George Floyd was terrified and afraid when cops first approached him in his car ... pleading for his life with a gun trained on his head.
The footage -- just released by a judge -- from Floyd's fatal interaction with Minnesota cops shows him begging Thomas Lane at gunpoint, "Mr. Officer, please don't shoot me." George also tells Lane his mom just died while pleading with him not to pull the trigger.
A distressed Floyd was finally yanked outta the driver's seat and police yelled at him to stop resisting arrest as they slapped on a pair of handcuffs. Lane and J. Alexander Kueng walked George across the street and tried to stuff him in the back of a police SUV ... and that's when things got way more tense.
In the video, George again says he's not resisting and didn't do anything, then sobs and wails while telling the officers he's afraid of getting in the back of the SUV because he's claustrophobic.
Floyd told the officers he's "going to die in here" as they manhandled him into the back of the car. He said he was scared and anxious, then screamed and sobbed as they forced him inside.
A massive struggle ensues and suddenly Floyd is on the pavement and Derek Chauvin's knee is pinned on his neck. All the while, George tells the cops he can't breathe.
You know what happens next ... Chauvin's knee remains on Floyd's neck for nearly 9 minutes and he dies.
Although a judge just made this video available to the media ... it had been leaked a week ago.