Four Minneapolis police officers have been fired on Tuesday, May 26 after footage emerged online showing one of the cops kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a handcuffed black man who repeatedly told them that he couldn’t breathe and later died because of it. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey confirmed the firing, though the names of the officers involved in the incident were not released.
- It was “the right decision for [the] city.” While the Minneapolis Police Department initially put the four officers on temporary leave for the May 25 incident, they were eventually terminated on Tuesday. “It is the right decision for our city, the right decision for our community. It is the right decision for the Minneapolis Police Department,” Frey said at a news conference with Police Chief Medaria Arradondo. “We’ve stated our values, and ultimately we need to live by them.”
- The Minneapolis Police Department initially lied about what happened. Whether because they were covering up for their officers or simply restating the officers’ account of the incident, their original claim was that Floyd had “physically resisted officers,” it later became clear to Frey that “the original statement was not accurate.”
- The FBI may now be investigating the incident. Arradondo said that she’d contacted the FBI after receiving “additional information” and believes escalating things was “the very clear and obvious choice when you watch the footage provided in the civilian video.”
- This was murder and it was a hate crime, end of story. Not only was this crime clearly racially motivated but it was also clear and deliberate. “For five minutes we watched as a white officer pressed his knee into the neck of a black man who was helpless,” the mayor said. “For five whole minutes. This was not a matter of a split-second poor decision.”
- May George Floyd rest in peace. And more than that, may these officers and every other racist person in a position of authority and otherwise be held to account for their actions and punished accordingly. This is NOT okay and it’s not acceptable.
