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It’s a Monday night in Minneapolis. Police respond to a call about a man who allegedly used a fake $ 20 bill to buy cigarettes. Seventeen minutes later, the man they are there to investigate lies motionless on the ground and is pronounced dead shortly thereafter. The man was George Floyd, 46, a bouncer from Houston who lost his job at a restaurant when the coronavirus pandemic hit. Crowd: “No justice, no peace.” Floyd’s death sparked massive protests in Minneapolis and sparked rage across the country. One of the officers involved, Derek Chauvin, was arrested and charged with second degree murder. The other three officers were charged with aiding and abetting murder. The Times analyzed videos of spectators, footage from security cameras and audio from police scanners, spoke to witnesses and experts, and examined documents released by authorities to build an image as well. complete as possible and better understand how George Floyd died in police custody. The events of May 25 start here. Floyd sits in the driver’s seat of this blue SUV. Across the street is a convenience store called Cup Foods. The footage from this restaurant security camera helps us understand what happens next. Note that the camera’s timestamp is fast 24 minutes. At 7:57 p.m., two Cup Foods employees confront Floyd and his companions about an alleged counterfeit ticket he just used at their store to buy cigarettes. They ask for the cigarettes but leave empty-handed. Four minutes later, they call the police. According to the 911 transcript, an employee says that Floyd used false invoices to buy cigarettes, and that he is “terribly drunk” and “can’t control himself.” Soon the first police vehicle arrives at the scene. Officers Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng get out of the car and approach the blue SUV. Seconds later, Lane draws his gun. We don’t know exactly why. He orders Floyd to put his hands on the wheel. Lane repackages the gun, and after about 90 seconds of back and forth, pulls Floyd from the SUV. A man films the clash from a car parked behind them. The officers handcuff Floyd’s hands behind his back. And Kueng accompanies him to the wall of the restaurant. “Alright, what’s your name?” From the 911 transcript and pictures, we now know three important facts: First, the police believed they were responding to a man who was drunk and uncontrollable. But secondly, even though the police expected this to happen, it can be seen that Floyd did not act violently. And third, that he already seems in distress. Six minutes after the arrest, the two officers return Floyd to their vehicle. As the officers approach their car, we can see Floyd fall to the ground. According to criminal complaints filed against the police, Floyd says he is claustrophobic and refuses to get into the police car. During the fight, Floyd seems to turn his head to address the officers on several occasions. According to the complaints, he tells them he can’t breathe. Nine minutes after the arrest, the third and final police car arrived at the scene. It carries officers Tou Thao and Derek Chauvin. Both have a history of complaints against them. Thao has already been prosecuted for throwing a man to the ground and hitting him. Chauvin was involved in three police shootings, including one fatal. Chauvin gets involved in the fight to get Floyd into the car. Cup Foods security camera footage shows Kueng grappling with Floyd in the back as Thao watches. Chauvin pulls him through the back seat and into the street. We do not know why. Floyd is now lying on the sidewalk, face down. It was then that two witnesses began to film, almost simultaneously. The footage from the first witness shows us that the four officers are now gathered around Floyd. This is the first moment we can clearly see that Floyd is face down, with three officers applying pressure to his neck, torso and legs. At 8:20 p.m., we hear Floyd’s voice for the first time. The video ends when Lane appears to tell the person filming to walk away. “Get down to the sidewalk, please.” One way or the other, please. Officers radio a code 2, a call for elective medical assistance, reporting an injury to Floyd’s mouth. In the background, we can hear Floyd struggling. The call is quickly upgraded to a code 3, a call for emergency medical assistance. Now another spectator, Darnella Frazier, 17, is filming from a different perspective. His footage shows that despite calls for medical help, Chauvin keeps Floyd stranded for another seven minutes. We can’t see if Kueng and Lane are still pushing. Floyd: [gasping] Officer: “What do you want?” Bystander: “I was -” Floyd: [gasping] In both videos, Floyd can be heard telling officers he can’t breathe at least 16 times in less than five minutes. Bystander: “Are you having fun?” But Chauvin never removes his knee from Floyd, even though his eyes close and he seems to be going unconscious. Witness: “Brother”. According to medical and police experts, these four police officers commit a series of actions that violate policies and, in this case, become fatal. They kept Floyd lying face down, applying pressure for at least five minutes. This combined action is probably compressing his chest and preventing him from breathing. Chauvin thrusts his knee into Floyd’s neck, a move prohibited by most police departments. Minneapolis Police Department policy states that an officer can only do so if someone “actively resists.” And even if the officers ask for medical assistance, they take no action to treat Floyd on their own while waiting for the ambulance to arrive. Officer: “Get back to the sidewalk.” According to complaints against the officers, Lane asks him twice if they should roll Floyd onto his side. Chauvin says no. Twenty minutes after the arrest, an ambulance arrives at the scene. Seer: “Let go of his neck!” Bystander: “Is he still on him?” Paramedics are checking Floyd’s pulse. Bystander: “Are you serious?” Chauvin keeps his knee on Floyd’s neck for almost another full minute, even though Floyd seems completely unresponsive. He only got out when the paramedics told him to. Chauvin kept his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes, according to our review of the video evidence. Floyd is loaded into the ambulance. The ambulance leaves the scene, possibly because a crowd is forming. But the paramedics are asking for additional medical help from the firefighters. But when the engine arrives, officers give them, quote, “no clear information about Floyd or his whereabouts,” according to a firefighter incident report. This delays their ability to help paramedics. Meanwhile, Floyd goes into cardiac arrest. It takes five minutes for the engine to reach Floyd in the ambulance. He was pronounced dead in a nearby hospital around 9:25 p.m. Preliminary autopsies conducted by the state and Floyd’s family both declared his death a homicide. The widely circulated arrest videos do not paint a full picture of what happened to George Floyd. Crowd: “Floyd! Floyd! Additional video and audio from the main officers’ body cameras revealed more of why the fight started and how it escalated. The city quickly fired the four officers. And Chauvin was charged with second degree murder. Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao have been charged with aiding and abetting murder. But the outrage over George Floyd’s death is spreading more and more in the United States.
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