Unseen Police Bodycam Footage of George Floyd Arrest Released
Leaked body camera footage from two of the Minneapolis police officers charged in George Floyd’s death shows the moments leading up to the fatal confrontation.
The videos, which were leaked to the Daily Mail and published Monday, come from the cameras of former Officers Alex Kueng and Thomas Lane.
Both men were fired and are facing charges in relation to Floyd’s May 25 death.
The Mail published around 10 minutes of footage from Lane’s body cam and roughly 18 minutes from Kueng’s body cam.
In one video, the officer identified as Lane confronted Floyd and ordered him out of his vehicle moments after he was accused of attempting to pass a counterfeit bill.
Floyd had been sitting in the vehicle with two other people.
Lane eventually pointed his service weapon at Floyd, who told the officer he had been shot before.
The confrontation quickly became tense.
The officer, believed to be Lane, repeatedly ordered Floyd to put his hands up.
“OK. Mr. Officer, please don’t shoot me. Please, man,” Floyd said.
“I’m not going to shoot you,” Lane told Floyd.
After Floyd was cuffed by Lane and Kueng, Lane can be seen interacting with Floyd’s passengers.
“Why’s he getting all squirrelly and not showing us his hands and just being all weird like that?” Lane asked a passenger identified as Shawanda Hill.
Lane also asked Hill if Floyd was “drunk or something,” to which Hill responded, “No, he’s got a thing going on.”
Video then shows Lane and Kueng attempting to corral Floyd into a police cruiser.
“Stand up. Stop falling down,” Kueng told Floyd. “Stay on your feet and face the car door.”
After Floyd was told by someone off-camera that he was in a no-win situation, he said, “I don’t want to win. … I’m claustrophobic and I’ve got anxiety. I don’t want to do nothing to them.”
Officers Derek Chauvin and Tou Thao then arrived, and Floyd was put into the vehicle but later struggled his way back out of the police car.
Chauvin then placed his knee over Floyd’s neck, which previous videos show remained there for nearly nine minutes.
Floyd, who said, “I can’t breathe,” died after the confrontation, while the officer believed to be Lane at one point suggested to Chauvin to turn him over.
[firefly_poll]
All four officers involved in the confrontation with Floyd were fired a day later, and all four are facing criminal charges relating to his death.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported the body cam videos published by The Daily Mail were not supposed to be made public, and both videos were likely recorded on a mobile device while inside of the Hennepin County courthouse.
Those videos were intended to be viewed by appointment only to members of the media and select members of the public.
Hennepin County officials have declined to comment on the leak.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
