page_title: Killing of George Floyd
section_title: Initial events
hierarchical_section_title: Killing of George Floyd / Arrest and death / Initial events
caption_attribution_description: English: Location where George Floyd died, May 25, 2020
context_page_description: On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a 46-year-old black American man, was killed in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during an arrest for allegedly using a counterfeit bill. Derek Chauvin, a white police officer, knelt on Floyd's neck for several minutes while Floyd was handcuffed and lying face down, begging for his life and repeatedly saying "I can't breathe". Officers J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane further restrained Floyd, while officer Tou Thao prevented bystanders from intervening. During the final two minutes, Floyd was motionless and had no pulse while Chauvin ignored onlookers' pleas to remove his knee, which he did not do until medics told him to.
  The following day, after videos made by witnesses and security cameras became public, all four officers were fired. Two autopsies found Floyd's death to be a homicide. Chauvin was initially charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, to which was later added second-degree murder. The three other officers were charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder.
  Floyd's death triggered subsequent protests against police brutality, police racism, and lack of police accountability.
context_section_description: On the evening of Memorial Day, May 25, 2020, Floyd purchased cigarettes at Cup Foods, a grocery store at the intersection of East 38th Street and Chicago Avenue in the Powderhorn Park neighborhood of Minneapolis. A store employee believed Floyd had paid with a counterfeit $20 bill.
  Just before 8:00 pm, two Cup Foods employees left the store and crossed the street to an SUV parked in front of a restaurant; Floyd was in the driver's seat and two other adults were in the vehicle. The employees demanded that Floyd return the cigarettes, and he refused. The interaction was filmed by the restaurant's security camera. At 8:01, a store employee called police to report that Floyd had passed "fake bills" and was "awfully drunk" and "not in control of himself".
  At 8:08, Kueng and Lane arrived, briefly entering Cup Foods before crossing the street to Floyd's SUV. Lane taps his flashlight on the window, startling Floyd. He asks Floyd to show his hands, and taps again when he does not abide. Floyd apologizes as he opens the car door. Lane instructs him three more times to show his hands. Six seconds after the door opened, he drew his gun and ordered Floyd to show his hands. When Floyd complied, Lane holstered his weapon. Someone parked behind Floyd's SUV began recording a video at 8:10. Following a brief struggle, Lane pulled Floyd from the SUV and handcuffed him. At 8:12, Kueng sat Floyd on the sidewalk against the wall in front of the restaurant.
  Lane asked Floyd if he is "on something right now", and Floyd replied "No, nothing". Kueng told Floyd he was acting "real erratic" and Floyd said that he was scared. Kueng asked Floyd about foam around his mouth, to which Floyd responded that he had been "hooping" earlier.
  According to criminal complaints filed against the officers by state prosecutors, Floyd was "calm" and said "thank you".
  At 8:13, Kueng and Lane told Floyd he was under arrest and walked him to their police car across the street. Floyd fell to the ground next to the car; the officers picked him up and placed him against the car's door. According to prosecutors, Floyd told the officers that he was not resisting, but that he was recovering from COVID-19, that he was claustrophobic and suffered from anxiety, and that he did not want to sit in the car. While Kueng and Lane attempted to put him in the car, Floyd begged them not to, repeatedly saying "I can't breathe" and offering to lie on the ground instead. During his interview with crime investigators, Lane said that he first saw Floyd bleeding from the mouth at that moment, which he attributed to his "thrashing back and forth, in the car and hitting his face on the glass that goes to the front seat. A Minneapolis Park Police officer arrived and guarded Floyd's vehicle (across the street by the restaurant) and the two people who had been in it with Floyd.
  At 8:17, Chauvin and Thao arrived in a third police car joining Kueng and Lane with Chauvin assuming command. He asked if Floyd was going to jail, and Kueng replied that he was arrested for forgery. Floyd said "I can't fucking breathe" twice. Around 8:18, security footage from Cup Foods shows Kueng struggling with Floyd for at least a minute in the driver side backseat while Thao watches. According to The New York Times, at 8:19, Chauvin pulled Floyd across the backseat from the driver side to the passenger side. Then, according to NPR, Floyd exits the vehicle, but it's unclear whether he's pulled out or pushes himself out. Floyd, still handcuffed, falls to the pavement.
caption: The intersection of Chicago Avenue and E. 38th Street on May 30. Floyd was killed just left of the awning.
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