George Floyd Updates: Protesters Hail Charges Against Police but Seek Broader Change
Minnesota accused three more officers of breaking the law while detaining Mr. Floyd, satisfying one demand of demonstrators who have been gathering nightly in American cities.
RIGHT NOWThe Minneapolis Police Department released 235 pages of heavily redacted personnel records for the four officers who were fired.
Here’s what you need to know:
New charges against the officers are welcome news, protesters said.
Minneapolis police release personnel files on the four officers charged.
A friend in Mr. Floyd’s passenger seat: ‘He was not resisting in no form or way.’
Mr. Floyd had the coronavirus weeks before his death, an autopsy report shows.
‘He tries to divide us.’ Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis offers sharp critique of President Trump.
New York Times reporters are covering protests in many cities. Here’s what they are seeing.
A man in Vallejo, Calif., was kneeling when he was fatally shot by a police officer.
Video
Demonstrators marched on Wednesday in New York, Washington and Los Angeles, among other cities, defying curfews but also avoiding confrontation with the police.CreditCredit...Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times
New charges against the officers are welcome news, protesters said.
Minnesota officials charged three more former police officers on Wednesday in the death of George Floyd, and added an upgraded charge against the former officer who pressed his knee to Mr. Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes.
From coast to coast, protesters had a remarkably consistent reaction to the announcement:
It’s great news, they said — and it’s not nearly enough. There need to be convictions. There needs to be systemic change.
“I think it’s going to be a really long fight, not just in Minnesota but in cities around the country,” said Izzy Smith, an educator from the South Side of Minneapolis who was among those demonstrating at the site where Mr. Floyd was arrested.
“This is a marathon not a sprint,” she added, “so it’s keeping the foot on the gas but keep it steady.”
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Nearby, Marquise Bowie said of the charges: “That’s good. It ain’t going to bring the man back though. It’s a start.”
Some protesters expressed disappointment that the officer who pressed on Mr. Floyd’s neck had been charged with second-degree murder, rather than first-degree, or that action against the other officers had not been taken sooner.
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“It’s about damn time,” said Nekima Levy Armstrong, a civil rights lawyer and protest organizer in Minneapolis. If not for the outrage that had rocked the country, she said, “these officers never would’ve been charged.”
At a protest on the North Side of Chicago, Jonathan Mejias said he was gratified by the news — to a point.
“It’s just one piece,” he said. “The world needs to know that it doesn’t end with resolving this one case. There are too many more out there.”
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Byron Spencer, handing out water and burgers to protesters outside Los Angeles City Hall, said he was both “elated and defeated” by word of the new charges. He said he had seen countless surges of outrage over police brutality against black men, only to have it happen again.
“I’m 55, I’m black and I’m male — I’ve seen the cycle,” he said. “It’s almost like PTSD constantly having this conversation with my son.”
Cierra Sesay reacted to the charges at a demonstration in the shadow of the State Capitol in Denver. “It’s amazing, it’s another box we can check,” she said. “But it goes up so much higher. It’s about the system.”
In San Francisco, Tevita Tomasi — who is of Polynesian descent and described himself as “dark and tall and big” — said he regularly faced racial profiling, evidence of the bigger forces that must be overcome.
On Wednesday, he distributed bottled water at what he said was his first demonstration, but one that would not be his last. What would stop him from protesting?
“They would have to shoot me.”
Prosecuting Police
In Minnesota, new charges against those involved in the death of George Floyd.
New Charges for Former Minneapolis Police Officers as Protests PersistJune 3, 2020
Minneapolis police release personnel files on the four officers charged.
The Minneapolis Police Department late Wednesday released 235 pages of personnel records for the four former officers charged in George Floyd’s killing on May 25, all of whom were fired after video of his death emerged the next day.
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Three of the officers, Thomas Lane, 37, J. Alexander Kueng, 26, and Tou Thao, 34, were charged on Wednesday with aiding and abetting second-degree murder, court records show. Mr. Kueng was in custody on Wednesday. The authorities said they were in the process of arresting Mr. Lane and Mr. Thao.
The fourth officer, Derek Chauvin, 44, who was arrested last week, now faces an increased charge of second-degree murder.
Many of the pages of the personnel files were heavily redacted, but they revealed details of the officers’ lives before joining the department and during their time on the force.
