Transcripts of body camera footage that captured the death of George Floyd have been released.
The words were made public Wednesday as part of now-former officer Thomas Lane’s request to have his case dismissed. Lane was one of the officers on the scene during the May 25 incident. The transcripts paint a clearer picture of what happened when then-officer Derek Chauvin restrained Floyd, a 46-year-old unarmed black man accused of using a counterfeit $20 bill, and knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
Even before he was placed on the ground, Floyd began to tell officers that he could not breathe. He repeated that plea more than 20 times.
“You’re going to kill me, man,” Floyd told Chauvin.
“Then stop talking, stop yelling. It takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk,” Chauvin responded.
The transcripts also detailed the moments when the officers began to realize Floyd was nonresponsive or perhaps dead. One woman, who claimed to be a firefighter, insisted that the officers check Floyd’s pulse.
“You got one?” Lane asked.
“I can’t find one,” officer J. Alexander Kueng, who was also at the scene, responded.
“Huh?” Chauvin replied.
“I thought I’d check him for a pulse,” Kueng added. “I can’t find one.”
Despite Kueng’s statement, Chauvin did not take his knee off Floyd’s neck for a few more moments.
Four officers present during Floyd’s arrest are now facing charges connected to his death. Chauvin was charged with second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter. The three other officers are being charged with aiding and abetting second-degree unintentional murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter.
Protests have been taking place for weeks around the nation in response to Floyd’s death, with demonstrators calling for an end to police brutality and systemic racism.
