Newly released evidence from the Minneapolis police body camera footage have been made public on Wednesday, in an effort to have charges against one of the officers be thrown out by a judge.
The footage reveals an even more desperate scene than previously known from bystander videos that played on an endless loop since uploaded on social media.
Officers J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane arrived at Cup Foods at 38th Street and Chicago Avenue in south Minneapolis a bit past 8pm on Memorial Day after they received reports that someone tried to pay using counterfeit money.
Lane tapped on the truck’s front driver’s side window with the flashlight, startling Floyd.
Floyd is seen moving around in the vehicle, apologizing, as Lane demands to see his hands, drawing his gun and points it at Floyd.
Afterwards, Floyd begged Lane not to shoot him, while saying that he was shot the “same way by another police officer before,” and that he just lost his mom.
After the officers Lane and Kueng handcuffed Floyd, lead him toward the squad car and search his pockets, they tried to convince him to sit down in the squad.
However, Floyd begs not to put him in the back, saying that he just got over COVID-19, and that he’s claustrophobic – although he assured that he’ll get into the squad if they let him count to three.
Kueng however tried to push Floyd into the squad while Lane pulls him from the other side – this is when Floyd started pleading, “I can’t breathe,” and tells the officers he’ll lie on the ground instead.
This is when Officer Derek Chauvin arrived on Lane’s side of the car and Floyd came out of the car, unclear whether he is pulled out or pushes himself out, and he goes to the ground near the squad’s back tire.
Chauvin then kneeled on his neck, while Lane asked multiple times whether they should roll him on his side, to which Chauvin says to “just leave him.”
Floyd had repeatedly uttered, “I can’t breathe” not just a few times, but more than 20 times all in all, and cried for his dead mother and his children too.
As he takes his final breaths, Floyd gasped, “They’ll kill me. They’ll kill me.”