Derek M. Chauvin
Mr. Chauvin appears to have been reprimanded and possibly suspended after a woman complained in 2007 that he needlessly removed her from her car, searched her and put her in the back of a squad car for driving 10 miles per hour over the speed limit.
Mr. Chauvin was the subject of at least 17 misconduct complaints over two decades, but the woman’s complaint is the only one detailed in 79 pages of his heavily redacted personnel file. The file shows that the complaint was upheld, and that Mr. Chauvin was issued a letter of reprimand.
“Officer did not have to remove complainant from car, Could’ve conducted interview outside the vehicle,” read the investigators’ finding.
In one part of the records, the discipline imposed is listed as “letter of reprimand,” but Mr. Chauvin was also issued a “notice of suspension” in May 2008, just after the investigation into the complaint ended, that lists the same internal affairs case number.
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Investigators wrote that there was no audio of the incident and that the dash cam “had been turned off during course of stop.”
The records say Mr. Chauvin admitted to leaving a microphone in the squad car during the traffic stop and “did not check” the dash cam at the start of his shift.
In applying to the Minneapolis Police Department, Mr. Chauvin said he had served as a member of the U.S. Army, working for a time as a member of the military police. He also said he had worked as a security guard and as a cook for McDonald’s and another restaurant in the mid-1990s. The records said he was hired by the department in January 2001 as a part-time community service officer.
J. Alexander Kueng
Mr. Kueng had been an officer with the department for less than six months. He joined the force as a cadet in February 2019 and became an officer on Dec. 10, 2019, his personnel records show. He had previously worked as a community service officer with the department while he earned his bachelor’s degree in sociology at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities.
He also worked as a security guard at a Macy’s and stocked shelves at a Target, and graduated from Minneapolis’s Patrick Henry High School in 2012.
Otherwise, most of his personnel file was blacked out, including basic details like whether he had a driver’s license, whether he lived in Minneapolis, whether he had any convictions for a long list of crimes, whether he was a U.S. citizen, and what his college G.P.A. was.
Latest Updates: George Floyd Protests
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‘This curfew is meant to silence our voices.’
2h ago
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Protests in Brooklyn are still going hours after curfew.
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His file shows that he was terminated on May 26, the day after Mr. Floyd’s death, at 4:45 p.m. It says he was fired for substandard performance, misconduct and violations of the city’s use-of-force policy, including failure to stop another officer from applying inappropriate force.
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Thomas K. Lane
Mr. Lane did not graduate from high school, his files shows, but he went on to get his G.E.D., then an associate degree from Century College, and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota in criminology.
He was accepted to the police academy in January 2019 but started working in the criminal justice system in 2017 as a probation officer. Mr. Lane previously worked a series of different jobs, from restaurant server to Home Depot sales associate. He volunteered at Ka Joog tutoring, working with Somali youth in Cedar Riverside.
Tou Thao
Mr. Thao held jobs at McDonald’s, at a grocery store as a stocker, and as a security guard before being hired in 2008 as a community service officer in Minneapolis. But he worked there less than two years before being laid off in late 2009 because of budget cuts. Almost two years later, in 2011, he was recalled, then hired as a police officer in 2012.
Mr. Thao graduated in 2004 from Fridley High School and attended North Hennepin Community College, where he studied for an associate degree in law enforcement but never graduated, according to his file.
A friend in Mr. Floyd’s passenger seat: ‘He was not resisting in no form or way.’
Video
TRANSCRIPT
3:50/9:31
8 Minutes and 46 Seconds: How George Floyd Was Killed in Police Custody
The Times has reconstructed the death of George Floyd on May 25. Security footage, witness videos and official documents show how a series of actions by officers turned fatal. (This video contains scenes of graphic violence.)
