In Minneapolis, police fired tear gas and rubber-coated bullets at thousands of demonstrators who gathered Tuesday to protest the killing of George Floyd, an African American man who was killed by a white police officer on Monday. A video circulated widely on social media shows Floyd gasping for air and telling the officers “I cannot breathe,” while officer Derek Chauvin pins him to the pavement with a knee to his neck. A warning: The video is extremely graphic.
Eyewitness 1: “You have your knee on his neck.”
Eyewitness 2: “You’ve got your knee right on his neck, officer.”
Eyewitness 1: “He ain’t even resisting arrest.”
George Floyd: “I cannot breathe.”
Eyewitness 3: “Are you having fun?
George Floyd: “I cannot breathe.
Eyewitness 1: “You’re just a grown — you’re a tough guy. You’re a tough guy, huh?
Officer Tou Thao: “What’s that?”
Eyewitness 1: “I said he’s a tough guy. He’s not even resisting arrest, bro.”
Officer Tou Thao: “Did you get the whole part when we fought with him?”
Eyewitness 1: “But, bro, why are you just sitting there? He ain’t doing nothing now. Put him in the car.”
George Floyd: “Don’t kill me. Don’t kill me.”
Officer Chauvin continued to pin Floyd to the pavement with his knee for several minutes, even after Floyd became silent and still. Floyd was taken to the Hennepin County Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. The four officers involved in George Floyd’s killing were fired Tuesday, and the FBI has launched a federal civil rights investigation. Minnesota authorities are also investigating.