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[Editor's note: This is a follow-on to the story George Floyd Dead - Officers Fired and Charged - Discuss it Here that we ran on June 2, 2020. With 385 comments, it was the 5th-most-discussed story in the history of SoylentNews. All four of the officers involved were fired from the police force and are facing charges for the death.
New body-cam footage has come to light, exclusively on DailyMail.com. The two videos there fill in gaps from the previously-released footage.
In light of the interest when we first ran the story, the continuing "Black Lives Matter" protests, and the information this brings to light, I have decided to run this story.
NOTE: Each news organization has their own "take" on the killing. This coverage from DailyMail.com is no exception; read it with a heaping helping of the proverbial "grain of salt". It has been excerpted here without elision so as to not add any additional "spin".
WARNING: Please be aware the video content is disturbing; viewer discretion is advised. --martyb]
Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1234
Police Bodycam Footage Shows George Floyd Arrest In Detail:
WARNING: DISTURBING CONTENT. DailyMail.com has obtained video from the body cameras of two officers involved in the arrest of George Floyd that ultimately led to his death on May 25 in Minneapolis.
[...] Bodycam footage from two cops accused in the murder of George Floyd is revealed exclusively by DailyMail.com today — and it shows a rookie officer terrifying Floyd by pointing a handgun at his head and another callously picking a pebble from the squad car tire just inches from the dying man and seconds before he draws his last breath.
The tapes show in minute detail how a very distressed Floyd begs 'Mr. Officer, please don't shoot me. Please man,' before the struggle that ended with his death on May 25.
It also shows how belligerent cops cursed at and manhandled the sobbing suspect, ignoring his pleas for compassion.
Floyd resisted as the cops tried to force him into the back of the car, telling them he suffers from claustrophobia and anxiety and how Officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes, leading to his death, ignoring Floyd's repeated cries of 'I can't breathe.'
Floyd is even heard predicting his own death. 'I'll probably just die this way,' he says.
Transcripts from the videos were released in mid-July but a judge in Minneapolis had ruled the video could only be viewed in the courthouse, meaning few people have had the chance to watch the powerful images.
But the footage has now been leaked to DailyMail.com so the world can finally see the tragedy of Floyd's last minutes as the cops were mindless of Floyd's anguish.
The footage includes more than 18 minutes from Officer Alex Kueng's bodycam and 10 minutes from Officer Thomas Lane. They were the first two cops to arrive on the scene after a complaint that Floyd had attempted to pass a fake $20 bill to buy cigarettes at Cup Foods, a store in the Powderhorn Park section of Minneapolis.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday August 05 2020, @03:22PM (3 children)
?????
You don't seem to have watched the videos. Yes, Chauvin was recorded, kneeling on an unresponsive man's neck, for about 9 minutes. That really and truly is fact. Don't conflate this story with other stories.
You want to get into the Ferguson thing, it sounds like we might agree. Dumbass attacked a store owner, and only minutes later decided to try taking a gun from a cop. That sombitch got what he was looking for.
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 05 2020, @05:47PM
Note the timestamps. Five minutes.
We just saw video that this guy was spaced out and dying from a drug overdose, and he was claiming to be unable to breath long before they had to put him on the ground to control him until an ambulance could get there. The hold was done by the MPD book and nobody serious is now maintaining the libel that it had anything at all to do with his death. Police departments are banning the tactic, not because it isn't safe and effective, but because it looks bad on TV and emotionally incontinent people keep losing their sh*t.
Yet what just happened here? Facts don't matter, the Narrative rolls on unchanged: The cop murdered the innocent dindu. Exactly as predicted in the original post. We are in a post rational society.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 05 2020, @05:50PM (1 child)
The narrative before was based on the video from the store that only showed half the story. From that initial video, Floyd was not resisting arrest and it was described as every action the officers took was excessive/brutal to murder Floyd. That was the narrative before. This video shows Floyd resisting and saying he couldn't breathe before he was face down. I think describing it as police brutality is a bit of stretch now. Excessive? Certainly.
The defense of the cops will be that it was department procedure. For the most part it was. Except the callous disregard for 9 minutes (arguably less as initial pinning could be justified but not for so long and certainly not after Floyd becomes unresponsive). Even if it was procedure to pin someone like that who is resisting, the circumstances changed when Floyd stopped resisting and became unresponsive. The cops should have reacted to Floyd when his behavior had changed being pinned. That is the mistake the cops made.
I think what we will get out of this is that the prosecutor overstepped in trying to get elevated charges of murder. Manslaughter is more appropriate. I think it is pretty clear that the cops didn't go out of their way to kill Floyd. It was an accident not murder. There are things that Floyd and the cops could have done differently that Floyd would still be alive.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 05 2020, @07:04PM
Nah, it's all politics - Murder charges sound exciting and pacify the braying masses. But it may be impossible to convict them. If the prosecutor wanted to secure a conviction, he could have charged them with murder, manslaughter, grievous bodily harm etc. for something to stick.