Protest after black man killed by cops
FBI joining probe into Floyd’s death
MINNEAPOLIS: The FBI and Minnesota law enforcement authorities are investigating the arrest of a black man who died after being handcuffed and pinned to the ground by an officer’s knee, in an episode that was recorded on video by a bystander and sparked large protests on Tuesday.
After the graphic video circulated widely on social media, Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey denounced the actions of the four officers who were involved and said on Tuesday afternoon that they had been fired. He identified the victim as George Floyd.
Floyd, 46, a resident of St Louis Park, Minnesota, a Minneapolis suburb, was pronounced dead at 9.25pm local time on Monday at Hennepin County Medical Centre, according to the medical examiner.
Floyd’s family members told CNN on Tuesday night that the officers should be charged with murder.
“They treated him worse than they treat animals,” said Philonise Floyd, Floyd’s brother. “They took a life — they deserve life.”
The arrest took place on Monday evening, the Minneapolis Police Department said in a statement, after officers responded to a call about a man suspected of forgery. The police said the man, was found sitting on top of a blue car and “appeared to be under the influence”.
“He was ordered to step from his car,” the department’s statement said. “After he got out, he physically resisted officers. Officers were able to get the suspect into handcuffs and noted he appeared to be suffering medical distress.”
The statement said that officers had called for an ambulance.
On Tuesday morning, without referring to the video recorded by a bystander, the police updated a statement, titled “Man Dies After Medical Incident During Police Interaction”, that said that additional information had “been made available” and that the FBI was joining the investigation.
On Tuesday afternoon, Mayor Frey tweeted that four officers involved in the case had been terminated. “This is the right call,” he said.
The Police Department’s statement said that no weapons had been used and that the officers’ body cameras were recording. Mr Frey said at a news conference on Tuesday that he had seen the video “taken and posted by a civilian” but not the body camera footage.
The bystander video shows a white Minneapolis police officer pressing his knee into a black man’s neck during an arrest, as the man repeatedly says, “I can’t breathe,” and, “Please, I can’t breathe.”
As the video spread on social media on Monday night, the arrest quickly drew comparisons to the case of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man who died in New York police custody in 2014, after an officer held him in a chokehold. Garner’s repeated plea of “I can’t breathe” — also recorded by a cellphone — became a rallying cry at demonstrations against police misconduct around the country.
“Being black in America should not be a death sentence,” Mr Frey said. “For five minutes, we watched a white officer press his knee into a black man’s neck. Five minutes.”
Former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, condemned the force used by the officers.
“George Floyd deserved better and his family deserves justice,” Mr Biden wrote on Twitter on Tuesday night. “His life mattered.”
Hundreds of people gathered on Tuesday at the intersection where Floyd had been subdued, protesting the conduct of the officers.
Some protesters vandalised police vehicles with graffiti and targeted the precinct house where the four officers had been assigned, said police department spokesman, John Elder.
Police fired foam projectiles known as marking rounds and used tear gas to try to repel some of the protesters, he said. The Police Department did not immediately say if there had been any arrests.
The video recorded in Minneapolis shows that, after a few minutes, the man, lying face down in the street with his hands cuffed behind his back, becomes silent and motionless; the officer continues to pin the man to the pavement with his knee.
Bystanders plead and curse, begging the officer to stop and telling him the man’s nose is bleeding. Another officer faces the people gathered on the sidewalk. An ambulance medic arrives and, reaching under the officer’s knee, feels for a pulse on the man’s neck.
The medic turns away, and a stretcher is wheeled over. The arrested man is then rolled onto the stretcher, loaded into an ambulance and taken away.
The Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday, but the head of the union said in a statement to local news media that people should not rush to judgment while the investigation is ongoing.
“Our officers are fully cooperating,” the union head, Lt Bob Kroll, said. “We must review all video. We must wait for the medical examiner’s report.”
It could take at least three weeks to determine the cause of Floyd’s death, county officials said.