Minutes before his death by police officers, leaked footage reveal George Floyd was pleading police not to shoot him in Minneapolis on May 25.
“OK, Mr. Officer, please don’t shoot me. Please, man,” Floyd said when officers advanced as he sat in his car. One officer had a gun drawn and aimed at Floyd’s head.
“I just lost my mom, man,” Floyd said in the footage. “Please don’t shoot me, Mr. Officer, please.”
As the cops cursed at him, Floyd also apologized throughout the video.
“Put your fucking hand up there,” one officer ordered. “Jesus Christ, keep your fucking hands on the wheel.”
When the police tried to put Floyd in the back of a police vehicle, he warned them that he was claustrophobic. Floyd was ultimately forced to the ground. Then-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin shoved a knee into his neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds as Floyd cried out: “I can’t breathe.”
Bystanders urged other police officers at the scene to interfere, but they refused.
Floyd was pronounced dead a short time later, kicking off protests and unrest around the nation that continue to this day. Chauvin and three other officers were fired and all are facing criminal charges.