It’s a Monday evening in Minneapolis. Police respond to a call about a man who allegedly used a counterfeit $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 after. The man was 46-year-old George Floyd, a bouncer originally from Houston who had lost his job at a restaurant when the coronavirus pandemic hit. Crowd: “No justice, no peace.” Floyd’s death triggered major protests in Minneapolis, and sparked rage across the country. Four officers have been fired and put under investigation. One of them, Derek Chauvin, has been arrested and charged with murder and manslaughter. The Times analyzed bystander videos, security camera footage and police scanner audio, spoke to witnesses and experts, and reviewed documents released by the authorities to build as comprehensive a picture as possible and better understand how George Floyd died in police custody. The events of May 25 begin here. Floyd is sitting in the driver’s seat of this blue S.U.V. Across the street is a convenience store called Cup Foods. Footage from this restaurant security camera helps us understand what happens next. Note that the timestamp on the camera is 24 minutes fast. At 7:57 p.m., two employees from Cup Foods confront Floyd and his companions about an alleged counterfeit bill he just used in their store to buy cigarettes. They demand the cigarettes back but walk away empty-handed. Four minutes later, they call the police. According to the 911 transcript, an employee says that Floyd used fake bills to buy cigarettes, and that he is “awfully drunk” and “not in control of himself.” Soon, the first police vehicle arrives on the scene. Officers Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng step out of the car and approach the blue S.U.V. Seconds later, Lane pulls his gun. We don’t know exactly why. He orders Floyd to put his hands on the wheel. Lane reholsters the gun, and after about 90 seconds of back and forth, yanks Floyd out of the S.U.V. A man is filming the confrontation from a car parked behind them. The officers cuffed Floyd’s hands behind his back. And Kueng walks him to the restaurant wall. “All right, what’s your name?” From the 911 transcript and the footage, we now know three important facts: First, that the police believed they were responding to a man who was drunk and out of control. But second, even though the police were expecting this situation, we can see that Floyd has not acted violently. And third, that he seems to already be in distress. Six minutes into the arrest, the two officers move Floyd back to their vehicle. As the officers approach their car, we can see Floyd fall to the ground. According to the criminal complaint filed against Chauvin, the officer who’s later arrested, Floyd says he is claustrophobic and refuses to enter the police car. During the struggle, Floyd appears to turn his head to address the officers multiple times. According to the complaint, he tells them he can’t breathe. Nine minutes into the arrest, the third and final police car arrives on the scene. It’s carrying officers Tou Thao and Derek Chauvin. Both have previous records of complaints brought against them. Thao was once sued for throwing a man to the ground and hitting him. Chauvin has been involved in three police shootings, one of them fatal. Chauvin becomes involved in the struggle to get Floyd into the car. Security camera footage from Cup Foods shows Kueng struggling with Floyd in the backseat while Thao watches. Chauvin pulls him through the back seat and onto the street. We don’t know why. Floyd is now lying on the pavement, face down. That’s when two witnesses began filming, almost simultaneously. The footage from the first witness shows us that all four officers are now gathered around Floyd. It’s the first moment when we can clearly see that Floyd is face down on the ground 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 stops when Lane appears to tell the person filming to walk away. “Get off to the sidewalk, please. One side or the other, please.” The officers radio a Code 2, a call for non-emergency 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. By now another bystander, 17-year-old Darnella Frazier, is filming from a different angle. Her footage shows that despite calls for medical help, Chauvin keeps Floyd pinned down for another seven minutes. We can’t see whether Kueng and Lane are still applying pressure. Floyd: [gasping] Officer: “What do you want?” Bystander: “I’ve been —” Floyd: [gasping] In the two videos, Floyd can be heard telling officers that he can’t breathe at least 16 times in less than five minutes. Bystander: “You having fun?” But Chauvin never takes his knee off of Floyd, even as his eyes close and he appears to go unconscious. Bystander: “Bro.” According to medical and policing experts, these four police officers are committing a series of actions that violate policies, and in this case, turn fatal. They’ve kept Floyd lying face down, applying pressure for at least five minutes. This combined action is likely compressing his chest, and making it impossible to breathe. Chauvin is pushing his knee into Floyd’s neck, a move banned by most police departments. Minneapolis Police Department policy states an officer can only do this if someone is, quote, “actively resisting.” And even though the officers call for medical assistance, they take no action to treat Floyd on their own while waiting for the ambulance to arrive. Officer: “Get back on the sidewalk.” According to the complaint against Chauvin, Lane asks him twice if they should roll Floyd onto his side. Chauvin says no. Twenty minutes into the arrest, an ambulance arrives on the scene. Bystander: “Get off of his neck!” Bystander: “He’s still on him?” The E.M.T.s check Floyd’s pulse. Bystander: “Are you serious?” Chauvin keeps his knee on Floyd’s neck for almost another whole minute, even though Floyd appears completely unresponsive. He only gets off once the E.M.T.s tell him to. Chauvin’s kept his knee on Floyd’s neck for a total of 8 minutes and 46 seconds, according to the complaint filed against him. Floyd is loaded into the ambulance. The ambulance leaves the scene, possibly because a crowd is forming. But the E.M.T.s call for additional medical help from the fire department. But when the engine arrives, the officers give them, quote, “no clear info on Floyd or his whereabouts,” according to a fire department incident report. This delays their ability to help the paramedics. Meanwhile, Floyd is going into cardiac arrest. It takes the engine five minutes to reach Floyd in the ambulance. He’s pronounced dead at a nearby hospital around 9:25 p.m. Floyd’s preliminary autopsy report, cited in the complaint against Chauvin, found that the combined effects of being restrained by the police and underlying heart disease likely contributed to his death. The widely circulated arrest videos don’t paint the entire picture of what happened to George Floyd. Crowd: “Floyd! Floyd! Floyd!” Additional video and audio from the body cameras of the key officers would reveal more about why the struggle began and how it escalated. The city quickly fired all four officers. And Chauvin has been charged with murder and manslaughter. But for many, none of this has been enough, and outrage over George Floyd’s death has only spread further and further across the United States.
