Leaked police body camera footage leading up to George Floyd’s death shows the distressed man begging with officers not to shoot him.
The footage, obtained and released by the DailyMail on Monday, shows a police officer pointing his handgun at a terrified Floyd, who died on Memorial Day after officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes, as he follows the officer’s orders.
“Hands on top of your head,” the officer can be heard saying while pointing the gun at Floyd. “Step out of the vehicle, and step away from me, all right?”
“OK, officer, please don’t shoot me. Please, man,” Floyd says, sobbing. “I just lost my mom, man.”
The officer then orders others witnessing the scene to step toward a wall as police “figure out what’s going on.”
Floyd, while handcuffed, initially resisted the officers as they attempted to force him into the back of a police vehicle, crying that he had claustrophobia.
“I’m not that kind of guy, Mr. Officer,” Floyd says. “I’m just claustrophobic. That’s it.”
“You’re still going in the car,” an officer responds.
“I just had COVID, man. I don’t want to go back to that,” Floyd says. An official autopsy report in June found that Floyd had tested positive for the coronavirus in early April.
After officers forced him to the ground, Floyd is heard repeatedly yelling, “Please, I can’t breathe!”
“You’re doing fine. You’re talking fine,” an officer replies.
Chauvin and three other officers present during Floyd’s arrest have all been fired and criminally charged in his death.
Warning: The footage below includes disturbing content.
