‘Please, I can’t breathe’: Handcuffed George Floyd, a Black man, dies after white Minneapolis cop arresting him for forgery, knelt on his neck while he screamed in pain – Officer Derek Chauvin and three other cops involved may have been fired, as FBI launch investigation
Death by suffocation! Video shows police officer with a determined look pressing a knee on man’s neck until he’s dead
Minneapolis mayor tweeted that “four responding MPD officers involved in the death of George Floyd have been terminated
Feds launched investigation into conduct of the white police officer who is caught tape with his knee pressed on the male suspect’s neck during arrest until he’s motionless and his partner
George Floyd, 44, who is Black died during an arrest in Minneapolis on Monday
‘Please, I can’t breathe’ moans the handcuffed black man who dies after the cop arresting him for forgery knelt on his neck while he screamed in pain
For six minutes, the man repeatedly tells officers he’s in pain and cannot breathe before eventually losing consciousness
Although he has not been named officially, sources said the officer kneeling on Floyd’s neck is Derek Chauvin
As FBI launch investigation their conduct, the officers who remain unnamed have been put on leave
Footage of the incident has gone viral after it was shared by a bystander Monday
Confirming the incident, Minneapolis PD confirmed said officers had been responding to a ‘forgery in progress,’ according to police
FBI is now investigating Floyd’s death while Derek Chauvin and the three other officers involved initially were laced on paid administrative leave
The incident has been compared to other cases of police brutality including the death of New Yorker, Eric Garner, who died in 2014 from a police chokehold during an arrest
Officer Derek Chauvin with a determined look presses he knee on George Floyd’s neck until he’s motionless – Disturbing footage captured by a bystander shows the moment the white Minneapolis police officer pins Floyd to the ground with his knees during an arrest on Monday
The Minneapolis Police Department confirmed the man died in a statement later that night, after the arresting officers responded to a ‘forgery in progress.’
An attorney for the man’s family identified him as George Floyd.
The victim: George Floyd [photo], died on Monday night in Minneapolis during a police arrest
The victim’s sister tweeted this shot of three Minneapolis cops holding down her brother, kneeling on his lags, arms and neck on Monday evening
Mayor Frey did not name the officers involved.
Speaking during the news conference, Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo referred to the four officers as “former employees”.
The Star Tribune reported that the initial call came in for someone using a counterfeit bill at a grocery store.
When police arrived, they reportedly believed Floyd matched the description and found him sitting on the hood of his car.
‘He was ordered to step from his car. After he got out, he physically resisted officers,’ police spokesman John Elder claimed in a statement.
‘Officers were able to get the suspect into handcuffs and noted he appeared to be suffering medical distress.’
The man, who was later identified as George Floyd, 44, was taken by ambulance to Hennepin County Medical Center where he died a short time later, police said.
But in the footage, the arresting police officer was seen pinning the man to the ground for more than six minutes as he pled with officers to release him.
‘Please. Please, I can’t breathe,’ the man, who is shirtless, is heard begging cops.
The officer kneeling onhis neck sources say is Derek Chauvin.
The man, who was being arrested for forgery, is repeatedly heard telling officers he can’t breathe. About four minutes into the video, he appears to lose consciousness
‘My stomach hurts. My neck hurts. Everything hurts.’
The officer continues to kneel on the man’s neck for several minutes while he moans in pain.
The video was shared on Facebook by bystander Darnella Frazier, and has drawn comparisons to the case of Eric Garner, a black man who was a killed in 2014 after New York City police officers put him in a lethal chokehold.
Eric Garner died during an arrest by NYPD officers in 2014
Eric Garner, 43, died on July 17, 2014, after NYPD officers placed him in a fatal chokehold during his arrest.
Video footage of the incident and Garner’s subsequent death sparked national outcry over police brutality towards the black community.
Eric Garner, [photo], was killed in 2014, after NYPD officers placed him in a lethal chokehold during his arrest [right], even as he moaned that he couldn’t breathe. Police tried to arrest him after suspecting Garner was selling loose, untaxed cigarettes on the street in Staten Island
Eric Garner was killed in 2014, after NYPD officers placed him in a lethal chokehold during his arrest. Police had suspected Garner of selling loose, untaxed cigarettes on the street in Staten Island
The confrontation was caught on amateur video, including Garner’s words ‘I can’t breathe,’ which become a rallying cry among protesters.
The city medical examiner’s office later ruled Garner’s death a homicide caused by neck compressions from a chokehold.
In 2019, the New York Police Department began disciplinary proceedings against White police officer Daniel Pantaleo, but the trial did not result in any charges.
Although the Feds refused to bring charges, officer Daniel Pantaleo was fired from the NYPD in August 2019. After five years a judge granted the family’s request that Pantaleo be fired form NYPD. The public outcry may have forced the hands of the police dept to reach a similar decision
In Monday’s video, multiple witnesses are heard arguing with the two arresting officers over their excessive use of force.
‘Bro, you’ve got him down at least let him breathe, man,’ a male onlooker says.
‘He’s not even resisting arrest … he’s human, bro.’
One of the officers then replies: ‘This is why you don’t do drugs, kids.’
‘This ain’t about drugs, bro! He’s human,’ the bystander says.
‘You’re enjoying it. Look at you. Your body language, you bum. You know that’s bogus right now,’ he adds.
About four minutes into the video, the man appears to begin to lose consciousness before becoming unresponsive.
An ambulance then arrives and police officers move the man’s limp body onto a stretcher.