8 Minutes and 46 Seconds: How George Floyd Was Killed in Police Custody
By Evan Hill, Ainara Tiefenthäler, Christiaan Triebert, Drew Jordan, Haley Willis and Robin Stein
The Times has reconstructed the death of George Floyd on May 25. Security footage, witness videos and official documents show how a series of actions by officers turned fatal. (This video contains scenes of graphic violence.)
A longtime friend of George Floyd who was in the passenger seat of Mr. Floyd’s car when he was arrested said on Wednesday night that Mr. Floyd attempted to defuse the tensions with the police and did not resist.
“He was, from the beginning, trying in his humblest form to show he was not resisting in no form or way,” said Maurice Lester Hall, 42, who was taken into custody in Houston on Monday and interrogated overnight by Minnesota state investigators, according to his lawyer.
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“I could hear him pleading, ‘Please, officer, what’s all this for?’” Mr. Hall said in an interview with Erica L. Green of The New York Times on Wednesday night.
Mr. Hall recounted Mr. Floyd’s last moments.
“He was just crying out at that time for anyone to help because he was dying,” Mr. Hall said. “I’m going to always remember seeing the fear in Floyd’s face, because he’s such a king. That’s what sticks with me: seeing a grown man cry, before seeing a grown man die.”
Mr. Hall is a key witness in the state’s investigation into the four officers who apprehended Mr. Floyd.
Mr. Hall left Minnesota for Houston two days after Mr. Floyd died. After his arrest, which he was told was for outstanding warrants, he was questioned for hours only about Mr. Floyd’s death by a Minnesota state investigator, and then he was transferred to the county jail in Houston.
“I knew what was happening, that they were coming, it was inevitable,” he said in the interview. “I’m a key witness to the cops murdering George Floyd, and they want to know my side. Whatever I’ve been through, it’s all over with now, it’s not about me.”
A KEY WITNESS“I know that I’m going to be his voice,” said a man who was with George Floyd during his arrest.
Mr. Floyd had the coronavirus weeks before his death, an autopsy report shows.
ImageQuincy Mason, center, at the site where his father, George Floyd, was killed.
Quincy Mason, center, at the site where his father, George Floyd, was killed.Credit...Victor J. Blue for The New York Times
George Floyd had the coronavirus in early April, nearly two months before he died, according to a full autopsy released by the Hennepin County medical examiner on Wednesday.
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Dr. Andrew M. Baker, the county’s top medical examiner, said that the Minnesota Department of Health had swabbed Mr. Floyd’s nose after his death, and that he had tested positive for the virus, but that it was likely a lasting positive result from his previous infection.
There is no indication that the virus played any role in his death, and Dr. Baker said Mr. Floyd was likely asymptomatic at the time of his death.
Dr. Michael Baden, a former New York City medical examiner who was among two doctors who conducted a private autopsy for Mr. Floyd’s family last week, said county officials did not tell him that Mr. Floyd had tested positive for Covid-19.
“The funeral director wasn’t told, and we weren’t told, and now a lot of people are running around trying to get tested,” Dr. Baden said. “If you do the autopsy and it’s positive for the coronavirus, it’s usual to tell everyone who is going to be in touch with the body. There would have been more care.”
The four police officers who arrested Mr. Floyd should also get tested, as should some of the witnesses, Dr. Baden said. “I’m not angry,” he said. “But there would have been more care.”
