George Floyd
May 25, 2020
On May 25, 2020, 46-year-old African American George Floyd was arrested after having allegedly used a counterfeit bill at a Minneapolis convenience store. Police claimed that Floyd “physically resisted” them but surveillance footage does not support this assertion. Videos show three police officers kneeling on Floyd for over 8 minutes (Murphy). Floyd, unarmed and handcuffed, can be heard saying “I can’t breathe.” He died as result.
All four officers involved have been fired and criminally charged — Chauvin with second degree murder and the others with aiding and abetting murder. On July 4, 2020, ex-officers Tou Thao, Thomas Lane, and J. Alexander Kueng were released from jail after posting bail (CBS Minnesota). Chauvin was released from jail in early October after posting $100,00 through a bail bond agency, even though the bond was set at $1 million (Bogel-Burroughs). Leaked footage from officers' body cameras has revealed more about the encounter. According to court documents, the officers have different stories of the encounter, all blaming the others (Bailey). On October 21, 2020, Judge Peter Cahill dropped a third-degree murder charge against Chauvin, but upheld the charges of second-degree murder as well as a second-degree manslaughter charge against Chauvin. He also upheld the aiding and abetting charges that were filed against the other three officers at the scene (Ismay). If you want to learn more about the timeline of events, click here On Valentine's Day in 2021, the Los Angeles police had to launch an internal investigation after officers were found to have shared an image of George Floyd with the caption "You take my breathe away" (Stelloh). |
Read a brief summary of the transcript by CNN: An officer told George Floyd it took 'a lot of oxygen to talk,' body camera transcripts show
George Floyd mural created by protesters in Portland, Oregon
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Bodycam Footage
Officer Kueng's bodycam footage from George Floyd's arrest released (The Washington Post)
Watch Lane's bodycam video and learn more here Learn more about leaked footage: |
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Who Was George Floyd?
Learn about his narrative and the role racism played in it in The Washington Post’s six-part series, “George Floyd’s America"