CHARGES IN FLOYD DEATH
Police officer held, protests continue across U.S.
Fired Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin has been charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter in the death of George Floyd, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced Friday afternoon. Agents with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension arrested Chauvin, authorities said.
Chauvin is the former police officer who was captured on video pressing his knee into George Floyd’s neck on Monday as Floyd repeatedly said, “I can’t breathe.” Floyd later died.
“That’s less than four days,” Minnesota Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington said. “That’s extraordinary. We have never charged a case in that time frame.”
The investigation into the other three officers who were fired — Thomas Lane, Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng — is ongoing, Freeman said. He said his office focused on “the most dangerous perpetrator,” so it prioritized Chauvin, but he added that he anticipates charges against the other officers.
Floyd’s death has sparked three days of mass discontent in Minneapolis, as protests spread to Chicago, New York, Denver, Los Angeles and Oakland on Thursday.
Cheering protesters this week set fire to a police station close to where Floyd was caught on a bystander’s camera saying “I can’t breathe” as Chauvin pinned him down until he became motionless.
Dozens of fires were also set in nearby St. Paul, where nearly 200 businesses were damaged or looted. Many had put up handmade signs asking to be spared. “This is a black-owned business,” read one. “This is community-owned business,” said another.
Donald Trump threatened action, saying, “when the looting starts, the shooting starts” in a tweet that prompted a warning from Twitter for “glorifying violence.”
The U.S. president criticized Jacob Frey, the mayor of Minneapolis, for a “total lack of leadership” and warned that he would bring the situation “under control.” Frey defended the city’s lack of action against the looters, saying it had become too dangerous for officers.
Gunfire also broke out in several U.S. cities, including Louisville, in Ky., where police say seven people were injured in one shooting incident.
Several hundred protesters had also turned out to demonstrate against the death of Breonna Taylor, a black woman who was shot dead by police as she slept in her home in March.
As smoke filled the Minneapolis skyline on Thursday, Tim Walz, the state governor, deployed about 500 soldiers to restore peace.
Armed with assault-style rifles, the soldiers blockaded the streets around the most heavily damaged areas of the city as firefighters worked to put out blazes. Walz pleaded with protesters, insisting Floyd’s death would bring about change. “It is time to rebuild,” he said. “Rebuild the city, rebuild our justice system and rebuild the relationship between law enforcement and those they’re charged to protect.”
The protests in Minneapolis first erupted on Tuesday, after footage of Floyd’s death circulated online. It was reported on Friday that Chauvin was acquainted with Floyd before his arrest. According to Andrew Jenkins, of Minneapolis City Council, the pair had previously both worked as security staff at the same nightclub.
Jenkins told CNN that the situation has spiralled out of control. “It is very much complete chaos, or it was,” she said, noting that flareups around the city have stretched response resources thin. “It’s very much a spiralling situation.”
Jenkins said city and state officials are ultimately responsible for maintaining order.
“We cannot continue to allow this destruction to continue,” she said. “It’s disrupting innocent people’s lives. It’s putting innocent people in harm’s way.”
Former U.S. president Barack Obama condemned the state of race relations in the country. “This shouldn’t be ‘normal’ in 2020 America,” he
IT IS VERY MUCH COMPLETE CHAOS, OR IT WAS. IT’S VERY MUCH A SPIRALLING SITUATION.
tweeted. “It will fall mainly on the officials of Minnesota to ensure that the circumstances surrounding George Floyd’s death are investigated thoroughly and that justice is ultimately done.
“But it falls on all of us to work together to create a ‘new normal’ in which the legacy of bigotry and unequal treatment no longer infects our institutions or our hearts,” he said.
Last month, viral footage showing the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed black jogger in Georgia, at the hands of a white former police officer also sparked public unrest.
Not all protests over the death of Floyd were violent as hundreds descended for a peaceful protest in Minneapolis.