George Floyd murder trial: ‘Back off’ – The eye-opening police footage you haven’t seen

New harrowing footage of George Floyd’s altercation with police that led to his death has been shown in court, with some of it previously unseen until now.

The police bodycam footage comes as the murder trial of ex-officer Derek Chauvin continues for a third day.

Footage belonging to officers Thomas Lane, J Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao, show police arriving at the scene after Floyd paid for items at a food store with a counterfeit $20 note.

The footage, which is extremely confronting, starts by showing police walk up to Floyd’s car and pulling a gun on him within 10 seconds of their initial conversation.

A panicked Floyd is seen pleading with the officer not to shoot him as he slowly obeys instructions.

He begs them: “Please don’t shoot me … I just lost my mum.”

Floyd is handcuffed and continues to plead with Officers Lane and Kueng, saying he is not resisting them and “will do anything you tell me to”.

A scuffle occurs when police try to get Floyd into a vehicle, and he starts panicking, crying and resisting while saying he is claustrophobic and has anxiety.

Chauvin and his partner Thao arrive as the arrest goes on.

As the police officers drag him out of the car and restrain him on the ground, Floyd can be heard calling for his mother and telling his family members he loves them.

During the deadly arrest, one officer’s body cam captured bystanders pleading with police to check his pulse after Floyd’s body became lifeless.

As Floyd is losing breath and consciousness, witness Donald Williams fires up, demanding they check his pulse.

He also accused police of enjoying killing Floyd.

“This is bull***t bro. You’re stopping his breathing bro. Get him off the ground bro. You’re being a bum right now. You’re enjoying that s**t. Your body language is crazy.

“You know that’s bogus. He’s not even resisting arrest. He’s not breathing right now. You think that’s cool? You’re a bum. I’m not scared of you. You’re a pussy a** dude bro. Check on him he’s not responding. He’s not responsive now.

“Is he breathing right now? Check his pulse. You just going to let him kneel on his neck?”

Footage then shows off-duty firefighter and emergency medical technician Genevieve Hansen arriving at the scene and telling police she has medical training and can assist.

Her offer to help was ignored while Floyd was still on the ground saying he couldn’t breathe.

One officer yells at the firefighter to “back off”, demanding she moves to the sidewalk.

She asks “does he have a pulse?” but is ignored again.

During the ordeal, Hansen grew increasingly alarmed and started shouting at officer “check his pulse. Let me see a pulse”.

Officer Tou Thao can be heard warning Hansen not to get involved before telling Williams “don’t do drugs”.

Even after Floyd became unconscious, officer Derek Chauvin can still be seen leaning on his neck with his knee.

An unconscious Floyd was then taken to hospital in an ambulance where he was later declared dead.

During yesterday’s proceedings, Hansen described her frustration at being denied the chance to give Floyd medical assistance.

“There was a man being killed,” she said.

“I would have been able to provide medical attention to the best of my abilities. And this human was denied that right.”

The firefighter specifically blamed one of the police officers, Tou Thao, for refusing to give her access to Floyd.

“He said something along the lines of, ‘If you really are a Minneapolis firefighter, you would know better than to get involved,'” she recounted.

“That wasn’t right. That was exactly what I should have done. There was no medical assistance on scene, and I got there and I could have given medical assistance. That’s exactly what I should have done.”

Asked what she would have done, given the chance, she said she would have checked Mr Floyd’s airway for obstructions and checked his pulse.

“When I didn’t find a pulse, if that was the case, I would have started compressions, and continued impressions at a rate of 100 a minute until help arrived,” Hansen explained.

She said she told the officers that, if they weren’t going to allow her into the scene, they should check his pulse themselves and start compressions if necessary.

“That wasn’t done either,” she said.

In court, Williams was questioned by the defence, who asked if he grew angry at police.

“I grew professional and professional. I stayed in my body,” Williams replied. “You can’t paint me out to be angry.”

Williams said he was speaking loudly so that he could be heard, so that he wouldn’t be ignored. He was imploring Chauvin to relent. He was calling Chauvin a bum and lacing his speech with expletives because the situation was too dire for polite conversation.

It was revealed Williams called police after Floyd was taken away in an ambulance because “I believed I witnessed a murder.”

Prosecutor Matthew Frank played back Williams’ 911 call, on which he is heard identifying officer Derek Chauvin by his badge number and telling the dispatcher that Chauvin had been keeping his knee on Floyd’s neck despite warnings that Floyd’s life was in danger.

She offers to switch him to a sergeant.

As he is being switched, Williams can be heard yelling at the officers, “Y’all is murderers, bro!”

Chauvin, 45, is charged with murder and manslaughter, accused of killing Floyd by pinning the 46-year-old handcuffed black man to the pavement for what prosecutors said was 9 minutes, 29 seconds. Floyd was arrested after being accused of trying to pass a counterfeit $20 bill at the convenience store.

Floyd’s death, along with the bystander video of him pleading that he couldn’t breathe, triggered sometimes violent protests around the world and a reckoning over racism and police brutality across the US.

The trial continues.

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