Footage of Police body cameras showed a frightened George Floyd begging police not to lock him in a squad car, shortly before he lost consciousness under a police officer’s knee.
The leaked material was first posted by the Daily Mail on its site Monday, and matches some of what was shown to NBC News at the courthouse during pre-trial hearings for the four Minneapolis police officers who have been criminally charged in connection to Floyd’s death.
Police were called to a convenience store on May 25 investigating a possible counterfeit $20 bill. Floyd was parked a short distance away and an officer almost immediately pulled his weapon on the startled man, video showed.
According to police camera footage, Floyd appeared terrified and emotionally distraught, after seeing police officers with a gun pointed at him.
“Please don’t shoot me. Please, man,” an alarmed Floyd said. “Please, man. I just lost my mom, man. Please don’t shoot me, Mr. Officer, please. ”
Officers pulled Floyd out of his car and handcuffed him over the $20 bill, before marching him to a nearby police vehicle where he pleaded not to be put inside.
“I am claustrophobic, for real,” Floyd told them. “I’m going to die in here. I’m going to die, man.”
Floyd eventually sat down on the back seat, without his legs completely inside.
“I’m claustrophobic. I’m claustrophobic. I got anxiety,” he pleaded. “When I stop breathing, when I stop breathing it’s going to go off on me, man.”
Officers then struggled to pull Floyd inside, the bodycam video showed.
Floyd would eventually end up face down on the pavement, with officer Derek Chauvin’s knee on his neck for about 8 minutes, bystander video showed.
Floyd pleaded “I can’t breathe” while under Chauvin’s knee and called out for his late mother, prosecutors have said.
See some social media reactions;
I just saw the full bodycam video of George Floyd’s arrest. ALL the cops, not just Derek Chauvin, are guilty of murder. Floyd posed no threat to them at any time yet they drew their guns, dragged him around, and even threatened innocent bystanders for the crime of being black.
— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) August 4, 2020
Facts about George Floyd:
New footage shows him resisting for multiple minutes prior. He was high on fentanyl. He said “I can’t breathe” prior to police touching him.
The media was successful. They played into our emotions and we took their words as Gospel.
Manipulation.
— Shekinah (@supitsshekinah) August 4, 2020
AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK
