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posted by martyb on Wednesday August 05 2020, @02:17PM   Printer-friendly

[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.


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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 05 2020, @07:25PM (5 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 05 2020, @07:25PM (#1031903)

    Did the cops have that information when they made the arrest? Show me the part in the video where someone announces Floyd's complete criminal history and the cops build a psychological profile of him before making the arrest.

    All they knew was that he was some random black guy and they killed him over $20 they didn't even have proof he knew was fake.

    This is just like the Erik Garner case - killing a guy for selling cigarettes illegally? Really? What's next, raiding the Girl Scouts' lemonade stands - but only if the girls are black?

    The police absolutely should be going after the muggers, the rapists, the armed robbers, and the murderers. But lethal force for petty theft makes the police the villains. I don't care if George Floyd was a criminal mastermind that spent 6 million in forged currency, until he attacked someone he didn't deserve lethal force.

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  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 05 2020, @11:45PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 05 2020, @11:45PM (#1032024)

    Moron... Girl Scouts doesn't allow blacks or wetbaX.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 06 2020, @03:24AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 06 2020, @03:24AM (#1032123)

      They do hunt down shitheads when they get older and qualify for a huntress badge. I'd watch out the next time you buy some cookies if I were you.

  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by khallow on Thursday August 06 2020, @01:00AM (2 children)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday August 06 2020, @01:00AM (#1032061) Journal

    All they knew was that he was some random black guy and they killed him over $20 they didn't even have proof he knew was fake.

    Unless they knew [newsone.com] otherwise.

    A former coworker at El Nuevo Rodeo insisted that the two would have recognized one another and that Chauvin was “extremely aggressive within the club with some of the patrons,” according to a report from Newsweek.

    David Pinney, who worked at El Nuevo Rodeo at the same time when Floyd and Chauvin did, said the fired cop “knew” Floyd. “I would say pretty well,” he added.

    Pinney’s comments came on the day of Floyd’s funeral in Houston which took place more than two weeks after the police killing that was recorded on video by one of many witnesses. Chauvin was arrested and charged on May 29 with third-degree murder and manslaughter. On June 3, his charges were upgraded to second-degree murder and the three other officers involved were arrested and charged with felony aiding and abetting second-degree murder.

    Pinney’s comments also corroborated earlier reports from El Nuevo Rodeo’s from owner that Floyd and Chauvin knew each other. Maya Santamaria, who owned the building for almost two decades before selling the venue in recent months, told KSTP.com last month that Floyd and Chauvin once worked security for her.

    One of the things missed here is that Chauvin might not only have had a motive for murdering Floyd, but planned it, say to remove from the picture an erratic person who threatened some illicit scheme the cops had going. That moves things from a random killing to first degree murder.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 06 2020, @01:43AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 06 2020, @01:43AM (#1032079)

      So a massive police conspiracy is more plausible then him dying by mistake due to stress, a heart condition and a large amount of drugs in his system and years of drug usage?

      • (Score: 2, Insightful) by khallow on Thursday August 06 2020, @02:05AM

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday August 06 2020, @02:05AM (#1032085) Journal

        So a massive police conspiracy is more plausible then him dying by mistake due to stress, a heart condition and a large amount of drugs in his system and years of drug usage?

        Yes, because your explanation doesn't cover why Chauvin killed him. What exactly was Chauvin waiting for that took that long?