New transcripts show George Floyd said police were going to 'kill him'

New transcripts show George Floyd said police were going to 'kill him'
Copyright Nam Y. Huh/Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
By AFP
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Transcripts from body-cam footage have revealed new details about Floyd's death

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George Floyd repeated over twenty times that he could not breathe just before he died, according to court documents.

He talked about his children and mother as well as saying that the police officers who were holding him down were going to "kill him" when he was arrested in Minneapolis.

Floyd, a 46-year-old black American, died on 25 May when a white policeman knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes while he was handcuffed.

His death sparked widespread protests in the United States and around the world against racism and police brutality.

On a video filmed by a passer-by, which went viral after his death, the victim can be heard saying "I can't breathe".

But transcripts from body-cam footage, filed on Tuesday by one of the police officer's legal team in a Minnesota court, have revealed new details about the incident.

Some people may find the information below distressing.

What do the transcripts tell us?

At the time of his arrest, Floyd begged the officers not to put him in the police vehicle saying he was claustrophobic.

As they tried to force him into the vehicle, Floyd shouted that he could not breathe and that he was going to "die in there".

Then, according to the transcript, he said: "Mommy, I love you. Tell my children I love them. I'm dead". He mentioned his mother and children several times after this and repeated "I can't breathe" more than twenty times.

The police officers then tell him to "relax" and that he is "fine". When he says they're going to kill him, Derek Chauvin, who is charged with murder for kneeling on Floyd's neck, yells back at him: "So stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a lot of oxygen to talk."

Floyd's last words were: "They're going to kill me. They're going to kill me. I can't breathe".

The transcripts were filed by police officer Thomas Lane's lawyers who asked for the charges against him for aiding and abetting murder to be dropped.

The same charges have also been filed against Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao — the other two officers involved in taking Floyd into custody.

All four officers were dismissed the day after Floyd's death. They all face up to 40 years in prison.

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