“Stop Yelling” — More Details On George Floyd’s Death Revealed

More details on George Floyd and his death in police custody, have been released in court transcripts. They provide more details of what happened in May through body cam footage from two of the officers present.

The story behind Floyd’s Death and the protests that followed it have been well documented, with the viral video footage — that show police officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on his neck until he fell unconscious and eventually died — seen all over the world. However, with Chauvin being charged with second degree murder and his three accompanying officers charged with aiding and abetting murder, more details about what happened on that day have emerged.

Details about the body cam footage from police officers, Thomas Lane and J Alexander Kueng were released in court transcripts on Tuesday and, although they reveal most of what’s already known about Floyd’s death, they also detail what happened from the time Mr Lane and Mr Kueng arrived at the scene, to the point where Mr Floyd was given CPR in an ambulance. You can find the transcript in full here.

Floyd had said over 20 times that he could not breathe while he was being restrained by the police officers, according to .

The officers originally confronted Floyd in front of a convenience store, where he was suspected of buying cigarettes with a counterfeit $20 bill. The footage shows Floyd being co-operative at the time of his arrest, repeatedly apologising to the officers as they approach his car. Lane asked Floyd to show his hands 10 times before ordering him to get out of his vehicle, to which Floyd responds “Man, I got, I got shot the same way, Mr Officer, before”.

The defence attorneys argue that Floyd had been holding his hands under his seat, with pictures of the inside of Floyd’s car showing crumpled up $20 bills on the back seat

Without much clarity on Floyd’s statement, Lane said, “Why’s he getting all squirrelly and not showing us his hands and just being all weird like that?”

As the police officers try to put a struggling Floyd into their police van, while he pleads with them saying that he’s claustrophobic, the officers ask if he’s “on something”. Floyd said, “I’m just scared, man”.

The policemen then take Floyd to the ground where he starts “thrashing back and forth” before Mr Floyd cries out a dozen times “Mama.”

“Can’t believe this, man. Mom, love you. Love you.”

“Tell my kids I love them. I’m dead.”

When Mr Lane asks Mr Chauvin whether they should put Floyd on his side, Chauvin responds “No, he’s staying put where we got him”.

In addition to this, over the course of the eight minutes where Floyd says he can’t breath under the officer’s knee, Chauvin responds at one point, “Then stop talking, stop yelling. It takes heck of a lot of oxygen to talk.”

Chauvin’s lawyers have not commented on the transcripts since they were released and when Lane was asked whether Chauvin or any of the officers present were responsible for Floyd’s death, his lawyers intervened saying, “I object to that. You’re not going to answer that”.

Following Floyd’s death, protests erupted around the world, with governments, public figures and businesses alike taking firm stances against racism and historical injustices.

Originally published at https://essentialmillennial.com on July 9, 2020.