Leaked Bodycam Footage Shows The Beginning of George Floyd’s Arrest That Led To His Death [VIDEOS]

Bodycam video released last week shows the very minutes leading up to George Floyd’s death from having a Minneapolis cop’s knee on his neck for up to 8 minutes.  The footage reveals police approached his vehicle and tapped on the driver’s side window to get Floyd’s attention.

From the very second Floyd became aware the police wanted to talk to him he acted very suspiciously as if he suddenly got caught doing something wrong.  The number one thing police officers worry about during a vehicle approach is the suspect’s hands because there are all kinds of scenarios cops are familiar with where a person can grab and use a weapon against them.  Police have no idea what’s in the vehicle from a gun, a knife, pepper spray, pretty much anything to be used against them, so they automatically tell the suspect to put their hands on the steering wheel, because that way they know they can proceed with the knowledge that everyone’s going to be safe.

One of the officers had his pistol out.  Many will point to that as a sign of aggression, but let’s get real.  In today’s environment, even before the Floyd riots that morphed into the Marxist American revolution riots, criminals attack police on a daily basis, especially when they’re about to be arrested, so having a pistol out is routine in a stop where police have no idea if things are going to turn south rapidly.

The video shows Floyd not listening to the police officer’s commands right from the start as if he has something to hide.  Eventually, Floyd sees the other officer’s weapon and begins begging the officers to not shoot him, which is an odd request for someone who hasn’t done anything wrong.  Cops know this.  The officers repeatedly told him they weren’t going to shoot him, but Floyd gave them a hard time just getting out of the vehicle.  He was behaving extremely paranoid.

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The video footage came from a combination of 18 minutes of recording from Officer Alex Kueng’s bodycam and 10 minutes from Officer Thomas Lang, the first two officers on the scene. They were both in their first week working for the Minneapolis police department.

Officer Derek Chauvin, 44, who’s charged with Floyd’s murder, and a fourth officer, Tou Thao, had been called in to assist. All four officers were fired the day after Floyd died.

Okay, I’m not saying it was okay for Chauvin to kneel on Floyd’s neck for as long as he did, but at least now we have an answer as to why that happened.  It was revealed later on that they were waiting for an ambulance to arrive because of Floyd’s behavior.  I don’t think there was a motive to kill Floyd.  I think the officers witnessed Floyd panicking and trying to flee the scene, and every cop will tell you when a suspect starts resisting arrest and isn’t listening to their commands, the best thing to do is to subdue him until medical people arrive.

The rookie cop’s bodycam video was filed with the Hennepin County District Court by Lane’s attorney.  Even though transcripts had been released in July, a Minneapolis judge ruled the videos could only be viewed in the courthouse. They were subsequently leaked and obtained by DailyMail.com.

To answer the many floated conspiracy theories that the police went after Floyd for no good reason, here’s bodycam footage of when officers Lane and Kueng are entering Cup Foods, and you see a worker run up to them, waving the counterfeit $20 bill Floyd had just used to pay him.

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Instead of leaving the area, Floyd sat in his car with friends outside the store.

The officers responded to a call, and the store employee approached them with a counterfeit bill, identifying Floyd and his vehicle parked across the street, and claiming Floyd just used the bill to pay for merchandise he just bought.  That’s a crime, and the officers were simply approaching Floyd’s vehicle to get to the bottom of it.

The police officers approached Floyd’s blue Mercedes SUV that sat across the street from the store and Lane went to the driver’s side, where Floyd was sitting.  Floyd’s ex-girlfriend was sitting in the back seat, and a friend was in the passenger seat up front.

Lane tapped on the vehicle’s window with his flashlight, and when Floyd opened the door, the officer held his pistol at head level, but not pointing it directly at Floyd.  In the video, Floyd is crying and begging as Lane and Kueng pull him from the car after he repeatedly resisted by trying to talk his way out of it and not listening to their commands.  They then handcuffed him and attempted to put him in the squad car.

The black female friend from the passenger seat can be heard saying to Floyd, “Stop resisting.” Floyd said he’s not, but he clearly was resisting.  He just didn’t want to be arrested.

Floyd refused to get into the police vehicle, and shortly after, Chauvin and Thao arrived at the scene. The officers were able to finally get Floyd into the squad car, but somehow he was able to get out of the passenger side door, while still struggling, and that was when Chauvin pinned him by the neck to the sidewalk, with Kueng and Lane restraining him.  That part was never revealed until now that I know of.

Chauvin kept his knee on Floyd’s neck as a crowd started to gather.  At one point, Lane asked if Floyd should be rolled over. Chauvin refused, and Lane said to him that he was worried about the “excited delirium.”

Excited delirium, also known as agitated delirium, is a controversial syndrome that presents with psychomotor agitation, delirium, and sweating. It may include attempts at violence, unexpected strength, and very high body temperature. Complications may include rhabdomyolysis or high blood potassium.

Chauvin told Lane that’s why an ambulance was coming, but by the time it arrived, Floyd was dead.  An autopsy revealed Floyd had arteriosclerotic and hypertensive heart disease, he was intoxicated on fentanyl, and he recently used methamphetamine use had other significant conditions contributing to death.  The officer kneeling on his neck killed Floyd, but had he not been on drugs or had the other health contributing factors, he may not have died, we’ll never know.  But now you know what happened at the beginning of Floyd’s arrest.

Rich Welsh

Rich is  syndicated opinion columnist for David Harris Jr. and owner of Maga-Chat.com.  He writes about politics, culture, liberty and faith.

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