New body-camera footage obtained by CNN Wednesday revealed that George Floyd's final words were the same words uttered by Eric Garner in his last of 11 attempts to get New York City police officers to spare his life. “I can’t breathe,” both Black men said before they died. Both incidents led to protests throughout the nation.
Both men left behind children who are now without fathers. But in one case—Garner’s—the officer linked to the deadly outcome was never brought to justice. Daniel Pantaleo wasn’t indicted, and he wasn’t even fired until about five years after Garner’s death. Protesters took to the streets and some even torched police cars and smashed public buildings to ensure that officers linked to Floyd’s death wouldn’t be given the same freedom to destroy other Black families.
Floyd, 46, died May 25, 2020 in Minneapolis police custody after former officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on his neck for more than eight minutes. Floyd was accused by a 17-year-old store clerk of using a counterfeit $20 bill to buy a pack of cigarettes, according to a transcript of the 911 call CBS News obtained.
Garner, 43, was accused of selling loose cigarettes outside a store on Staten Island when Pantaleo choked and killed him on July 17, 2014, according to Atlanta Black Star. A transcript CNN obtained in the months following Garner’s death revealed his final conversation with authorities.
Garner initially said:
Get away [garbled] ... for what? Every time you see me, you want to mess with me. I'm tired of it. It stops today. Why would you...? Everyone standing here will tell you I didn't do nothing. I did not sell nothing. Because every time you see me, you want to harass me. You want to stop me (garbled) Selling cigarettes. I'm minding my business, officer, I'm minding my business. Please just leave me alone. I told you the last time, please just leave me alone. please please, don't touch me. Do not touch me.
Viral video of Garner’s arrest shows four cops taking Garner down to the ground and wrestling him, at which point he added: "I can't breathe. I can't breathe. I can't breathe. I can't breathe. I can't breathe. I can't breathe. I can't breathe. I can't breathe.”
The upcoming six-year anniversary of Garner’s death on Friday and perhaps a brightened spotlight on the issue of police brutality nationally resulted in New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio signing a package of policing bills on Wednesday to criminalize chokeholds, an arrest tactic used in both Floyd and Garner's arrests. The Minneapolis City Council announced plans to dismantle its police department back in June, having already banned chokeholds after Floyd’s death.
“You demanded serious policing reform in New York City. We heard you. We acted,” de Blasio said in a tweet Wednesday. The legislation he signed is also meant to strengthen the rights of New Yorkers to record police officers and require badge numbers and rank designation to be visible, the mayor tweeted. “It’s time to fulfill our commitment to progress and continue moving forward,” de Blasio said.
That commitment, already questionable at best in New York, remains to be seen in Floyd’s Minneapolis case. Chauvin was charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter, and three officers who didn’t intervene to protect Floyd—Thomas Lane, Tou Thao, and Alexander Kueng—were charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill made body camera video from Lane and Kueng publicly available Wednesday, but he hasn’t allowed media outlets to publish the footage—a decision CNN and other media companies are fighting, CNN reported.
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