The entire country was disgusted by the slow torturous murder of George Floyd on May 25th by a police officer in Minneapolis. As George died with the officers knee and weight on his neck over 8 minutes and 46 seconds he begged and said "I can't breathe" numerous times. The officer even remained on his neck for over a minute after the ambulance arrived and George was motionless. Anyone who has seen the video has been scarred by it. The phrase "I can't breathe" has become a chant at protests around the world now.
The Cayce Police Department has released dash and body cam footage from an encounter they had Monday June 8th with 2 black females. There had been several calls to police about 2 women spray painting a bridge near the Riverwalk. The 2 women were pushing strollers with babies but they also had paint stains on them. You can see the entire confrontation on the officers body cam here.
The officer asks for ID and attempts to explain that if they show him ID they will be free to go. He just needs to know whom to come question later if Police don't find the people who vandalized the bridge. One of the women begins saying she majored in Criminal Justice and knows their rights and attempts to walk away. He says they can't because you're suspected of crime.The other says he's white and he's lying.
It gets bizarre around the 3 minute mark when suspect 1 starts screaming "for what" repeatedly and suspect 2 begins asking "do you want me to get naked". Moments later she acts as if he's ripping her clothes off when she is the one visibly unbuttoning her top. Suspect 2 settles down and becomes cooperative.
If you look at body cam video 3 you'll see suspect 1 accusing an officer of putting his hands and then his knee on her neck. She is also yelling "I can't breathe". Dash Cam footage beginning at 11:55 shows the view of the officer struggling with suspect 1 and at no time do we see her neck squeezed or knee of the officer on top of it. You can see the female officer arrive to assist 40 seconds into the struggle at 12:35 and it lines up with her body cam footage in body cam 2.
Body cam video 4 starts a witness for the suspects saying they didn't paint the bridge. Later another male attempts to question the officer on behalf of the suspects.
In the press release from the city that shared these videos it ends with;
As they are trained, our officers worked to deescalate the situation.
All of these facts can be observed as they are seen in the
dashcam and bodycam videos being released to the public,
which represents our full interaction with the two suspects.
At the conclusion of this encounter and out of concern for the
children present, our officers allowed the two females to leave.
This investigation is currently ongoing.
I thank God for the men and women who keep our cities safe and do their jobs with restraint that few of us have.