Tag: George Floyd

Officer Who Pressed His Knee on George Floyd’s Neck Drew Scrutiny Long Before

New York Times logoIn more than 19 years on the Minneapolis police force, Mr. Chauvin had a reputation as a rigid workaholic with few friends. He sometimes made other officers uncomfortable.

MINNEAPOLIS — The four teenagers drove around playing a game of Nerf Gun Assassin on a May evening before graduation in 2013. One of them randomly fired an orange dart out the window.

It was a stupid teenager move. What happened next was deadly serious: Two Minneapolis police officers pulled up, pointed their guns at the teenagers and shouted orders laced with expletives, two of them later recalled.

Kristofer Bergh, then 17, said he kept telling himself not to move suddenly or give the police any reason to shoot him. The youth who had fired the dart was steered into their cruiser for what seemed like an hour, and the officers seized everyone’s Nerf guns. One officer made a lasting impression; in fact, Mr. Bergh and another passenger said they would never forget him, nor what he said as he gave them back their guns. Continue reading.

Bodycam video shows officer pulled gun on George Floyd early on

Video from body cameras worn by two of the officers involved in the killing of George Floyd was viewed by the public for the first time.

Body-worn camera footage from former Minneapolis police officer Thomas Lane showed that George Floyd was given no explanation for why he was being questioned before Lane pointed a gun and swore at him, touched him multiple times and forced him out of his vehicle into the street.

The court made footage captured by Lane and fellow fired officer J. Alexander Kueng publicly viewable Wednesday by appointment. Sixty-six spaces were made available at one-hour increments to watch the videos that totaled about 65 minutes.

Lane and Kueng, along with onetime colleague Tou Thao, are charged with aiding and abetting murder and manslaughter in connection with Floyd’s death while he was under arrest on May 25 at E. 38th Street and S. Chicago Avenue. Another fired officer, Derek Chauvin is charged with second-degree murder, third-murder and second-degree manslaughter. Continue reading.

New police video reveals George Floyd’s desperate pleas before his death

Washington Post logoMINNEAPOLIS — A white police officer pulled his gun within 15 seconds of encountering George Floyd in a parked vehicle in May, prompting the 46-year-old black man to cry, panic and beg officers not to kill him during a harrowing ordeal revealed in police body camera videos released Wednesday.

The footage, captured by cameras worn by two of the four officers charged in Floyd’s May 25 death, presents an even more desperate scene than previously known. Floyd appeared visibly shaken and scared of police, whom he called “sir” and “Mr. Officer.” He moaned and begged for his life after they pinned him to the ground, a white officer’s knee at his throat for more than eight minutes.

The videos, made available to the public by a Hennepin County judge, were filed as evidence in the former officers’ criminal case and presented for viewing in court just hours before Floyd’s family filed a wrongful-death civil suit against the city of Minneapolis and the four police officers charged in his death. The family accused the officers of violating Floyd’s constitutional rights and the city of turning a blind eye to a culture of excessive force and racism in its police force that allowed the encounter with Floyd to happen. Continue reading.

Yes, even in small, single-stoplight towns they’re saying his name

Washington Post logoTANEYTOWN, MARYLAND — The silver pickup truck with a passenger-side rust spot passed the railroad tracks, then slowed down as it rolled past the crowd of demonstrators in this tiny downtown.

“Black lives matter!” yelled a white woman in comfort capri pants — then she and her neighbors waited for the silver truck’s verdict.

“Honk! Honk! Hoooonk!” went the truck, and the driver’s white fist emerged from his window, punching the air in support. Continue reading.

Police Immunity Laws Test Conservative Principle — And Rule Of Law

Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin faces murder and manslaughter charges for kneeling on George Floyd’s neck until he stopped breathing. But even if Chauvin is convicted, Floyd’s family may not be able to pursue claims under a federal statute that authorizes lawsuits against government officials who violate people’s constitutional rights.

The uncertain prospects for the lawsuit Floyd’s relatives plan to file underlines the unjust and irrational consequences of qualified immunity, a doctrine that shields police from liability for outrageous conduct when the rights they violated were not “clearly established” at the time. Congress should seize the opportunity created by Floyd’s May 25 death and the nationwide protests it provoked to abolish that doctrine, which the Supreme Court unlawfully grafted onto the Civil Rights Act of 1871.

Was it “clearly established” on May 25 that kneeling on a prone, handcuffed arrestee’s neck for nearly nine minutes violated his Fourth Amendment rights? The issue is surprisingly unsettled in the Eighth Circuit, which includes Minnesota. Continue reading.

George Floyd warned police he thought he would die because he couldn’t breathe, according to body camera transcripts

Washington Post logoMINNEAPOLIS — George Floyd repeatedly begged police officers not to
shoot him and complained of being claustrophobic as they tried to place him in a squad car in the minutes before he was killed on a South Minneapolis street corner in May, according to transcripts of police body camera footage from the scene released Wednesday.

