floyd is even heard
predicting his own death. 'I'll probably just die this
way,' he says.
Transcripts from the
videos were released in mid-July but a judge in
Minneapolis had ruled the video could only be viewed in
the courthouse, meaning few people have had the chance
to watch the powerful images.
But the footage has now
been leaked to DailyMail.com so the world can finally
see the tragedy of Floyd’s last minutes as the cops were
mindless of Floyd’s anguish.
The footage includes more
than 18 minutes from Officer Alex Kueng's bodycam and 10
minutes from Officer Thomas Lane. They were the first
two cops to arrive on the scene after a complaint that
Floyd had attempted to pass a fake $20 bill to buy
cigarettes at Cup Foods, a store in the Powderhorn Park
section of Minneapolis.
Chauvin and a fourth
officer, Tou Thao, were called in to assist. All four
were fired the day after Floyd's death.
Chauvin, 44, has been
charged with Floyd's murder and the other three face
charges of aiding and abetting murder. The events have
led to months of Black Lives Matter protests throughout
the country over police racism and brutality.
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The two officers' bodycam
videos have been filed with Hennepin County District
Court by Lane's defense attorney.
It is clear from the video
that Floyd was not trying to run away - he had plenty of
time to leave the scene before police arrived. But
instead he decided to sit in his car with two friends,
giving the cops the opportunity to approach.
The videos begin with
Lane, 37, and Kueng, 26 — both in their first week as
Minneapolis police officers — entering Cup Foods. A
staff member rushes up to them waving the banknote.
'Before they drive off. He's parked right here. It's a
fake bill from the gentleman,' he tells the cops.
Lane and Kueng then both
approach Floyd's blue Mercedes SUV on the other side of
the street. Lane goes to the driver's side where Floyd
is sitting at the wheel and Kueng approaches the
passenger side, where Floyd's ex, Shawanda Hill is in
the back seat and a friend, Maurice Hall, is in the
front.
Lane is seen knocking on
the car window with his flashlight, but Floyd does not
immediately open the door. Once the door is open, Lane
immediately pulls out his handgun and points it straight
at Floyd's head.
'Hey man, I'm sorry,'
Floyd says and apologizes again before Lane gets
belligerent.
'Put your f***ing hands up
right now! Let me see your other hand,' the cop is heard
saying.
Floyd does not immediately
put his hands on the wheel. 'Put your f***ing hand up
there,' Lane orders him. 'Jesus Christ, keep your
f**king hands on the wheel.'
Floyd tells the officer he
had been shot before, and Lane replies: 'Keep your f***ing
hands on the wheel.'
Lane then tells Floyd to
put his foot inside the vehicle. 'I'm sorry, I'm so
sorry,' Floyd replies. 'God dang man. Man, I got shot
the same way, Mr. Officer, before.'
'Okay. Well when I say
''Let me see your hands,'' you put your f***ing hands
up,' Lane responds.
The cop then orders Floyd
out of the car. 'Hands on top of your head. Step out of
the vehicle and step away from me,' he says.
'I'm not going to shoot
you,' Lane says. 'Step out and face away.
'I'll look at you
eye-to-eye. Please don't shoot me man,' Floyd replies.
'I just lost my mom, man.'
Floyd, 46, is seen sobbing
as Kueng and Lane pull him out of the car and handcuff
him.
After getting Floyd out of
the car, Lane then starts talking to the passengers,
Hill and Hall. 'Why's he being all squirrelly and not
showing us his hands and just being all weird like
that?' Lane asks.
'Because he's been shot
before,' Hill, 45, replies.
'Well I get that,' Lane
says. 'But still, when officers say: ''Get out of the
car...''
'Is he drunk or
something?'
'No, he's got a thing
going on,' Hill says, pointing to her head and making a
circular movement with her finger as if to suggest her
ex had mental problems. 'About the police,' she adds.
The two officers then walk
Floyd to the squad car and the struggle really begins
when Floyd refuses to get in, saying he has
claustrophobia.
He falls to the ground.
'Stand up. Stop falling down,' Kueng shouts. 'Stay on
your feet and face the car door.'
'Please man. Don't leave
me by myself man, please. I'm just claustrophobic.'
'Well you're still going
in the car,' Lane says.
'Y'all, I am going to die
in here,' Floyd protests. 'I'm going to die, man. I just
had COVID, man. I don't want to go back to that.'
Lane offers to roll the
cruiser's windows down to help his phobia but Floyd
still struggles. 'I'm scared as f***,' he says.
A bystander tells Floyd to
calm down because he cannot win in the situation he is
in. 'I don't want to win,' Floyd says. 'I'm
claustrophobic and I've got anxiety. I don't want to do
nothing to them.'
While still in the car,
Floyd says for the first time the line that has become
synonymous with his death. 'I can't breathe.' Shortly
afterwards Chauvin and Thao arrive on the scene.
The officers finally get
him in the squad car and close the rear driver's side
door behind him, but for a reason that is not clear from
the video, Floyd comes out of the passenger side door
still struggling.
Within seconds he is lying
on the sidewalk with Chauvin's knee pressed on his neck
and Lane and Kueng helping to restrain him.
He says he can't breathe
over and over again and calls for his 'momma' but his
voice slowly gets weaker as his life drains away.
'Tell my kids I love them.
I'm dead,' he says at one point.
Kueng is seen nonchalantly
picking a pebble from the squad car tire with his right
hand as he restrains Floyd's legs with his left.
As his knee presses the
life out of Floyd, Chauvin, the most senior officer on
the scene, asks rookies Lane and Kueng if they are okay.
'My knee might be a little scratched but I will
survive,' Lane answers.
Thao asks his fellow
officers whether Floyd is high.
'I believe so. We found a
pipe,' Kueng replies. Lane says: 'We found a weed pipe.
There might be something else, there might be like PCP
or something.'
When Floyd continues to
wail that he can’t breathe, Kueng is heard telling him.
‘You’re fine. You’re talking fine.’
Floyd replies: 'I'll
probably just die this way.'
'I'm through,' Floyd says.
'I'm claustrophobic. My stomach hurts. My neck hurts.
Everything hurts. I need some water or something,
please.'
'Then stop talking. Stop
yelling,' Chauvin replies. 'It takes a heck of a lot of
oxygen to talk.'
As Floyd stops moving
Chauvin keeps his knee on his neck, despite complaints
from a small crowd that has gathered.
'Check his pulse,' one man
says repeatedly. 'You call what you are doing okay?
But the other officers do
little to stop Chauvin. At one point Lane asks: 'Should
we roll him on his side?' But Chauvin replies. 'No, he's
staying where we've got him.'
'Okay,' Lane says. 'I just
worry about the excited delirium or whatever.'
'Well, that's why we got
the ambulance coming,' Chauvin says.
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