Minneapolis dispatcher voiced concerns over use of force against George Floyd

A George Floyd mural.
(Image credit: KEREM YUCEL/AFP via Getty Images)

The Minneapolis Police Department on Monday released an audio recording of a dispatcher who watched via surveillance cameras the arrest of George Floyd and shared their concerns with a supervisor.

Floyd, an unarmed black man, died after a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, placed his knee on Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes. The dispatcher's call was made at 8:30 p.m. on May 25, about the time Floyd was in an ambulance on his way to a hospital. The dispatcher told their supervisor, "I don't know, you can call me a snitch if you want to, but we have the cameras up for 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, so I don't know if they needed you or not, but they haven't said anything to me yet."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.