The transcripts make clear that Floyd was trying to cooperate with police but was deathly afraid of them, at times telling them that he had had covid-19 and was worried that he was going to die because he couldn’t breathe while in their custody. As one of the officers — Derek Chauvin — pressed a knee into his neck and held Floyd on the ground, he told Floyd that he must be okay because he was able to speak, saying that he was using up a lot of oxygen pleading for help.

“They going to kill me,” Floyd said as officers sat atop him in the street, according to the transcripts. “They’re going to kill me man.” Continue reading.

Jason Lewis has called the death of George Floyd ‘tragic.’ He had very different words after the death of Trayvon Martin

Jason Lewis, the endorsed Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, said in previously unreported comments that Trayvon Martin, the 17-year-old Black high school student shot and killed by George Zimmerman in 2012, was a “thug” and “not a good kid.”

In 2013, Zimmerman was acquitted at trial after claiming he killed Martin in self-defense.

According to audio reviewed by MinnPost, Lewis said on his radio show in 2013: “Trayvon Martin was a thug. Trayvon Martin was a kid in trouble already. He was not a saint. He was not a role model. Let me clear about this: He was not a good kid.” Continue reading.

“In One Day, We Became the Worst Things in the Country”

How cops are talking about George Floyd’s killing and the protests sweeping America.

This country is changing its mind about the police. Over the past few years, Americans have watched countless videos of police brutality against Black people. They’ve witnessed, or participated in, the formation of a massive social movement dedicated to the preservation and celebration of Black lives. And their perception of police forces has shifted: A Monmouth University survey conducted at the end of May found, for the first time in polling history, that a majority (57 percent) of Americans and a plurality (49 percent) of white people think police officers “faced with a difficult or dangerous situation” are “more likely to use excessive force if the culprit is black.” That’s an increase of 24 points among all Americans and 23 points among white people since Monmouth’s 2014 poll in the wake of NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo’s killing of Eric Garner.

Police officers have been watching those cameraphone videos too. They’ve witnessed, or participated in, the formation of a movement for “blue lives” in response to the movement affirming Black ones. More recently, they’ve been confronting Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin’s killing of George Floyd, the widespread protests against racism and police brutality, and the calls to defund or abolish police that have entered mainstream policy discourse as never before.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a cop who thinks his job ought to be bound for obsolescence. But law enforcement officials are processing this moment in American history in a wide variety of ways. Some officers are beating protesters and journalists in the streets. Some are beseeching their colleagues to listen to what the demonstrators have to say. Some are defending their profession on social media to strangers who reject the idea of a “good cop.” Some are considering a career change. Some police officers are drawing on their experiences as Black Americans to explain the protesters’ grievances to their co-workers. Many remain convinced that, in most cases that aren’t as cut-and-dry as Floyd’s killing, civilians who end up injured or killed by police could have avoided their fate if they’d simply followed officers’ orders. Continue reading.

Minnesota House POCI Caucus responds to Sen. Gazelka’s announcement of “oversight hearings” about recent unrest

House DFL logoSAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – Members of the People of Color and Indigenous (POCI) Caucus in the Minnesota Legislature issued the following statement in response to Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka’s Thursday morning press conference:

“If oversight of law enforcement is the goal, Senate Republicans must quickly join the POCI Caucus to advance real criminal justice reforms. Why – five days after Senate Republicans walked away from this serious work – hasn’t Senator Gazelka yet responded to the House’s counteroffer during the special session to meet demands of the people for police accountability?

“There will be time to address the civil unrest that occurred in the days following George Floyd’s senseless killing, but the work to enact transformative, systemic changes within law enforcement is urgent, and Black, Indigenous, and communities of color can’t wait any longer for change. Senate Republicans have a duty to resume these critical discussions right now, or status quo systems that have failed Minnesotans for generations will continue to prevail.”

Today marks the one month anniversary of the murder of George Floyd.

The People of Color & Indigenous (POCI) Caucus includes Reps. Jamie Becker-Finn (42B), Aisha Gomez (62B), Hodan Hassan (62A), Kaohly Her (64A), Mary Kunesh-Podein (41B), Fue Lee (59A), Alice Mann (56B), Carlos Mariani (65B), Rena Moran (65A), Mohamud Noor (60B), Ruth Richardson (52B), Samantha Vang (40B), Jay Xiong (67B), Tou Xiong (53B), and Sens. Melisa Franzen (49), Foung Hawj (67), Jeff Hayden (62), Bobby Joe Champion (59), and Patricia Torres Ray (63).

 

Police chief: George Floyd’s death was a ‘murder,’ not about lack of training

Two officers were trained on preventing suffocation.

Derek Chauvin and Tou Thao — two of the officers involved in killing George Floyd May 25 — both took department training on preventing suffocation in people being restrained face down, the Minneapolis Police Department confirmed.

In one of his most forceful comments yet on Floyd’s killing, Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo issued a statement Monday night, saying, “Chauvin knew what he was doing.”

“Mr. George Floyd’s tragic death was not due to a lack of training — the training was there,” he said. “This was murder — it wasn’t a lack of training. This is why I took swift action regarding the involved officers’ employment with MPD,” Arradondo said. Continue reading.