Victim defends dog walker

Christian Cooper, the black victim of a racially charged confrontation with a white New York dog walker, said he did not back her being fired from her job after footage of the incident in Central Park went viral.

The regular park walker had filmed Amy Cooper (no relation) calling police to report that “an Africanamerican man” was threatening her after he asked her to leash her dog.

Mr Cooper added that he was upset she was receiving death threats in the wake of the incident.

… I can’t breathe.” As bystanders shouted their concern, one officer said, “He’s talking, so he’s breathing”.

One man yelled repeatedly: “He’s not responsive right now!” Two witnesses, including one woman who said she was a Minneapolis firefighter, shouted at the officers to check the man’s pulse. “Check his pulse right now and tell me what it is!” she said.

Minutes passed and Mr Floyd became motionless under the officer’s restraint. The officer did not remove his knee until the man was loaded on to a gurney by paramedics.

Mr Floyd was taken to hospital where he soon died, police said.

The incident has drawn comparisons with the 2014 death of another unarmed black man, Eric Garner, where an autopsy found the “chokehold” used by the police officer contributed to Mr Garner’s death. The officers involved in Mr Garner’s death were never indicted.

In the Minneapolis incident, a lawyer has confirmed he is representing Derek Chauvin, the officer seen with his knee on Mr Floyd’s neck.

All four dismissed officers are the subject of an internal police investigation as well as an FBI investigation.

Mr Biden said the officers who were fired “must be held responsible for their egregious actions”, saying Mr Floyd “deserved better and his family deserves justice.”

Some of the strongest criticism came from Tim Scott, a Republican senator for South Carolina, who tweeted: “Firing the officers that killed George Floyd was the right first move. The second? Arrest them.”

The police union asked the public to wait for the investigation to take its course and not to “rush to judgment and immediately condemn our officers”.

But, in the wake of the second controversial death of an unarmed black man in recent months, it appears the American public’s patience is waning.

During Tuesday’s protests, some chanted and carried banners that read, “I can’t breathe” and “Jail killer Kkkops”.

Mr Floyd had worked for five years at a restaurant called Conga Latin Bistro and rented a home from the restaurant’s owner, Jovanni Thunstrom.

“He was a good friend, person and a good tenant,” Mr Thunstrom told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “He was family. His friends loved him.”