Minnesota accused three more officers of breaking the law while detaining Mr. Floyd, satisfying one demand of demonstrators who have been gathering nightly in American cities.
RIGHT NOWThe Minneapolis Police Department released 235 pages of heavily redacted personnel records for the four officers who were fired.
Here’s what you need to know:
New charges against the officers are welcome news, protesters said.
Minneapolis police release personnel files on the four officers charged.
A friend in Mr. Floyd’s passenger seat: ‘He was not resisting in no form or way.’
Mr. Floyd had the coronavirus weeks before his death, an autopsy report shows.
‘He tries to divide us.’ Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis offers sharp critique of President Trump.
New York Times reporters are covering protests in many cities. Here’s what they are seeing.
A man in Vallejo, Calif., was kneeling when he was fatally shot by a police officer.
Video
Demonstrators marched on Wednesday in New York, Washington and Los Angeles, among other cities, defying curfews but also avoiding confrontation with the police.CreditCredit...Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times
New charges against the officers are welcome news, protesters said.
Minnesota officials charged three more former police officers on Wednesday in the death of George Floyd, and added an upgraded charge against the former officer who pressed his knee to Mr. Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes.
From coast to coast, protesters had a remarkably consistent reaction to the announcement:
It’s great news, they said — and it’s not nearly enough. There need to be convictions. There needs to be systemic change.
“I think it’s going to be a really long fight, not just in Minnesota but in cities around the country,” said Izzy Smith, an educator from the South Side of Minneapolis who was among those demonstrating at the site where Mr. Floyd was arrested.
“This is a marathon not a sprint,” she added, “so it’s keeping the foot on the gas but keep it steady.”
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Continue reading the main story
Nearby, Marquise Bowie said of the charges: “That’s good. It ain’t going to bring the man back though. It’s a start.”
Some protesters expressed disappointment that the officer who pressed on Mr. Floyd’s neck had been charged with second-degree murder, rather than first-degree, or that action against the other officers had not been taken sooner.
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“It’s about damn time,” said Nekima Levy Armstrong, a civil rights lawyer and protest organizer in Minneapolis. If not for the outrage that had rocked the country, she said, “these officers never would’ve been charged.”
At a protest on the North Side of Chicago, Jonathan Mejias said he was gratified by the news — to a point.
“It’s just one piece,” he said. “The world needs to know that it doesn’t end with resolving this one case. There are too many more out there.”
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Byron Spencer, handing out water and burgers to protesters outside Los Angeles City Hall, said he was both “elated and defeated” by word of the new charges. He said he had seen countless surges of outrage over police brutality against black men, only to have it happen again.
“I’m 55, I’m black and I’m male — I’ve seen the cycle,” he said. “It’s almost like PTSD constantly having this conversation with my son.”
Cierra Sesay reacted to the charges at a demonstration in the shadow of the State Capitol in Denver. “It’s amazing, it’s another box we can check,” she said. “But it goes up so much higher. It’s about the system.”
In San Francisco, Tevita Tomasi — who is of Polynesian descent and described himself as “dark and tall and big” — said he regularly faced racial profiling, evidence of the bigger forces that must be overcome.
On Wednesday, he distributed bottled water at what he said was his first demonstration, but one that would not be his last. What would stop him from protesting?
“They would have to shoot me.”
Prosecuting Police
In Minnesota, new charges against those involved in the death of George Floyd.
New Charges for Former Minneapolis Police Officers as Protests PersistJune 3, 2020
Minneapolis police release personnel files on the four officers charged.
The Minneapolis Police Department late Wednesday released 235 pages of personnel records for the four former officers charged in George Floyd’s killing on May 25, all of whom were fired after video of his death emerged the next day.
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Continue reading the main story
Three of the officers, Thomas Lane, 37, J. Alexander Kueng, 26, and Tou Thao, 34, were charged on Wednesday with aiding and abetting second-degree murder, court records show. Mr. Kueng was in custody on Wednesday. The authorities said they were in the process of arresting Mr. Lane and Mr. Thao.
The fourth officer, Derek Chauvin, 44, who was arrested last week, now faces an increased charge of second-degree murder.
Many of the pages of the personnel files were heavily redacted, but they revealed details of the officers’ lives before joining the department and during their time on the force.
Derek M. Chauvin
Mr. Chauvin appears to have been reprimanded and possibly suspended after a woman complained in 2007 that he needlessly removed her from her car, searched her and put her in the back of a squad car for driving 10 miles per hour over the speed limit.
