Thomas Lane Bodycam Video Transcript, Part Four
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(There appears to be only one online source which maintains a usable public video document of the Thomas Lane video. That source is Fox News, local affiliate FOX9 KMSP in Minneapolis Saint-Paul, Minnesota. The video is here. It is to the credit of FOX9 XMSP, and the people of Minneapolis Saint-Paul, to keep this document where the public can see it.)
(Given such limited access to the video, it’s not feasible to develop a perfectly accurate, objective, complete transcript, especially when the camera view is blocked or multiple people speak at once. Every effort has been made to avoid subjective language. The transcripts are substantially faithful to the content of the video.)
This part of the video starts roughly where George Floyd becomes unresponsive. A crowd of bystanders has formed on the sidewalk outside Cup Foods. Lane and Kueng kneel/crouch on the street side of the patrol vehicle; neither of their cameras can see the people on the sidewalk. Lane’s camera sees Derek Chauvin kneeling on Floyd's shoulder area, Kueng with a knee over Floyd's hips, and both officers palpating or gripping Floyd’s wrists and hands in various ways. Lane’s camera view is not steady or continuous. Kueng's camera can hear the people on the sidewalk better than Lane’s; some dialog is transcribed from Kueng’s audio.
The most prominent voice belongs to a young black man named Donald. At least one female voice also cuts through the noise. Many other voices are audible but unintelligible.
Donald: "Get him off the ground, bro. Get him off the ground. You're being a bum right now. ...he's enjoying that. He's enjoying that shit. He's enjoying that shit. He's a fucking bum bro. He's enjoying that shit right now bro. You could have fuckin' put him in the car by now."
Female Voice: "(What's he doing now?) Is he talking now?"
Floyd's feet kick up behind him in a feeble motion. Lane presses down on Floyd's calves, pushing the feet back to the pavement.
Donald: "What are you doing, look at you your body language is fake! You fuckin' bum."
Female Voice: "Get the fuck off him. Bro, get the fuck off of him!"
A deep voice speaks.
Donald: "I already knew that! Bro I've trained with half of these dumbasses at the academy bro. You know that's bogus right now bro. You know its bogus you can't look at me like a man 'cause you're a bum bro. He is not even resisting arrest right now bro."
Female Voice: "...pass out!"
Lane: "Yeah I think he's passin' out."
Floyd's legs twitch feebly.
Donald: "...his breathing right now. You think that's cool? You think that's cool and all, right? What you..."
Dispatch: "...assault...washington street..."
Floyd's last voluntary-muscle motion: a momentary stiffening of the legs. __agonal respiration__
Chauvin (to Lane): "(How's your ankle?)...good so far."
Lane: "Yeah...I mean...my knee might be a little scratched but I'll survive."
Donald: "...think that's cool though. You're a bum, you're a bum bro, you're a bum bro, you be mad, you sitting there stopping his breathing right now."
Female Voice: "(Fuckin') what the fuck!?"
Lane: "Yeah. He's breathing."
Female Voice: "Get the fuck off of him, what is wrong with..."
Donald: "I'm not scared of you bro? Fuckin' pussy ass fool bro."
A white woman named Genevieve crosses the street towards Chauvin.
Genevieve: "...I'm a..."
Chauvin: "Don't come over here! Don't come over here!"
Lane: "Up on the sidewalk!"
Kueng (meek voice): "Yeah we need, we need you to keep some distance."
Thao (bellows): "Back off!"
Donald: "He's not responsive right now! He's not responsive right now!"
Lane: "Roll him on his side?"
Donald: "He's not responsive right now bro? No bro look at him he's not responsive right now bro. Bro are you serious?"
Genevieve: "Has he checked his pulse? Check his pulse. Check his pulse. Let me see a pulse!"
Donald: "Is he breathing right now? Check his pulse! Check his pulse! Check his pulse! Stop! Check his pulse!"
Kueng palpates Floyd's right inner wrist with his right thumb. (This is not an effective way to find a pulse, especially with handcuffs and an awkward position.)
Kueng (to Chauvin): "(I couldn't find one.) ...pulse."
Donald: "That's bogus bro, bro you know that's bogus. What is that? What do you think that is? You call what he's doing OK? You call what he's doing OK? You call what you're doing, you call what he's doing OK?"
Thao: "...a firefighter?"
Genevieve: "Yes I am, from Minneapolis. Check his pulse!"
Donald: "Check his pulse! Check his pulse! Check!..the man ain't moved yet, bro. The man ain't moved yet, bro!"
Genevieve: "He's not moving!"
Female: "Get off him!"
Donald: "Bro you're a bum bro. You're a bum bro. You are definitely a bum."
Genevieve: "Check his pulse right now…"
Donald: "Check his pulse! Bro he has not moved! Not one time, bro!"
