Top News

An officer told George Floyd that ‘a lot of oxygen to talk’, the body camera transcript showed

Published

on

“Come on, man. Oh, oh. I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe. Ah! They will kill me. They will kill me. I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe. Oh!” Floyd said in response to Chauvin, according to the transcript.

A few minutes later, Floyd was unresponsive and then declared dead.

The transcript details the last moments of Floyd’s life and was taken from a body camera worn by former Minneapolis officers Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng. The documents were released Wednesday as part of a motion filed Tuesday in a state court in Minneapolis.
The motion, submitted by Lane’s lawyer Earl Gray, sought to get Lane’s accusation dismissed by the judge. Lane was accused of aiding and abetting a second-degree murder and aiding and abetting a second-degree murder in Floyd’s death.

Authorities have not released body camera recordings and CNN has not been able to corroborate the transcript. CNN has contacted the court asking for the video mentioned in the motion.

CNN had contacted a lawyer representing the Floyd family.

Floyd died on May 25 after Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck for almost nine minutes. Lane and Kueng had helped keep Floyd and former officer Tou Thao standing nearby.
Chauvin was charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree murder. Kueng and Thao were accused of aiding and abetting a second-degree murder and aiding and abetting a second-degree murder, the same accusation that Lane faced.

The four officers were fired.

Eric Nelson, a lawyer for Chauvin, declined to comment on the transcript on Wednesday.

Before Floyd was forced to the ground, he told officers that he could not breathe, sharing that he was suffering from Covid-19 and was short of breath, according to the transcript.

Floyd was afraid when officers tried to put him in a patrol car, transcript details, and told officers to “tell my children, I love them. I’m dead.”

Later, when Floyd was pinned to the ground, Lane asked Chauvin whether the officers should move Floyd to his side, raising concerns about the potential for medical emergencies, according to the transcript.

“No, he stays where we got him,” Chauvin answered, the transcript stating.

According to the motion, Lane asked twice whether Floyd should be moved to his side. Chauvin, a 20-year-old training officer and veteran, told Lane to keep him there until the ambulance arrived, according to the motion. Lane was convinced by Chauvin that Floyd was fine and Lane could not see any “intentional danger,” the motion said.

Lane’s lawyer, Gray, said in a motion that his client did not know that Chauvin had committed a crime when they arrested Floyd. Lawyers said the decision to detain Floyd was justified, according to the motion.

Nicole Chavez from CNN contributed to this report.

Click to comment

Trending

Exit mobile version