Minneapolis Review

Four Minneapolis police officers involved in the arrest of George Floyd, an African American man who died in police custody, were fired after a video showed one officer using his knee to restrain Floyd’s neck, while Floyd told officers that he could not breathe.

After the bystander’s video surfaced, state law enforcement and the FBI immediately began an investigation into Floyd’s death on May 25.  Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey announced the firings May 26, saying it was “the right call.”

“Being Black in America should not be a death sentence,” Frey wrote in a Facebook post. “For five minutes, we watched a white officer press his knee into a Black man’s neck. Five minutes. When you hear someone calling for help, you’re supposed to help. This officer failed in the most basic, human sense.”

Ben Crump, a prominent civil rights and personal injury attorney who has been hired by Floyd’s family, called the firing “a good first step on the road to justice” but called on the city to address and fix the “policies and training deficiencies that permitted this unlawful killing to occur.”

The department is conducting a full internal investigation, Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo told The Associated Press. The FBI is investigating whether the officers deprived Floyd of his rights.

Prior to the firings of the officers involved, the police union urged the public to wait until an investigation was undertaken and not to “rush to judgment and immediately condemn our officers.”

Experts on police use of force told The Associated Press that the officer restrained Floyd for too long, noting that Floyd was under control.

Police said that Floyd matched a description and resisted arrest. The video shows Floyd on the ground, face against the pavement, with an unidentified officer kneeling on his neck, pleading that he can’t breathe. Bystanders can be heard on the video shouting their concern, while one officer says “He’s talking, so he’s breathing.”

The officer did not remove his knee from Floyd’s neck until he was taken by paramedics, despite Floyd being motionless. Floyd was later pronounced dead.

On the evening of May 26, protesters filled the intersection where the incident occurred. Protests and riots have broken out across the Twin Cities in the three days since, becoming increasingly violent.