WARNING: DISTURBING CONTENT
It took over a month for police bodycam footage of the May 25 interaction between George Floyd and officers to be shown to journalists and the public—but even then, it was by appointment only at the Hennepin County Courthouse. Judge Peter Cahill had refused to release the video publicly, so few were able to see for themselves.
Now, however, that footage has been leaked to the Daily Mail.
Approximately 10 minutes of video came from former Minneapolis officer Thomas Lane’s camera and about 18 minutes from J. Alexander Kueng's bodycam.
The video shows the moments when police first approached Floyd's vehicle and Lane draws his gun. Floyd begs him not to shoot and tells him he was once shot by police before. When Floyd is handcuffed, the officers try to get him in the patrol car and a struggle ensues. Floyd argues he is claustrophobic and has anxiety. Later, ex-Officers Derek Chauvin and Tou Thau arrive. The angle of the video makes it unclear how, after Floyd was pushed into the back of the vehicle, he came out the other side. At this point he is on the ground with Chauvin pinning his neck down with his knee. Lane asks if he should be rolled to the side but Chauvin insists he shouldn't and that the ambulance is coming. By the time it came, however, Floyd was already dead.
In showing clips on his program, Fox News’s Tucker Carlson said it’s important for Americans to see a more complete picture of the final moments of Floyd’s life, given what his death sparked in American history.
"Floyd's death has been used to justify a nationwide convulsion of violence, destruction, looting, in some cases killing ..." Carlson said. "In addition to unprecedented levels of political upheaval, the wholesale reordering of our most basic institutions, Floyd's death changed everything. It was a pivot point in American history. No matter what your side you're on, that's very clear at this point. So with all of that in mind ... it's striking how little we really know months later about how exactly George Floyd died."
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"You can decide for yourself what you think of that video. And we hope you will. That's the whole point of having a news network, to bring you the facts and allow you to decide what they amount to. We hope that takes place in this case," Carlson said. "So the question is, why haven't we seen the rest of the video until right now? The video seems relevant, particularly considering all that happened next."
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