Protests of police custody death spread to Ohio; DeWine urges calm
Nation braces for more protests after latest police killing
After protesters
COLUMBUS — broke dozens of windows at the Ohio Statehouse on Thursday, workers placed plywood over first floor windows to prevent further damage and cities across America braced for the potential of more demonstrations over the death of George Floyd.
“All of us have an obligation to speak out against injustice, to speak out against racism,” Gov. Mike DeWine said Friday. But, he appealed to Ohioans: “As you gather and protest in the coming days throughout Ohio, regardless of the issue, please do so peacefully. We must not fight violence with more violence.”
Minneapolis police handcuffed and restrained Floyd, a 46-yearold black man. Video footage shows a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, kneeling on Floyd’s neck for nearly eight minutes while he stated that he could not breathe. Other officers stood by. As the minutes tick by and Chauvin continues
to hold him down, Floyd’s complaints about not being able to breathe stop as he falls silent and motionless. Toward the end of the video, paramedics arrive, lift a limp Floyd onto a stretcher and place him in an ambulance. Floyd died hours later. DeWine called the footage “horrific” and he acknowledged the pain, frustration, fear and anger African Americans feel.
“George Floyd’s death is a culmination of many events. As he lay on the ground dying, he was a victim representing so many others before him. His death impacts all of us. We have a responsibility to each other. We have a responsibility, all of us regardless of race, to stand up, to speak out and say we won’t tolerate conduct like this,” DeWine said.
Protests in the Minneapolis-St. Paul areas have spread across the country, including Denver, New York, Columbus and other cities.
Denver Mayor Michael Hancock called for calm and unity after the first of several planned city protests over Floyd’s death turned violent, declaring, “Let not the story be about the riots and protests. Let’s keep the focus on the life that was lost.”
“I can tell you not to go out and demonstrate but the reality is it’s going to happen,” Hancock said.
In Columbus, hundreds gathered beginning around 8 p.m., and sometime after 11 p.m., some moved to the Statehouse where 28 windows, five lamp posts, flags and a bench were damaged. Blood stains marked the steps. Damage was done to buildings over several downtown blocks.
Protests in Minneapolis escalated in violence on Thursday, when demonstrators torched a police station that officers had abandoned.
Floyd’s case and the recent shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia have once again laid bare the divide between minority communities and law enforcement that grew to a nationwide uproar following the officer killings of Eric Garner and Michael Brown in 2014 and the death of Freddie Gray in police custody in 2015, among others. Videos from bystanders and police cameras have helped elevate such cases to national scrutiny.
Law enforcement often asks that people reserve judgment in such cases but the Floyd case has drawn widespread condemnation.
Chauvin was arrested Friday and charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter.
This report includes information from the Associated Press.