Floyd sobbed when officers initially began pulling him out of the vehicle he was in, and at one point Officer Derek Chauvin appears to be leaning over the pressure applied to Floyd’s neck. Floyd’s last words, not seen in a previously published transcript, were: “I can’t breathe.”
The two videos viewed by CNN on Wednesday begin when Minneapolis police officers Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng are seen answering a call about a “fake bill” being used in a local market.
Within 36 seconds after talking to a store clerk, officers are at the door of the car George Floyd was in, yelling, “Raise your damn king’s hands right now!” after an initial blow with a flashlight. Floyd pleads with the officers as he cries, at one point, resting his head on the wheel.
About three minutes after the video, Floyd is forcibly removed from the car as officers fight to handcuff him. This was after he pleaded with the officers as he sobbed as they tried to get him to the police car.
The video seen on CNN shows that a great fight ensues when officers Lane and Kueng try to put Floyd in the squad car. Kueng is physically trying to push Floyd into the car when Lane turns around on the other side of the vehicle and tries to pull him while Floyd screams. This is the first “I can’t breathe” that we heard from Floyd through what sounded like a gargling breath.
Finally, Floyd falls off Lane’s side and it is at this point that the other officers, Thao and Chauvin, appear when Chauvin, Kueng and Lane work to contain him. This is when Floyd falls into the familiar location seen on the cell phone video, and in about 11 minutes 23 seconds on Lane’s body camera, Chauvin’s knee appears to touch Floyd’s neck.
Floyd has been handcuffed for almost 8 minutes and, while already restrained, Chauvin appears to increase the pressure on Floyd’s neck by shifting his torso from an upright position to a downward motion.
About 16 minutes into the video, we heard what appear to be Floyd’s last words, “Man, I can’t breathe.” Paramedics are seen with Floyd just over 9 minutes after Floyd’s knee hit his neck, and a minute later Floyd’s limp and completely still body is loaded into the ambulance.
The Minneapolis Police Department has not released a video of the incident, and said so as part of an active investigation by the Office of Criminal Apprehension about the actions of officers who responded to a call for assistance.
Judge made body camera images available
Police camera footage of Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng were presented in court last week by Lane’s attorney as evidence supporting Lane’s motion to dismiss the charges against the former officer, but the court only made the written transcripts public.
Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill, who presides over the cases against the four former Minneapolis police officers charged in Floyd’s death, made the camera footage of Lane and Kueng’s body available to the public on Wednesday. .
The four officers were fired.
Chauvin’s attorney declined to comment Wednesday.
According to the motion filed by Lane’s attorney Earl Gray, Lane asked twice if Floyd should be transferred to his side. Chauvin, a 20-year veteran and training officer, told Lane to keep him there until the ambulance arrived, according to the motion. Chauvin assured Lane that Floyd was fine and that Lane could not see any “visible intentional imposition of damage,” the motion says.
Gray said in the motion that his client did not know that Chauvin was committing a crime while restraining Floyd. The attorney said the decision to restrict Floyd was reasonably justified, according to the motion.
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