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Protesters gathered in Minneapolis on Tuesday afternoon, May 26, after video circulated of a city police officer kneeling on the neck of a man identified as George Floyd, who later died.

Disturbing video verified by Storyful showed Floyd pleading with a policeman while pinned to the street on May 25 at the intersection of East 38th Street and Chicago Avenue in South Minneapolis.

“Please,” Floyd said in the video, “please, please, I can’t breathe.” One officer had his knee on Floyd’s neck and did not respond to the man’s repeated calls for help. Floyd appeared to say, “They’re going to kill me, man,” and called out in distress for his mother.

A protest against police violence was slated to begin at 5 pm, according to a Facebook event page, but protesters gathered hours earlier at the intersection where Floyd was pinned by police. This video shows the outline of a figure, like an old-fashioned crime-scene chalk outline, on the road on Tuesday as the demonstration began.

Minneapolis Police said in a statement that its officers responded to a report of forgery in progress shortly after 8 pm on Monday and that the man “physically resisted officers. Officers were able to get the suspect into handcuffs and noted he appeared to be suffering medical distress.”

Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey called the killing “horrible, completely and utterly messed up” on Tuesday, and said, "Being black in America should not be a death sentence.”

The FBI is investigating the incident, according to reports. Credit: Arianne Zager via Storyful