Mr. Chauvin was the subject of at least 17 misconduct complaints over two decades, but the woman’s complaint is the only one detailed in 79 pages of his heavily redacted personnel file. The file shows that the complaint was upheld, and that Mr. Chauvin was issued a letter of reprimand.
“Officer did not have to remove complainant from car, Could’ve conducted interview outside the vehicle,” read the investigators’ finding.
In one part of the records, the discipline imposed is listed as “letter of reprimand,” but Mr. Chauvin was also issued a “notice of suspension” in May 2008, just after the investigation into the complaint ended, that lists the same internal affairs case number.
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Investigators wrote that there was no audio of the incident and that the dash cam “had been turned off during course of stop.”
The records say Mr. Chauvin admitted to leaving a microphone in the squad car during the traffic stop and “did not check” the dash cam at the start of his shift.
In applying to the Minneapolis Police Department, Mr. Chauvin said he had served as a member of the U.S. Army, working for a time as a member of the military police. He also said he had worked as a security guard and as a cook for McDonald’s and another restaurant in the mid-1990s. The records said he was hired by the department in January 2001 as a part-time community service officer.
J. Alexander Kueng
Mr. Kueng had been an officer with the department for less than six months. He joined the force as a cadet in February 2019 and became an officer on Dec. 10, 2019, his personnel records show. He had previously worked as a community service officer with the department while he earned his bachelor’s degree in sociology at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities.
He also worked as a security guard at a Macy’s and stocked shelves at a Target, and graduated from Minneapolis’s Patrick Henry High School in 2012.
Otherwise, most of his personnel file was blacked out, including basic details like whether he had a driver’s license, whether he lived in Minneapolis, whether he had any convictions for a long list of crimes, whether he was a U.S. citizen, and what his college G.P.A. was.
Latest Updates: George Floyd Protests
1h ago
‘This curfew is meant to silence our voices.’
2h ago
Protesters in Washington use a projector to send their message.
3h ago
Protests in Brooklyn are still going hours after curfew.
See more updates
His file shows that he was terminated on May 26, the day after Mr. Floyd’s death, at 4:45 p.m. It says he was fired for substandard performance, misconduct and violations of the city’s use-of-force policy, including failure to stop another officer from applying inappropriate force.
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Thomas K. Lane
Mr. Lane did not graduate from high school, his files shows, but he went on to get his G.E.D., then an associate degree from Century College, and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota in criminology.
He was accepted to the police academy in January 2019 but started working in the criminal justice system in 2017 as a probation officer. Mr. Lane previously worked a series of different jobs, from restaurant server to Home Depot sales associate. He volunteered at Ka Joog tutoring, working with Somali youth in Cedar Riverside.
Tou Thao
Mr. Thao held jobs at McDonald’s, at a grocery store as a stocker, and as a security guard before being hired in 2008 as a community service officer in Minneapolis. But he worked there less than two years before being laid off in late 2009 because of budget cuts. Almost two years later, in 2011, he was recalled, then hired as a police officer in 2012.
Mr. Thao graduated in 2004 from Fridley High School and attended North Hennepin Community College, where he studied for an associate degree in law enforcement but never graduated, according to his file.
A friend in Mr. Floyd’s passenger seat: ‘He was not resisting in no form or way.’
Video
TRANSCRIPT
3:50/9:31
8 Minutes and 46 Seconds: How George Floyd Was Killed in Police Custody
The Times has reconstructed the death of George Floyd on May 25. Security footage, witness videos and official documents show how a series of actions by officers turned fatal. (This video contains scenes of graphic violence.)
