Killing of George Floyd

Killing of George Floyd

George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was killed in Minneapolis, Minnesota, while being arrested for allegedly using a counterfeit bill. Derek Chauvin, a white police officer with the Minneapolis Police Department, knelt on Floyd’s neck for about nine and a half minutes after he was handcuffed and lying face down. Two police officers, J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane, assisted Chauvin in restraining Floyd, while another officer, Tou Thao, prevented bystanders from interfering. After several minutes passed Floyd stopped speaking. For a further two minutes, he lay motionless and officer Kueng found no pulse when urged to check. The following day, after videos made by witnesses and security cameras became public, all four officers were dismissed.

About Killing of George Floyd in brief

Summary Killing of George FloydGeorge Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was killed in Minneapolis, Minnesota, while being arrested for allegedly using a counterfeit bill. Derek Chauvin, a white police officer with the Minneapolis Police Department, knelt on Floyd’s neck for about nine and a half minutes after he was handcuffed and lying face down. Two police officers, J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane, assisted Chauvin in restraining Floyd, while another officer, Tou Thao, prevented bystanders from interfering. After several minutes passed Floyd stopped speaking. For a further two minutes, he lay motionless and officer Kueng found no pulse when urged to check. The following day, after videos made by witnesses and security cameras became public, all four officers were dismissed. Two autopsies found Floyd’s death to be a homicide. Chauvin is charged with second-degree unintentional murder and second- degree manslaughter. Kueng, Lane, and Thao are charged with aiding and abetting second- degrees murder. Their trial has been scheduled to begin March 8, 2021. The Minneapolis Police Chief cancelled contract negotiations with the police union and announced plans to bring in outside experts to examine how the union contract can be restructured to provide transparency and \”flexibility for true reform\”. The Minneapolis City Council voted an intent to restructure the police department as a \”new community-based system of public safety\”. However, the city council’s proposal failed to make the 2020 general ballot. The death triggered worldwide protests against police brutality, police racism, and lack of police accountability.

Floyd was a black American born in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and raised in the Third Ward of Houston, Texas. In 2014, he moved to the Minneapolis area. Though he resided in the nearby suburb of St. Louis Park, he was a frequent customer at the Cup Foods convenience store in south Minneapolis. A store employee believed Floyd had paid with a USD 20 bill and demanded that Floyd return the cigarettes; he refused. The interaction between Floyd and the employees was recorded by the restaurant’s security camera. Floyd did not show his hands, and when he did not obey, the employees asked him to show them his hands again when he opened the window, startling him. He did not respond. The store employee called the police to report that Floyd had passed \”fake bills\” and that Floyd was “not in control of himself of himself” He was arrested and taken to the hospital, where he died on May 25, 2020. At the time of his death, Chauvin and Floyd sometimes worked overlapping shifts as security guards for a local nightclub, but the club’s former owner was unsure of the extent to which they knew each other. Floyd had complained about being unable to breathe prior to being on the ground, but after being restrained he became more distressed, and continued to complain about breathing difficulties, the knee in his neck, and expressed the fear he was about to die and called for his mother. He was pronounced dead at 7:30pm.