New police body camera footage reveals George Floyd’s last words were ‘I can’t breathe’
New police footage released as part of the investigation into George Floyd’s murder have revealed confronting new details about his final moments. WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
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WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
New police footage released as part of the investigation into George Floyd’s murder have revealed confronting new details about his final moments.
The video – taken from the bodycams worn by police officers Thomas Lane and Alexander Kueng – shows that officer Derek Chauvin’s had his knee on Floyd’s neck for nine and a half minutes – which is a minute longer than previously estimated, US broadcast news outlet MPR News reports.
And in the confronting footage, Floyd can be heard saying the word “please” more than 50 times as he tried to save his life.
The footage also showed Floyd calling out for his late mother and saying he couldn’t breathe as he gasped for air.
Made public on Wednesday (local time) by appointment, and viewed by CNN, the footage showed Minneapolis police officers Lane and Kueng responding to a call over a “fake [dollar note]” being used at a local shop.
Within 36 seconds after speaking with a store employee, police are at the door of the car George Floyd was in, yelling, “Put your f**king hands up right now!” after an initial knock with a torch. Floyd is reportedly shown pleading with officers while sobbing, at one point putting his head on the steering wheel.
The officers forcibly remove Floyd from the driver’s seat of the vehicle and attempt to walk him to their police car, at which point a struggle ensues.
CNN reported that as Kueng and Lane try to push and pull him into the vehicle, Floyd says, “I can’t breathe,” for the first time.
CNN states that both officers Thao and Chauvin arrive a short time later. At this point, Floyd is on the ground as the other two officers work to restrain him.
According to CNN, it is 11 minutes into the video when Chauvin appears to place his knee on Floyd’s neck and then shifts slightly, as though he were applying pressure.
CNN reported that Floyd’s final words, previously not in the transcript, come just shy of five minutes later: “Man, I can’t breathe.”
It comes as Floyd’s family has filed a federal civil lawsuit against the city of Minneapolis and the police officers involved in the death of the 46-year-old, which ignited protests across the globe and led to demands for a major overhaul of US policing.
The lawsuit was announced on Wednesday (local time) at a press conferenceoutside a Minneapolis courthouse, which was attended by members of Floyd’s family.
Four police officers involved in Floyd’s death have all been fired and criminally charged, including Derek Chauvin, who was filmed pressing his knee into Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes as the dying man repeatedly said “I can’t breathe” and called out for his late mother.
Chauvin, a 44-year-old white man, has been charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter in the death of Floyd.
Former police officers J. Alexander Kueng, Kiernan Lane and Tou Thao are all charged with second-degree aiding and abetting felony murder and second-degree aiding and abetting manslaughter. Lane and Kueng were rookie officers.
None of the officers have entered a plea but court records showed that Kueng intends to plead not guilty and will argue self-defence.
The former officers have a possible trial date of March 8.
MARIAH’S EX GOES ON ANTI-WHITE RANT
Mariah Carey’s ex-husband Nick Cannon has been fired from a TV gig in the US after going on a rant during his podcast where he called white people “evil”, “rapists” and “true savages”.
The 39-year-old, who has two children with Carey, made the comments during a June 30 episode of his podcast, “Cannon’s Class” in which he interviewed former Public Enemy member Professor Griff, who was sacked from the legendary the rap group in 1989 for saying Jewish people “were responsible for the majority of the wickedness in the world”.
Cannon, who hosts the MTV series Wild N’ Out and the popular The Masked Singer, said black people could not be anti-Semitic “when we are the Semitic people. When we are the same people who they want to be. That’s our birthright. We are the true Hebrews”.
Cannon then spoke about race saying, white people of the past were “savages” and “barbaric” because they lacked the “compassion” that comes with melanin or skin pigmentation.
“And I’m going to say this carefully …,’ he said before claiming that people who do not have melanin are a ‘little less’.
“They’re acting out of fear, they’re acting out of low self-esteem, they’re acting out of a deficiency,” he said.
“So, therefore, the only way that they can act is evil. They have to rob, steal, rape, kill in order to survive.
“They’re the ones that are actually closer to animals, they’re the ones that are actually the true savages.”
Cannon said that he was referring to “Jewish people, white people, Europeans,” among others.
The episode was reportedly filmed last year, and aired two weeks ago, but received widespread backlash in recent days.
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Earlier this week, ViacomCBS announced it was cutting ties with Cannon for “promoting hateful speech”.
“ViacomCBS condemns bigotry of any kind and we categorically denounce all forms of anti-Semitism,” the company said in a statement.
“We have spoken with Nick Cannon about an episode of his podcast ‘Cannon’s Class’ on YouTube, which promoted hateful speech and spread anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. While we support ongoing education and dialogue in the fight against bigotry, we are deeply troubled that Nick has failed to acknowledge or apologise for perpetuating anti-Semitism, and we are terminating our relationship with him.”
Cannon responded to his firing in a lengthy Facebook post where he said he was “deeply saddened in a moment so close to reconciliation” that was “stolen and hijacked to make an example of an outspoken black man”.
Originally published as New police body camera footage reveals George Floyd’s last words were ‘I can’t breathe’