It’s a Monday evening in Minneapolis. Police respond to a call about a man who allegedly used a counterfeit $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 after. The man was 46-year-old George Floyd, a bouncer originally from Houston who had lost his job at a restaurant when the coronavirus pandemic hit. Crowd: “No justice, no peace.” Floyd’s death triggered major protests in Minneapolis, and sparked rage across the country. Four officers have been fired and put under investigation. One of them, Derek Chauvin, has been arrested and charged with murder and manslaughter. The Times analyzed bystander videos, security camera footage and police scanner audio, spoke to witnesses and experts, and reviewed documents released by the authorities to build as comprehensive a picture as possible and better understand how George Floyd died in police custody. The events of May 25 begin here. Floyd is sitting in the driver’s seat of this blue S.U.V. Across the street is a convenience store called Cup Foods. Footage from this restaurant security camera helps us understand what happens next. Note that the timestamp on the camera is 24 minutes fast. At 7:57 p.m., two employees from Cup Foods confront Floyd and his companions about an alleged counterfeit bill he just used in their store to buy cigarettes. They demand the cigarettes back but walk away empty-handed. Four minutes later, they call the police. According to the 911 transcript, an employee says that Floyd used fake bills to buy cigarettes, and that he is “awfully drunk” and “not in control of himself.” Soon, the first police vehicle arrives on the scene. Officers Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng step out of the car and approach the blue S.U.V. Seconds later, Lane pulls his gun. We don’t know exactly why. He orders Floyd to put his hands on the wheel. Lane reholsters the gun, and after about 90 seconds of back and forth, yanks Floyd out of the S.U.V. A man is filming the confrontation from a car parked behind them. The officers cuffed Floyd’s hands behind his back. And Kueng walks him to the restaurant wall. “All right, what’s your name?” From the 911 transcript and the footage, we now know three important facts: First, that the police believed they were responding to a man who was drunk and out of control. But second, even though the police were expecting this situation, we can see that Floyd has not acted violently. And third, that he seems to already be in distress. Six minutes into the arrest, the two officers move Floyd back to their vehicle. As the officers approach their car, we can see Floyd fall to the ground. According to the criminal complaint filed against Chauvin, the officer who’s later arrested, Floyd says he is claustrophobic and refuses to enter the police car. During the struggle, Floyd appears to turn his head to address the officers multiple times. According to the complaint, he tells them he can’t breathe. Nine minutes into the arrest, the third and final police car arrives on the scene. It’s carrying officers Tou Thao and Derek Chauvin. Both have previous records of complaints brought against them. Thao was once sued for throwing a man to the ground and hitting him. Chauvin has been involved in three police shootings, one of them fatal. Chauvin becomes involved in the struggle to get Floyd into the car. Security camera footage from Cup Foods shows Kueng struggling with Floyd in the backseat while Thao watches. Chauvin pulls him through the back seat and onto the street. We don’t know why. Floyd is now lying on the pavement, face down. That’s when two witnesses began filming, almost simultaneously. The footage from the first witness shows us that all four officers are now gathered around Floyd. It’s the first moment when we can clearly see that Floyd is face down on the ground 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 stops when Lane appears to tell the person filming to walk away. “Get off to the sidewalk, please. One side or the other, please.” The officers radio a Code 2, a call for non-emergency 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. By now another bystander, 17-year-old Darnella Frazier, is filming from a different angle. Her footage shows that despite calls for medical help, Chauvin keeps Floyd pinned down for another seven minutes. We can’t see whether Kueng and Lane are still applying pressure. Floyd: [gasping] Officer: “What do you want?” Bystander: “I’ve been —” Floyd: [gasping] In the two videos, Floyd can be heard telling officers that he can’t breathe at least 16 times in less than five minutes. Bystander: “You having fun?” But Chauvin never takes his knee off of Floyd, even as his eyes close and he appears to go unconscious. Bystander: “Bro.” According to medical and policing experts, these four police officers are committing a series of actions that violate policies, and in this case, turn fatal. They’ve kept Floyd lying face down, applying pressure for at least five minutes. This combined action is likely compressing his chest, and making it impossible to breathe. Chauvin is pushing his knee into Floyd’s neck, a move banned by most police departments. Minneapolis Police Department policy states an officer can only do this if someone is, quote, “actively resisting.” And even though the officers call for medical assistance, they take no action to treat Floyd on their own while waiting for the ambulance to arrive. Officer: “Get back on the sidewalk.” According to the complaint against Chauvin, Lane asks him twice if they should roll Floyd onto his side. Chauvin says no. Twenty minutes into the arrest, an ambulance arrives on the scene. Bystander: “Get off of his neck!” Bystander: “He’s still on him?” The E.M.T.s check Floyd’s pulse. Bystander: “Are you serious?” Chauvin keeps his knee on Floyd’s neck for almost another whole minute, even though Floyd appears completely unresponsive. He only gets off once the E.M.T.s tell him to. Chauvin’s kept his knee on Floyd’s neck for a total of 8 minutes and 46 seconds, according to the complaint filed against him. Floyd is loaded into the ambulance. The ambulance leaves the scene, possibly because a crowd is forming. But the E.M.T.s call for additional medical help from the fire department. But when the engine arrives, the officers give them, quote, “no clear info on Floyd or his whereabouts,” according to a fire department incident report. This delays their ability to help the paramedics. Meanwhile, Floyd is going into cardiac arrest. It takes the engine five minutes to reach Floyd in the ambulance. He’s pronounced dead at a nearby hospital around 9:25 p.m. Floyd’s preliminary autopsy report, cited in the complaint against Chauvin, found that the combined effects of being restrained by the police and underlying heart disease likely contributed to his death. The widely circulated arrest videos don’t paint the entire picture of what happened to George Floyd. Crowd: “Floyd! Floyd! Floyd!” Additional video and audio from the body cameras of the key officers would reveal more about why the struggle began and how it escalated. The city quickly fired all four officers. And Chauvin has been charged with murder and manslaughter. But for many, none of this has been enough, and outrage over George Floyd’s death has only spread further and further across the United States.
