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2 Americans wanted over Ghosn's escape handed to authorities in Japan

02 March 2021
Dan Ackermann

Two Americans accused of helping former Nissan chair Carlos Ghosn flee Japan in a box in 2019 were handed over to Japanese custody Monday, their lawyer said.

Why it matters: The extradition of Michael Taylor, 60, a private security specialist and former Green Beret, and his son Peter Maxwell Taylor, 27, ends a months-long fight to remain in the U.S.

The big picture: Ghosn was awaiting trial in Tokyo on financial misconduct charges following his 2018 arrest, when he fled in 2019 to Lebanon — where he has citizenship. He denies any wrongdoing.

  • The Taylors, from Massachusetts, had been detained in a Boston jail since their arrest last May.
  • When asked during an interview with Vanity Fair last year why he became involved in Ghosn's escape, Michael Taylor responded by quoting the Special Forces' motto: "De oppresso liber" or "to liberate the oppressed."
  • He told AP last month his son wasn't involved in the operation.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.