A dispatcher for the Minneapolis police department grew fearful when she watched George Floyd being arrested in real time, it caused her to call in a supervisor..
“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, but they got something out of the back of the squad, and all of them sat on this man,” the dispatcher said to the supervisor during the call, according to the Star-Tribune reported.
“So, I don’t know if they needed you or not, but they haven’t said anything to me,” the dispatcher said.
“Yeah,” the supervisor responded, “they haven’t said anything yet… just a takedown, which doesn’t count, but I’ll find out.”
“No problem,” the dispatcher answered. “We don’t get to ever see it, so when we see it we’re just like, well, that looks a little different.”
On Monday, the tapes were released by Minneapolis officials amid continuing protests over the May 25 death of Floyd after being pinned down by city cops for almost 9 minutes while pleading for air.
The dispatcher was watching the arrest on a live camera outside of Cup Foods, the place where police confronted Floyd over his alleged passing off of a counterfeit $20 bill, Fox9-TV said in a report.
The city additionally released transcripts of two 911 calls from residents who watched Floyd’s death, the station said.
“Hello, I am on the block of 38th and Chicago and I literally watched police officers not take a pulse and not do anything to save a man, and I am a first responder myself,” one caller said. “I just happened to be on a walk so, this dude, this, they f—–g killed him.”
All four police officers on the scene, including ex-cop Derek Chauvin, the cop on the viral video who was kneeling on Floyd’s neck after he was handcuffed behind his back and lying face down on the road — were fired and were charged with crimes. Chauvin is being charged with second degree murder and the other three cops are being charged with aiding and abetting second degree murder.
It’s unclear if the supervisor contacted by the dispatcher actually arrived at the scene, because police dispatch information shows that the first supervisor who arrived was Sgt. David Pleoger, who showed up 37 minutes after police first took Floyd into custody.
Minneapolis police guidelines stipulates that if an officer is on duty and uses force, the officer is required to notify a supervisor to come to the scene. Could that be why Chauvin was kneeling on Floyd’s neck for so long? He was waiting for a supervisor? Don’t get me wrong. Even if the cop was waiting for a supervisor, they were perfectly capable of keeping Mr. Floyd detained without resorting to actions that cost the man his life.
