Posted on August 3, 2020

Daily Mail Leaks Bodycam Footage of George Floyd Arrest, Killing

Chao Xiong, Star Tribune, August 3, 2020

[Editor’s Note: View the footage here.]

A British media company on Monday published segments of two leaked body-worn camera videos showing the arrest and death of George Floyd in May at the hands of Minneapolis police.

The Daily Mail published an article on its website at 10:53 a.m. Central time with the videos. It showed about 10 minutes of video from former officer Thomas Lane’s bodycam and about 18 minutes from former officer J. Alexander Kueng’s bodycam.

The two former officers’ bodycam videos were made available for public viewing inside the Hennepin County courthouse in mid-July, but were prohibited from being recorded or publicly distributed.

It’s unclear how the Daily Mail got the videos. The article said they were “leaked” to the company.

{snip}

Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill is presiding over the cases of four former Minneapolis police officers charged in the killing. Cahill had prohibited the videos from being distributed outside of the courthouse. He also prohibited the media and public from recording them when they were made available for public viewing.

The videos published by the Daily Mail appeared to have been recorded on a device while the they were played on a laptop in a courthouse conference room.

{snip}

The two videos, which totaled about 65 minutes, were made viewable to the media and public by appointment only. Sixty-six slots were made available.

{snip}

A coalition of local and national media companies, including the Star Tribune, filed a motion in July seeking their immediate release. Cahill took the issue under advisement and has not issued a decision on the matter.

{snip}