Audio Of 911 Dispatcher Who Watched George Floyd’s Arrest As It Happened Released
Published
A 911 dispatcher who watched George Floyd’s arrest in real-time was so concerned by the officers’ actions that she asked her supervisor to step in.
In audio released by Minneapolis authorities yesterday, June 15, the unidentified woman can be heard warning her supervisor about the arrest – which she described as looking ‘a little different’.
She made the comments from the 911 dispatch centre, where the arrest could be viewed in real-time via surveillance cameras positioned around Minneapolis.
During Floyd’s arrest on May 25, former police officer Derek Chauvin was filmed kneeling on his neck for almost nine minutes before he lost consciousness. Former officers Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng applied pressure to Floyd’s legs and torso while their colleague Tou Thao stood by and watched.
It’s these actions that were picked up by the 911 dispatcher, who raised concerns with her supervisor over the way the officers were handling Floyd’s arrest.
The dispatcher, who has not been identified, said to her superior, as per The Independent: ‘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.’
She then told her supervisor the squad in question had failed to notify her of the arrest, saying: ‘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 supervisor responded to her concerns by saying they hadn’t mentioned anything to him either, stating: ‘Yeah, they haven’t said anything yet… just a take down, which doesn’t count, but I’ll find out.’
Under Minneapolis Police Department rules, supervisors are supposed to be informed when officers use force during an arrest – unless it is to ‘take down’ a suspect.
The dispatcher then responded:
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…
The call, which lasted less than a minute, ended when her supervisor responded: ‘Sounds good, bye.’ Authorities did not confirm whether the supervisor went on to respond to Floyd’s arrest.
Minneapolis police also released two 911 transcripts from May 25, one of which was from an unidentified off-duty firefighter who witnessed Floyd’s death. ‘I literally watched police officers not take a pulse and not do anything to save a man,’ they said, as per CNN.
The firefighter continued:
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 f*cking killed him.
The other caller, who also remains unidentified, spoke about how an officer ‘pretty much just killed this guy that wasn’t resisting arrest’. That caller then requested to speak to a supervisor at the Minneapolis Police Department.
The newly released audio adds to the mounting evidence against the former officers, whose actions sparked weeks of protests against police brutality and systemic racism.
Chauvin is charged with second degree murder and second degree manslaughter, while Lane, Kueng and Thao are charged with aiding and abetting murder.
If you have been affected by any of the issues in this article and wish to speak to someone in confidence, contact Stop Hate UK by visiting their website www.stophateuk.org/talk
If you have experienced a bereavement and would like to speak with someone in confidence contact Cruse Bereavement Care via their national helpline on 0808 808 1677.
Topics: News, America, Death, George Floyd, Minneapolis, Now, Police, police brutality, US
