George Floyd and officer who knelt on his neck 'worked together at nightclub'

George Floyd and the officer who knelt on his neck worked together at the same nightclub just months before his death in police custody.

Owner Maya Santamaria said she employed Mr Floyd, 46, and now-former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, 44, until late last year.

Both worked as security guards at the El Nuevo Rodeo club in the US city, she told a local TV news station.

Ms Santamaria, who recently sold the venue after nearly two decades in business, revealed that Mr Floyd and Chauvin worked at her club at the same time, but it was unclear whether they knew each other.

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She told KSTP-TV: "Chauvin was our off-duty police for almost the entirety of the 17 years that we were open.

"They were working together at the same time, it's just that Chauvin worked outside and the security guards were inside."

She was not sure if they knew each other.

Ms Santamaria said she watched footage of Mr Floyd being pinned down by Chauvin and other officers, but she didn't immediately recognise them.

She added: "My friend sent me (the video) and said, 'this is your guy who used to work for you' and I said, 'it's not him'.

"And then they did the closeup and that's when I said, 'Oh my God, that's him'. I didn't recognise George as one of our security guys because he looked really different lying there like that."

Video captured by a witness showed Chauvin, a white officer, kneeling on the back of black man's neck for about eight minutes during the arrest outside a corner shop on Monday night.

Mr Floyd, who was unarmed, begged the officers to get off him and repeatedly told them "I can't breathe" before he lost consciousness.

He was later pronounced dead in hospital.

Chauvin and three other officers from Minneapolis Police Department have been fired amid an ongoing FBI investigation that is being overseen by the US Department of Justice.

None of the officers has been charged.

Mr Floyd was arrested after he allegedly used a fake $20 bill to buy cigarettes at the Cup Foods corner shop.

An employee rang 911 and claimed a customer had passed "fake bills", refused to give the cigarettes back and was "awfully drunk" and "not in control of himself" while sitting on a car parked outside.

When police arrived they found Mr Floyd sitting in the driver's seat of a car parked across from the shop. Police claim he was "under the influence".

Witnesses have disputed the police force's claims that Mr Floyd resisted arrest.

There were further clashes between protesters and police overnight as more buildings were torched and more shops were looted on the third night of unrest.

A police station close to the scene of Mr Floyd's arrest was set on fire after it was abandoned by officers on Thursday.

National Guard troops and hundreds of additional police officers have been sent to Minneapolis in a bid to restore order.