911 caller said George Floyd was 'awfully drunk, not in control of himself', gave fake $20 bill for cigarettes
In the 911 call that led to the arrest and eventual death of George Floyd, the caller claimed that he was drunk and tried to pay with counterfeit money. The call in question was made at 8 pm on Monday, 25, by an employee at the Cup Foods, a Minneapolis grocery store which is located across the street from the place where Floyd was originally handcuffed. The transcript of the call was recently released by the police. "Someone comes (sic) our store and give us fake bills and we realize it before he left the store, and we ran back outside, they was (sic) sitting on their car," the 911 caller said, as per a TMZ report.
The caller, along with a coworker, had asked Floyd to return some cigarettes to the store 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." As per an Associated Press report, Floyd allegedly tried to pass a counterfeit $20 bill, which is a non-violent crime. The surveillance camera at the restaurant across the street from Cup Foods captured the interaction between the employees and Floyd. The emergency dispatcher got a description of the blue van that Floyd was sitting in and a physical description of him before the police responded to the scene. Before disconnecting the 911 call, the operator was heard asking the caller if Floyd was under influence and the caller said, "Something like that, yes. He is not acting right."
Even if Floyd was under influence, it did not show in his demeanor as he peacefully allowed an officer to put him in handcuffs and showed no signs of resisting arrest for more than six minutes of the now-viral video recorded of the incident by a passerby. The fatal moment came after Officer Derek Chauvin was filmed kneeling on Floyd's neck during the arrest as he was facedown lying on the ground. The policeman refused to listen to the African-American victim's pleas of "I can't breathe." The 46-year-old was then rushed to hospital where he later died. On the way to the hospital, the Minneapolis fire department said that Floyd was "unresponsive, pulseless" and despite their efforts to revive him, they failed to find a pulse.
Following a huge uproar on social media regarding his death, Minneapolis residents took the streets to protest police brutality which eventually turned violent. The Lake and Hiawatha areas had descended into total chaos, with looting, violence, and fires. Several businesses such as Target, Wendy's, and Aldi were also torched. Police had to use rubber bullets, tear gas, and pepper spray to calm down the protesters. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called for protesters to maintain peace in the city. "I understand the anger and pain," he said. "Please, please Minneapolis. We cannot let tragedy beget more tragedy. The activity around Lake and Hiawatha is now unsafe. Please, help us keep the peace. Stay safe and evacuate the area. We appreciate those that protested peacefully but now is the time to go home. Obviously, we have both instances of violence and fires. There are institutions, grocery stores and markets around Lake, that our community relies on - especially in times of a pandemic."