Dispatch: "...be advised..."
Lane: "Be advised what?"
Chauvin: "Code Three." (Referring to the ambulance. Code Three means emergent response with lights and sirens, as opposed to Code One routine response.)
Dispatch: "Copy I was just giving you their updated location, they are en route."
Lane grips Floyd's left lower calf, as though to comfort Floyd. Ambulance siren is heard. Lane makes a feeble, half-hearted attempt to pull up Floyd's blue outer pants. Kueng's left hand holds Floyd's inner left wrist, not palpating for a pulse. Red-white overhead lights reflect from every surface as the ambulance stops.
Donald: "He's not fucking moving!"
Female: "Get off him! What are you doing? Get off him bro!"
Donald: "Get off of his fucking neck bro! Get off of his neck!"
Kueng takes his knee off Floyd's hips. A medic approaches and palpates Floyd's neck with two fingers for several seconds, then strolls away.
Donald: "...do that, bro? Are you serious? Bro are you serious?"
Lane: "Put him in the car? Put him in the car? ..."
Chauvin: "Um. Let's get him on..."
The whine of an electric-lift gurney is heard. Kueng puts his knee back on top of Floyd's hips.
Donald: "You gonna let him kill that man in front of you bro? Bro he's not even moving! ...sit there with your knee on his neck You're a real man for that, bro. He's in handcuffs bro. You da man, bro."
The medics bring the gurney and roll out a stretcher on the street. Chauvin stands. The officers roll Floyd onto the stretcher; the medics lift Floyd to the gurney. Thao can be seen momentarily in the background, advancing towards the bystanders, who retreat.
Donald: "Don't touch me! Don't touch me! Do not touch me! Do not touch me!"
Genevieve: "What's _your_ badge number, asshole?"
The gurney whines as it lifts Floyd's body to the level of the ambulance deck, then docks with the ambulance and lifts its own legs. The medics load Floyd into the ambulance.
Lane: "You want one of us to ride with?"
Kueng: "Yeah. Stick with him."
Lane: "Ride with?"
Kueng: "Yeah! Stick with him."
Lane: "I don't have my phone, so..."
Kueng: "Help belt him down."
Lane: "What?"
Kueng: "Help them belt him down."
Lane moves into the ambulance and picks up a gurney strap.
Lane: "Where are we going?"
Medic: "Mm. Just gonna be down the street."
The medic gets out a handcuff key. His voice shakes.
Medic: "You guys want to shut the door, let's get out of here. We're going to go down the street."
Lane: "You want me in here or no."
The ambulance doors close. Outside in the street (Kueng video):
Donald: "You just rubik-cubed that man, bro."
In the ambulance with Thomas Lane:
Medic (to second medic): "Yeah. Go down, um, something...forty-second. Let the...tell Fire where to go."
Lane: "Okay."
Second medic exits through the ambulance side door. Lane follows him as far as the door.
Lane: "Do you want me in here or no? Alright."
Lane turns back towards the interior of the ambulance. The medic is cutting off Floyd's shirt with bandage scissors. The interior light in the ambulance goes off.
Lane: "Oops!"
Medic: "You're fine."
The interior light comes back on. The rear door of the ambulance opens.
Chauvin: "Lane."
Lane: "Yup."
Chauvin: "This yours?"
Lane: "Yuh-nope."
Chauvin closes the door. The medic rolls Floyd onto his left side, and starts unlocking the handcuffs.
Medic: "All right, what was going on?"
Lane: "Ah it was a forgery report."
Medic: "Yup."
Lane: "And uh, he was just not complying with getting out of the car."
Medic: "'kay"
Lane palpates Floyd's neck.
Lane: "We tried to get him in the back of the squad..."
Medic: "Yuh."
Lane: "And he was just basically resisting..."
Medic: "Yup."
Lane: "Um...he wasn't showing us his hands at first, uh, then we were trying to get him in the squad, he kicked his way out, he was kickin on the air, and uh, he came out the other side and he was fighting us and we were just, basically, restrain him until you guys got here."
Medic: "Okay."
The medic positions Floyd supine and centered on the gurney.
Medic: "I need you to do CPR."
Lane: "Okay."
Lane initiates chest compressions on Floyd. The abrasions on Floyd's face and shoulder glow redly in the harsh interior light of the ambulance.
first contact: 1:32
(chauvin at 9:30)
(on the ground at 11:20)
roll him on his side? 15:50
(last motion 16:50)
roll him on his side? 17:45
Kueng gets off Floyd 19:30
medic assesses 19:40
Chauvin gets up 20:40
17:05 last motion; twitch of the hip
19:49 medic checks pulse
20:48 Chauvin gets off Floyd
22:19 Lane checks Floyd's pulse
22:53 Lane begins chest compressions