BREAKING: Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey calls for officer seen in video with his knee on George Floyd’s neck to be charged. Floyd died shortly after the incident.
“If you had done it, or I had done it, we would behind bars right now.” https://t.co/C7llqjXlBU pic.twitter.com/QyisDvqKRf
— ABC News (@ABC) May 27, 2020
Public pressure builds on the now-former police officers linked to the death of George Floyd. In a speech addressed to Hennepin County Attorney Michael Freeman, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D) called for the prosecution of the cop seen on video forcing a knee on Floyd’s neck.
“I want to see a charge take place,” he said. “I want to see justice for George Floyd.”
If most people, particularly people of color, had done what a police officer did late Monday, they’d already be behind bars.
That’s why today I’m calling on Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman to charge the arresting officer in this case.
— Jacob Frey (@Jacob_Frey) May 27, 2020
Floyd’s grieving family said that the officers involved should be charged with murder.
“Firing them is a good start, but we want to see justice for our family,” Floyd’s cousin Tera Brown previously told CNN’s Don Lemon. “We want to see them charged. We want to have them arrested.” This was a murder, she said.
“I would like for those officers to be charged with murder because that’s exactly what they did,” Floyd’s sister Bridgett Floyd told TODAY.
Video that went public on Tuesday showed an officer kneeling on George Floyd’s neck during an arrest for a suspected forgery. Floyd pleaded with the cop and said that he couldn’t breathe. Bystanders called out police for going over the line.
“You could’ve put him in the fucking car by now, bro,” said one man.
By now, Floyd had stopped moving.
“Did they just kill him?” said a woman at another point in the video. An ambulance arrived at the scene. Officers dragged Floyd’s limp body onto a gurney, and into the vehicle.
Floyd was later pronounced dead. The four officers who were involved were fired.
The officer who kneeled on Floyd’s neck has been identified as Derek Chauvin, according to KSTP. His attorney Tom Kelly declined to comment in an Associated Press report. An officer seen on video blocking off bystanders was identified as Tou Thao. The two other officers who were fired were identified as Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng.
Freeman’s office did not immediately respond to a Law&Crime request for comment.
Video from another angle did not show Floyd resisting arrest. It’s unclear why Floyd was not put in the back of a police car.
https://twitter.com/AttorneyCrump/status/1265645852720353281?s=20
[Image via screengrab/Darnella Frazier]
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