8 Minutes and 46 Seconds: How George Floyd Was Killed in Police Custody
By Evan Hill, Ainara Tiefenthäler, Christiaan Triebert, Drew Jordan, Haley Willis and Robin Stein
The Times has reconstructed the death of George Floyd on May 25. Security footage, witness videos and official documents show how a series of actions by officers turned fatal. (This video contains scenes of graphic violence.)
A longtime friend of George Floyd who was in the passenger seat of Mr. Floyd’s car when he was arrested said on Wednesday night that Mr. Floyd attempted to defuse the tensions with the police and did not resist.
“He was, from the beginning, trying in his humblest form to show he was not resisting in no form or way,” said Maurice Lester Hall, 42, who was taken into custody in Houston on Monday and interrogated overnight by Minnesota state investigators, according to his lawyer.
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“I could hear him pleading, ‘Please, officer, what’s all this for?’” Mr. Hall said in an interview with Erica L. Green of The New York Times on Wednesday night.
Mr. Hall recounted Mr. Floyd’s last moments.
“He was just crying out at that time for anyone to help because he was dying,” Mr. Hall said. “I’m going to always remember seeing the fear in Floyd’s face, because he’s such a king. That’s what sticks with me: seeing a grown man cry, before seeing a grown man die.”
Mr. Hall is a key witness in the state’s investigation into the four officers who apprehended Mr. Floyd.
Mr. Hall left Minnesota for Houston two days after Mr. Floyd died. After his arrest, which he was told was for outstanding warrants, he was questioned for hours only about Mr. Floyd’s death by a Minnesota state investigator, and then he was transferred to the county jail in Houston.
“I knew what was happening, that they were coming, it was inevitable,” he said in the interview. “I’m a key witness to the cops murdering George Floyd, and they want to know my side. Whatever I’ve been through, it’s all over with now, it’s not about me.”
A KEY WITNESS“I know that I’m going to be his voice,” said a man who was with George Floyd during his arrest.
Mr. Floyd had the coronavirus weeks before his death, an autopsy report shows.
ImageQuincy Mason, center, at the site where his father, George Floyd, was killed.
Quincy Mason, center, at the site where his father, George Floyd, was killed.Credit...Victor J. Blue for The New York Times
George Floyd had the coronavirus in early April, nearly two months before he died, according to a full autopsy released by the Hennepin County medical examiner on Wednesday.
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Dr. Andrew M. Baker, the county’s top medical examiner, said that the Minnesota Department of Health had swabbed Mr. Floyd’s nose after his death, and that he had tested positive for the virus, but that it was likely a lasting positive result from his previous infection.
There is no indication that the virus played any role in his death, and Dr. Baker said Mr. Floyd was likely asymptomatic at the time of his death.
Dr. Michael Baden, a former New York City medical examiner who was among two doctors who conducted a private autopsy for Mr. Floyd’s family last week, said county officials did not tell him that Mr. Floyd had tested positive for Covid-19.
“The funeral director wasn’t told, and we weren’t told, and now a lot of people are running around trying to get tested,” Dr. Baden said. “If you do the autopsy and it’s positive for the coronavirus, it’s usual to tell everyone who is going to be in touch with the body. There would have been more care.”
The four police officers who arrested Mr. Floyd should also get tested, as should some of the witnesses, Dr. Baden said. “I’m not angry,” he said. “But there would have been more care.”
