Judge orders police body camera video of George Floyd arrest released to public

Police camera video of Minneapolis officers arresting George Floyd was released to the public Monday.

The footage became available Monday after a Hennepin County judge ordered it released. News organizations including The Associated Press had already viewed and written about the footage, and also pressed for the right to publish it.

The video comes from the body cameras of former officers Thomas Lane and J. Kueng. The footage shows Floyd pleading with the officers as they struggle to place him in a squad car in the minutes before his death on May 25.

Floyd, a Black man who was handcuffed, died after Derek Chauvin, a white police officer, pressed his knee against Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes as Floyd said he couldn't breathe. Chauvin is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter.

Three other officers at the scene — Tou Thao, Lane and Kueng — are charged with aiding and abetting both second-degree murder and manslaughter. All four officers were fired the day after Floyd's death, which set off protests that spread around the world and turned into a national reckoning on race in the United States.

Police were called to a south Minneapolis convenience store, where Floyd was suspected of passing a counterfeit $20 bill. Lane's video shows Lane pulling his gun when Floyd does not immediately show his hands.

'I just lost my mom'

"Please don't shoot me, man," a crying Floyd says. "I just lost my mom, man. I'm so sorry."

Floyd tells the officers he is not resisting but that he is claustrophobic and has just had COVID-19. Floyd pleads that he cannot breathe, and says "Momma" as he is held on the ground.

Fallout from Floyd's death has led to local police reforms in numerous cities across the U.S., including budget cuts, chokehold bans, disbanding units and shifting responsibility for non-violent emergencies away from the police.