George Floyd said “I can’t breathe” more than 20 times as Minneapolis police detained him on Memorial Day, according to newly released transcripts of bodycam footage of the incident. He called out for his dead mother and his children as well, shouting, “They’ll kill me. They’ll kill me.” Derek Chauvin, the white officer who knelt on the black man’s neck and is charged with murdering him, replied, “Stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk,” according to the transcript. Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes while detaining him, and Floyd died en route to a hospital soon after. A Minnesota judge ordered the materials released in response to a motion filed by one of the officers involved, Thomas Lane, who contends that the aiding and abetting charges against him should be dismissed. Floyd’s death sparked worldwide protests against police brutality and racial injustice.
