While three of the other police offers involved in the arrest and killing of George Floyd have been able to post bail and walk out of prison, Derek Chauvin remains behind bars with a bail set at $1 million. Tou Thau was the most recent officer to post his $750,000 bail this past weekend, on July 5th.
Chauvin, of course, is the officer who was largely responsible for Floyd's death as he kneeled on the man's neck for over eight minutes, even while Floyd pleaded that he could not breath, and called out for his dead mother. It appears new evidence has been released, involving audio from Thomas Lane's body cam footage, which details some of the interaction that happened while he was kneeling. It's cold-hearted, perhaps to be expected.
The transcripts from the body cam footage detail that Floyd reportedly said he could not breathe over twenty times during the arrest. At one point he said, "You’re going to kill me, man," to which Chauvin replied, "Then stop talking, stop yelling. It takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
The body cam transcripts were released as part of Lane's request to have his charges dropped. Earl Gray, Lane's attorney, has previously attempted to make his case to the public that Lane is devoid of guilt in the incident, and even went so far as to cast the blame on Floyd's death on the bystanders who witnessed it.
Thomas Lane and lawyer Earl Gray appear in court - Stephen Maturen/Getty Images
Gray alleges that Lane basically did as much as he was allowed given the situation, as it was his fourth day on the job and Chauvin was his training officer. The body cam transcripts reveal Lane asked if they should roll Floyd over on his side twice, and Chauvin said no. "Lane had no basis to believe Chauvin was wrong in making that decision," his attorney says.
Lane was able to make bail because he crowdfunded the costs.
