By Eddy Rodriguez
Newsweek Fellow
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George Floyd told police he did not want to get into their vehicle because he "just had COVID" and did not want to catch it again, according to transcripts of police body camera audio recordings.
In transcripts of the recordings of Floyd's May 25 arrest, after the officers instruct him to "take a seat" inside the police cruiser, Floyd tells police officers, "I just had COVID man, don't want to go back to that." Subsequent tests on Floyd confirmed he did test positive for COVID-19 at the time of his death.
Transcripts also show that former rookie Minneapolis police officers J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane were told by Floyd that he was claustrophobic as another reason for why he did not want to enter the police car.
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"OK, I'll roll the windows down," Lane says after being told by Floyd that Floyd was "going to die" in the police car.
"I'll roll the windows down if you put your legs in all right? I'll put the air on," Lane says.
Floyd responds, "I'm claustrophobic, and I got anxiety. Don't want to do nothing to them."
Floyd tells police he can not breathe multiple times and eventually says he wants to "lay on the ground." When ex-police officer Derek Chauvin arrives on the scene, transcripts show that Floyd continuously tells officers he can not breathe and calls out to his mother, who had already passed at the time, telling her he loves her.
"I'm through, I'm through. I'm claustrophobic. My stomach hurts. My neck hurts. Everything hurts. Need some water or something, please. Please? Can't breathe, officer," Floyd says.
At this Chauvin, who video shows held a knee to the back of Floyd's neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds, tells Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling."
The last thing Floyd says in the transcript is, "Ah! Ah! Please. Please. Please." Lane then requests that Chauvin "roll him on his side."
"No, he's staying put where we got him," Chauvin says. Lane told Chauvin he is worried about Floyd having "excited delirium or whatever," to which Chauvin replies, "That's why we got the ambulance coming."
Floyd eventually became unresponsive, according to the transcript. A fire department report states they could not detect a pulse on Floyd before he was put in an ambulance and taken to Hennepin County Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
Kueng, Lane and ex-police officer Tou Thao, who arrived at the scene with Chauvin, were all charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter by Minnesota attorney general Keith Ellison. Chauvin was charged with second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
Newsweek reached out to the Minneapolis Police Department, Lane and Chauvin for comment but did not hear back in time for publication.
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