When Justice Fails - The Death of George Floyd

What happened:

May 25, 2020

Memorial Day, shortly after 8:00 pm. The Minneapolis Police Department responds to a "forgery in progress" in the Powderhorn Park neighbourhood of Minneapolis.

Alledgedly, a man by the name George Floyd was trying to use forged documents at a deli in the area "while under the influence" before retreating back into his car. According to police reports when asked to exit the vehicle he "physically resisted". After several attempts to restrain him, the police eventually manage to handcuff the individual while noting that he "appeared to be be suffering medical distress". For that, no weapons had been used.

Paramedics from the Minneapolis Fire Department later on stated that they had performed lifesaving measures on an "unresponsive" individual before Floyd was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center where he was eventually pronounced dead.

The Controversy:

"You're enjoying it. Look at you. Your body language."

The arrest was in part filmed by bystanders and uploaded to several streaming services inlcuding Facebook Live where eventually the video of the arrest went viral.

George Floyd appears to be face down on the ground while one of the officers Chauvin is kneeling on his neck to keep him down, Floyd repeatedly states that he "can't breathe" because of the knee on his neck. After being told to get in the car he also states that due to the officer holding him down he "could not move" and that "everything hurts".

The Police do not audibly respond to Floyd and appear to completely ignore him. Bystanders point out that he is bleeding from his nose and that "keeping him restraint on the ground like that" was not necessary anymore since he would not be even resisting arrest anymore. They also protest that Floyd could not breathe due to the knee on his neck and that they "could have put him in the car by now" and that it appeared the officer would be enjoying it, "you're enjoying it, look at you, your bodylanguage."

Even after Floyd passes out officer Chauvin still keeps his knee on his neck. After refusing to check his pulse they raise the question: "did they kill him?"

After the ambulance had arrived Chauvin still did not remove his knee until Floyd was put on a stretcher.

In total Chauvin had knelt on Floyd's neck for at least 7 minutes, including 4 minutes of Chauvin being unresponsive.

The Aftermath

In the wake of the outrage, the site of George Floyd's death became a place for potest and memorial. Thousands of people including participants of movements like "Black Lives Matter" showed up to demonstrate against the Polices' handling of Floyd's arrest as well as to mourn his death and ended up marching all the way to the Minneapolis Police. As the protest progressed it became more and more violent with police having to deploy chemical irritant as well as shooting rubber bullets.

The mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, shortly after reacted to the incident as follows: "Being black in America should not be a death sentence. For five minutes, we watched a white officer press his knee into a black man's neck ... When you hear someone calling for help, you're supposed to help. This officer failed in the most basic, human sense."

Frey also called for trial of the officers responsible in this case. If they will face legal consequences, however, is uncertain.

There before have been several cases of police violence in this area which have not been brought to trial.

On July 6, 2016 Philando Castile, a 32 year old African-American was fatally shot in his car despite having identified himself as a legal, licensed gun owner. The officer responsible was fired from the Minneapolis Police Department, charges for manslaughter on the other hand have been aquitted.

The Geroge Floyd case can be seen in a wider context of police violence in the Unites States as well as in realtion to the ongoing investigation into the death of Ahmaud Arberty, a 25 year old African-American who was just recently shot in Georgia.

-For a in depth article on Police Violence in the United States, see my next post.-