‘You just really killed that man, bro,’ the male onlooker says.
‘And if he’s not dead, he’s close to death, that’s crazy,’ Frazier adds.
The video, which has been shared more than 15,000 times on Facebook, has sparked outrage among viewers on social media.
‘They killed him right in front of Cup Foods over south on 38th and Chicago!! No type of sympathy. #PoliceBrutality,’ Frazier wrote in a Facebook post.
On Tuesday, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension confirmed the FBI has joined in its investigation.
Throughout the video, the unnamed arresting officer is seen kneeling on the man’s neck as he lay motionless on the ground. The suspect was handcuffed, shirtless and lying face down
An attorney for the victim’s family identified him as George Floyd.
“We all watched the horrific death of George Floyd on video as witnesses begged the police officer to take him to the police car and get off his neck,” read the statement from attorney Benjamin Crump, who also represents the families of Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor, two African-Americans killed in recent high-profile incidents. “This abusive, excessive and inhumane use of force cost the life of a man who was being detained by the police for questioning about a nonviolent charge.”
Officials have not publicly named the officer in question, but two sources familiar with the investigation identified him as Derek Chauvin.
All body camera footage has been turned over to the BCA, which investigates most police shootings and in-custody deaths.
The officers involved have been put on paid administrative leave, per department protocol.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey addressed the incident in a press conference on Tuesday morning, calling events in the video ‘wrong at every level.’
‘Being black in America should not be a death sentence,’ he said.
‘For five minutes we watched as a white officer pressed his knee to the neck of a black man. For five minutes.
‘When you hear someone calling for help, you are supposed to help.
‘This officer failed in the most basic human sense. What happened on Chicago and 38th, this last night, is simply awful.’
Frey also apologized to the family of the victim as well as the black community.
‘He was a human being and his life mattered,’ he said.
The FBI is now investigating the man’s death and the two officers have been placed on paid administrative leave. The officer kneeling sources said is Derek Chauvin. The dead man has been identified as George Floyd
Cops tend to Eric Garner [photo], after he stopped breathing: The unarmed New York man died in 2014 after he was placed in a ‘chokehold’ by police during a street arrest foe selling loose cigarettes
‘We heard his repeated calls for help. We heard him say over and over again that he could not breathe. And now we have a seen yet another horrifying and gutwrenching instance of an African American man dying,’ she said.
‘Every single person in every single community in this country deserves to feel safe. As the Mayor Minneapolis noted, this tragic loss of life calls for immediate action.
“Being black in America should not be a death sentence,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D) said during a news conference Tuesday. “For five minutes, we watched as a white officer pressed his knee to the neck of a black man. For five minutes. When you hear someone calling for help, you are supposed to help. This officer failed in the most basic human sense.”
‘There must be a complete and thorough outside investigation into what occurred, and those involved in this incident must be held accountable.
‘Justice must be served for this man and his family, justice must be served for our community, and justice must be served for our country.’
Addressing the incident Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey [photo], during a press briefing on Tuesday morning, called the events in the video ‘wrong at every level’ The officers involved ‘failed in the most basic human sense,’ he said
The video has sparked outrage among viewers on social media and has been shared more than 7,000 times
“When I walked up, he was already on the ground,” Frazier said in a Facebook video. “The cops, they was pinning him down by his neck and he was crying. They wasn’t trying to take him serious.”
As more people gathered around the encounter outside the grocery store, the man pleaded that his whole body was in pain. Frazier recalled that the man’s face was being pressed so hard against the ground that his nose was bleeding.
Witnesses begged the white officer to take his knee off the man’s neck.
“You’re going to just sit there with your knee on his neck?” one bystander said on the video.
Minutes later, the man appeared to be motionless on the ground, his eyes closed and head laying against the road.
“Bro, he’s not even f—— moving!” one bystander pleaded to police. “Get off of his neck!”
Another asked, “Did you kill him?”
‘Deja vu?’ The man, unresponsive and handcuffed, is then placed on a stretcher before being transported to Hennepin County Medical Center, where he died shortly while later
Later, an unconscious Floyd was loaded onto a stretcher and into an ambulance. Bystanders who remained in front of Cup Foods pointed at the two officers and said the incident would haunt them “for the rest of your life.”
“The police killed him, bro, right in front of everybody,” Frazier said on Facebook. “He was crying, telling them like, ‘I can’t breathe,’ and everything. They killed this man.”
Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo said he had decided to ask the FBI to investigate after receiving “additional information” on the incident from a community source that “just provided more context than the information I had preliminary.”
Chief Arradondo who appeared at Tuesday’s press conference alongside Mayor Frey, declined to elaborate further.
The officers involved who have not been publicly identified, initially it was announced were placed on paid administrative leave. However, the tweet from Mayor Frey and the statements from the police chief suggest the men have been fired by the police department.
The case will be separately investigated by the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which investigates most in-custody deaths, reports the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Police in Minneapolis have come under the microscope in recent years for deadly run-ins with citizens.
A 24-year-old black man, Jamar Clark, was shot in the head and died in 2015 after a confrontation with two white officers responding to a reported assault.
A county prosecutor declined to prosecute the officers, saying Clark was struggling for one of the officers´ gun when he was shot.
A white woman, Justine Rusczcyk Damond, died in 2017 when she was shot in the stomach by a Minneapolis officer responding to her 911 call.
That officer, who is black, was convicted of manslaughter and murder and is serving a 12-year prison sentence.
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