Judge allows public viewing of previous George Floyd arrest video

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A Minnesota judge on Thursday denied a request from prosecutors to block public viewing of police body camera footage from a previous George Floyd arrest, ruling that the video would not be prejudicial.

The decision by Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill came after an attorney for one of the four former Minneapolis police officers charged in connection with Floyd's death motioned to include the 2019 arrest as evidence. It was part of a request to dismiss charges against his client, the Star Tribune reported. 

"It is one small piece of evidence that shows us what everybody already knows. George Floyd was arrested on another occasion," Cahill said in a hearing on Thursday.

His decision also denies a prosecution motion to seal the filings in the case for 48 hours so the opposing side has a chance to ask for that information to be sealed.

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Former Minneapolis police officers Derek Chauvin, J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao. On Thursday, a Hennepin County judge ruled a police body-camera video of a 2019 arrest of George Floyd can be publicly viewed. (Hennepin County Sheriff's Office via AP)

The video can be accessed as soon as it is processed by the court and Cahill will take it under consideration to dismiss charges against former officer Thomas Lane, KARE-TV reported. Lane's attorney, Earl Gray, argued prosecutors were seeking to introduce the histories of the former officers -- Lane, Derek Chauvin, J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao -- at trial, a similar inclusion to the Floyd arrest. 

Gray did not immediately return a Fox News request for comment. 

Prosecutors wanted public access to the arrest video restricted through the trial and any appeals process over fears it could taint potential jurors, the news station reported.

According to Gray, the video captures three officers trying to get Floyd to respond to commands to show his hands and to spit out something in his mouth. In the footage, Floyd calls out for this mother, he said, arguing that Floyd acted in a fashion similar to his May 25 arrest when he died while in police custody. 

“I do find that this was good faith on Mr. Gray’s part because I left the door open,” Cahill said.

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He added that he denied admitting evidence of an armed robbery in Texas involving Floyd and that had Gray's motion included specifics of that case, it would have been in bad faith, according to the newspaper. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.