May 25th Calls for Help at George Floyd Scene 

Additional evidence discloses the transcript of the initial 911 call from Cup Foods on May 25th that started George Floyd’s encounter with the Minneapolis police and death plus other 911 calls while George Floyd was being pinned on the pavement at 38th Street and Chicago Avenue.

First, here is the initial 911 call, 8:01 p.m., from the Cup Foods store:[1]

  • “Caller:{S]omeone comes our store and give us fake bills and we realize it before he left the store, and we ran back outside, they was sitting on their car. We tell them to give us their phone, put their (inaudible) thing back and everything and he was also drunk and everything and return to give us our cigarettes back and so he can, so he can go home but he doesn’t want to do that, and he’s sitting on his car cause he is awfully drunk and he’s not in control of himself.
  • Operator: what type of vehicle does he have?
  • Caller: And…. um he’s got a vehicle that is ah…ah he got a vehicle that is ah…one second let me see if I can see the license. The driver license is BRJ026.
  • Operator: Okay, what color is it?
  • Caller: It’s a blue color. It’s a blue van.
  • Operator:Blue van?
  • Caller:Yes, van.
  • Operator:Alright blue van, gotcha. Is it out front or is it on 38th St.?
  • Caller: Ah it’s on 38th St.
  • Operator:On 38th St. So, this guy gave a counterfeit bill, has your cigarettes, and he’s under the influence of something?
  • Caller:Something like that, yes. He is not acting right.
  • Operator:What’s he look like, what race?
  • Caller: Um, he’s a tall guy. He’s like tall and bald, about like 6…6½, and she’s not acting right so and she started to go, drive the car.
  • Operator:Is it a girl or a boy that did this?
  • Caller: It is a man.
  • Operator: Is he white, black, Native, Hispanic,  Asian?
  • Caller:Something like that.
  • Operator:Which one? White, black, Native, Hispanic, Asian?
  • Caller: No, he’s a black guy.”

Second, here (in bold) are the 911 calls while Mr. Floyd was pinned to the pavement on 38th Street that are interspersed with events at the scene according to this blogger’s judgment and the criminal complaint against Officer Derek Chauvin:[2]

  • 8:08 p.m. Officers Thomas Lane and J.A. Kueng arrive at the scene.
  • 8:14 p.m. Officers Lane and Kueng “stood Mr. Floyd up and attempted to walk Mr. Floyd to their squad car. As the officers tried to put Mr. Floyd in their squad car, Mr. Floyd stiffened up and fell to the ground. Mr. Floyd told the officers he was not resisting but he did not want to get in the back seat and was claustrophobic.”
  • 8:?? p.m. Officers Derek Chauvin and Tou Thao arrive at the scene.
  • 8:19:38 p.m. Chauvin “pulled Mr. Floyd out of the passenger side of the squad car . . . and Mr. Floyd went to the ground face down and still handcuffed. Kueng held Mr. Floyd’s back and Lane held his legs.”
  • 8:24:24 p.m. “Mr. Floyd stopped moving.”
  • 8:25:31 p.m. The “the video appears to show Mr. Floyd ceasing to breathe or speak. Lane said, ‘want to roll him on his side.’ Kueng checked Mr. Floyd’s right wrist for a pulse and said, ‘I couldn’t find one.’ None of the officers moved from their positions.”
  • 8:?? p.m. 911 call from an off-duty firefighter, who said, “I am on the block of 38th and Chicago and I literally watched police officers not take a pulse and not do anything to save a man, and I am a first responder myself, and I literally have it on video camera. I just happened to be on a walk so, this dude, this, they (expletive) killed him so…” The firefighter asked to speak to the officers’ supervisors, but the line disconnected.
  • 8:27:24 p.m. Chauvin “removed his knee from Mr. Floyd’s neck. An  ambulance and emergency medical personnel arrived, the officers placed Mr. Floyd on a gurney, and the ambulance left the scene. Mr. Floyd was pronounced dead at Hennepin County Medical Center.”
  • 8:30? p.m. 911 dispatcher who was watching real-time footage of the Floyd arrest called a supervisor and said, “I don’t know, you can call me a snitch if you want to but we have the cameras up for [squad] 320’s call, and…I don’t know if they had to use force or not, but they got something out of the back of the squad, and all of them sat on this man, so I don’t know if they needed you or not, but they haven’t said anything to me yet.” The unnamed supervisor responded, “Yeah, they haven’t said anything yet…just a takedown, which doesn’t count, but I’ll find out.” The dispatcher replied, “No problem, we don’t get to ever see it so when we see it we’re just like, well, that looks a little different, but…” This call ended at 8:31 p.m.
  • 8:32 p.m. 911 call by a bystander who said an officer “pretty much just killed this guy that wasn’t resisting arrest.”
  • 8:45 p.m. A supervisor, Sgt. David Pleoger, arrived at the scene.

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[1] Minneapolis Police Department, 911 Call Transcript. Incident Number: 20-1401629, (May 25, 2020), 20:01:14); Martinez, Minneapolis releases transcript of George Floyd 911 call, CBS News (May 29, 2020).

[2] Jany, Phone tapes: Concerned Minneapolis 911 dispatcher asked police supervisor to respond to George Floyd scene, StarTribune (June 15, 2020). The Criminal Complaint Against Derek Chauvin Over the Death of George Floyd, dwkcommentaries.com (June 12, 2020).

 

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As a retired lawyer and adjunct law professor, Duane W. Krohnke has developed strong interests in U.S. and international law, politics and history. He also is a Christian and an active member of Minneapolis’ Westminster Presbyterian Church. His blog draws from these and other interests. He delights in the writing freedom of blogging that does not follow a preordained logical structure. The ex post facto logical organization of the posts and comments is set forth in the continually being revised “List of Posts and Comments–Topical” in the Pages section on the right side of the blog.

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