Body-camera footage from two Minneapolis police officers involved in George Floyd's arrest captured a panicked and fearful Floyd pleading with the officers, saying "I'm not a bad guy!".
"I'm not that kind of guy," Floyd says as he struggles against the officers.
"I just had COVID, man, I don't want to go back to that." An onlooker pleads with Floyd to stop struggling, saying, "You can't win!" Floyd replies, "I don't want to win!"
A few minutes later, with Floyd now face-down on the street, the cameras record his fading voice, still occasionally saying, "I can't breathe" before he goes still.
The recordings from officers Thomas Lane and J Kueng are part of the criminal case against them and two other officers in Floyd's May 25 death.
Derek Chauvin, who held his knee against Floyd's neck for nearly eight minutes, is charged with second-degree murder.
Lane, Kueng and another officer, Tou Thao, are charged with aiding and abetting.
Journalists and members of the public were allowed to view the footage on Wednesday by appointment.
Judge Peter Cahill, without explanation, has declined to allow publication of the video.
The footage shows the officers' view of a death already widely seen on a bystander's mobile phone video, which set off tumultuous protests in Minneapolis and around the world.
Floyd appears distraught from the moment officers ask him to step out of his vehicle near a south Minneapolis corner grocery, where he was suspected of passing a counterfeit $US20 ($A28) bill.
When Floyd did not immediately display his hands, Lane pulled his gun, leading Floyd to say he had been shot before.
Floyd's hands are soon handcuffed behind his back, and he grows more anxious, telling the officers that he's claustrophobic and pleading with them not to put him in the back of a squad car.
In the struggle, Floyd loses a shoe and eventually winds up on the pavement with the officers holding him down.
Chauvin and Kueng each grip one of Floyd's handcuffed hands to hold them in position behind his back, with Kueng's knee appearing to press on Floyd's bottom or just below. Lane is at Floyd's feet.
"I think he's passing out," one officer says. "You guys all right, though?" someone asks. "Yeah - good so far," says one.
Another - apparently Lane - says "my knee might be a little scratched, but I'll survive".
Lane did not sound particularly worried the first time he asked Chauvin whether they should roll Floyd on his side and suggested that Floyd might be in delirium.
People in the crowd can be heard expressing fear for Floyd's condition, asking whether he had a pulse and was breathing.
A couple of minutes later, Lane sounds a bit more concerned when he asks again about rolling Floyd onto his side.
The officers go quiet but show no apparent urgency as Kueng checks for a pulse and says he cannot find one.
Australian Associated Press
