New police body camera footage reveals George Floyd’s last words were ‘I can’t breathe’

New police body camera video viewed by CNN offers critical new context in the moments leading up to George Floyd’s death.

Floyd sobbed as officers initially began pulling him from the vehicle he was in, and at one point officer Derek Chauvin appears to lean into pressure applied to Floyd’s neck. Floyd’s last words, which were not seen in a previously released transcript, were, “I can’t breathe.”

The Minneapolis Police Department has not released video of the incident, citing it as part of an active investigation by the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension into the actions of the officers responding to a call for assistance.

Footage from the police body cameras of Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng was filed with the court last week by Lane’s attorney as evidence supporting Lane’s motion to dismiss the charges against the former officer, but only the written transcripts were made public by the court.

Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill, who is presiding over the cases against the four former Minneapolis police officers charged in Floyd’s death, made the body camera footage from Lane and Kueng available for public viewing Wednesday.

Cahill so far has declined to allow news organizations to publish the footage. A coalition of media companies, including CNN, filed a motion Monday calling for the immediate release of the two body-worn camera videos.

Floyd died on May 25 after Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck for nearly eight minutes. Lane and Kueng had helped restrain Floyd and former officer Tou Thao stood nearby.

Chauvin is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Lane, Kueng and Thao are charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter.

All four officers were fired.

Chauvin’s attorney declined to comment Wednesday.

According to the motion filed by Lane’s attorney Earl Gray, Lane asked two times if Floyd should be moved to his side. Chauvin, a training officer and 20-year veteran, told Lane to keep him there until the ambulance arrived, according to the motion. Lane was assured by Chauvin that Floyd was fine and Lane was unable to see any “visible intentional infliction of harm,” the motion says.

Gray said in the motion that his client wasn’t aware that Chauvin was committing a crime while they were restraining Floyd. The attorney said the decision to restrain Floyd was reasonably justified, according to the motion.