George Floyd told police officers who arrested him that he couldn’t breathe, was claustrophobic and afraid of being killed by police before being pinned to the ground by officers, say court filings providing details of his May 25 killing, reports the Wall Street Journal. The filing came from an attorney for one of the officers charged, Thomas Lane, who asked a judge to dismiss charges of abetting second-degree murder, saying Lane didn’t play an intentional role. Lane said officers had pinned Floyd to the ground after he struggled while being arrested, including smashing his head against glass inside the squad car until he bled.
The filing includes transcripts of body camera footage and interviews with Lane, who believed Floyd was in medical distress and repeatedly asked senior officer Derek Chauvin if they should roll Floyd on his side. Chauvin is charged with second-degree murder.n“Please don’t shoot me, Mr. Officer. Please, don’t shoot me man,” Floyd said, according to a transcript of body camera footage. In a squad car, Floyd began to thrash and hit his head against the glass, causing his mouth to bleed. Officers called an ambulance because of the bleeding and held Floyd on the ground because they believed he would injure himself further if he wasn’t restrained. “I can’t breathe,” Floyd. “You’re fine, you’re talking fine,” said officer J. Alexander Kueng. Floyd said, “My neck hurts. Everything hurts. Need some water or something, please. Please? Can’t breathe officer … You’re going to kill me, man.” Chauvin replied, “Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk.” Floyd told officers nearly 30 times that he couldn’t breathe, USA Today reports.