A man who was with George Floyd on the night he died said his friend did not resist arrest and instead tried to defuse the situation before he ended up handcuffed on the ground and pleading for air as an officer pressed a knee against his neck.

Maurice Lester Hall, a longtime friend of Floyd, was a passenger in Floyd's car when police approached him 25 May as they responded to a call about someone using forged currency at a shop.

Hall told The New York Times that Floyd was trying to show he was not resisting. "I could hear him pleading, 'Please, officer, what's all this for?'."

Witness

Hall is a key witness in the state's investigation into the four officers who apprehended Floyd. Derek Chauvin, the officer who continued pressing his knee into Floyd's neck even after Floyd became motionless, is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter.

The three other officers are charged with aiding and abetting. All four officers have been fired.

A woman was also in the car with Floyd, but Hall said he did not know her name.

Hall said on the Good Morning America show that the situation escalated quickly and police grabbed Floyd, put him in a squad car, dragged him back out and then "jumped on the back of the neck". He said Floyd was put in an ambulance and that he did not know his friend had died until the next day, when he saw the widely viewed bystander video on Facebook.

"He was just crying out at that time for anyone to help because he was dying," Hall told the Times. "I'm going to always remember seeing the fear in Floyd's face because he's such a king. That's what sticks with me, seeing a grown man cry, before seeing a grown man die."

Hall, 42, said he visited a memorial for Floyd and then hitchhiked to Houston, where he was arrested on Monday on outstanding warrants for felony possession of a firearm, felony domestic assault and felony drug possession. After his arrest, a Minnesota investigator interviewed him for hours about Floyd's death. His lawyer said he has since been released on the warrant issue.