A former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin told George Floyd that his pleas for help took “a heck of a lot of oxygen” as the officer knelt on Floyd’s neck for almost nine minutes, newly released transcripts show.
The transcripts, obtained by The Washington Post, come from the body camera footage of J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane, two of the officers charged in connection with Floyd’s death, and reveal more details about what happened between police making contact with Floyd and Floyd being pronounced dead in the back of an ambulance.
The transcripts show that Floyd was attempting to cooperate with police but seemed to be viscerally afraid of the officers.
According to the transcripts, Kueng sat Floyd, a Black man, down on the sidewalk and told him that he was being detained under suspicion of trying to use fake U.S. currency, The Washington Post reported.
Police had originally responded to reports of the use of a fake $20 bill. When Kueng and Lane arrived on the scene, they found Floyd in a car. Transcripts show that Lane asked Floyd to show him his hands, eventually drawing his gun when Floyd didn’t respond.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Floyd said, per the transcript. “I didn’t do anything. What did I do though? What did we do, Mr. Officer?”
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. God dang man. Man, I got shot. I got shot the same way, Mr. Officer, before,” Floyd said to Lane after Lane asked Floyd to step out of the car. “Mr. Officer, please don’t shoot me. Please man.”
Lane reportedly asked Shawanda Renee Hill, a witness inside the car, why Floyd was acting strangely.
