George Floyd arrest: Bodycam footage reveals final moments before tragic death
4 August 2020, 16:07 | Updated: 4 August 2020, 16:08
Bodycam footage from George Floyd's fatal arrest has been leaked online. The video shows Floyd's final moments.
New bodycam video footage has revealed an officer pointed his gun at George Floyd’s head, shortly after stopping him in his car, earlier this year.
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According the leaked footage obtained obtained by MailOnline, the video shows the full sequence of events leading up to George Floyd's death on May 25th. Mr Floyd, 46, was an unarmed black man, who was killed by Minnesota police officers during an arrest.
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Bystander footage of the arrest went viral, as the video showed Floyd saying "I can't breathe", while officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes.
Floyd's death sparked protests worldwide, with many fighting for justice and calling for an end to racism.
However, new bodycam footage that has been released has detailed the moments of the initial arrest, when Floyd was first approached by officers.
During the footage, one officer can be seen picking up a pebble from his car tire as Floyd struggles to breath.
The video shows Floyd was distressed as he plead and begged the police not to shoot him. Floyd says ‘I’m not a bad guy’ while assuring the police he did not do anything wrong.
At one point in the video, Floyd predicts how the arrest would end, exclaiming ‘I’ll probably just die this way.’
The two bodycam footages – including 18 minutes from Officer Alex Kueng’s bodycam and 10 minutes from Officer Thomas Lane’s – were released in mid-July in a courthouse, but was unavailable to the public.
However, it has now been leaked. The video shows Lane and Kueng were the first two officers at the scene, after a complaint from a Cup Foods stores claimed that Floyd tried to buy cigarettes with a fake $20 bill.
The two Minnesota officers were later joined by Chauvin and a fourth officer, Tou Thao. All four were fired the following day after Floyd’s death.
Chauvin, 44, has been charged with Floyd’s murder and the other three officers have been charged with aiding and abetting murder.
Mr Floyd did not attempt to run away from police and was still sat in his car when the officers approached him.
The video shows Lane knocking on the window with his flashlight and immediately pulled out his gun, aiming it at Floyd in the driver’s seat.
‘Put your f***ing hands up right now! Let me see your other hand,’ Lane is heard saying to Floyd.
He then orders Floyd to step out of the car. ‘Hands on top of your head. Step out of the vehicle and step away from me,’ he says.
Floyd replies: ‘Okay. Mr. Officer, please don’t shoot me. Please man.’
‘I’m not going to shoot you,’ Lane replied.‘Step out and face away' the officer continued.
'‘I’ll look at you eye-to-eye. Please don’t shoot me man,’ Floyd replies. ‘I just lost my mom, man’ he added.
In the footage, Floyd is seen upset and disturbed as Kueng and Lane pull him out of the car and handcuff him. However, Floyd did refuse to get into the squad car as he said he has claustrophobia.
It becomes clear there was a struggler between the officers and Mr Floyd, as he was physically forced into the car, but gets out the other side.
The officers then pinned Floyd down to the floor and Chauvin knelt on his neck. George repeatedly pleads for his life, saying he cannot breathe.
Floyd also called for his ‘momma’ and told witnesses to tell his kids that he loves them. ‘I’m through,’ Floyd says.
Floyd continued ‘I’m claustrophobic. My stomach hurts. My neck hurts. Everything hurts. I need some water or something, please.’
Despite Floyd being unresponsive, Chauvin still knelt on his neck. The video ends with bystanders repeatedly ordering the officers to ‘check his pulse.’
R.I.P George Floyd
